Warsaw regime gets Kremlin’s seal of approval

Press, 14 January 1982, Page 6

Warsaw regime gets Kremlin’s seal of approval

NZPA-Reuter Moscow The Kremlin has told the Polish leadership it is satisfied with military rule so far but it is clearly preoccupied with the future of the Polish Communist Party. A communique issued yesterday after two days of talks in Moscow between the Polish Foreign Minister (Mr Jozef Czyrek) and high Kremlin officials said Poland and its people “could, as before, be sure of the Soviet Union's support for their efforts in overcoming difficulties.”

It said that in Mr Czyrek's talks with the Soviet Foreign Minister (Mr Andrei Gromyko) the conviction had been expressed that Poland “will, with the assistance of its friends and allies, cope successfully with these difficulties." This was the dearest indication yet that Moscow is satisfied with the performance of the Warsaw leadership since it declared martial law on December 13.

The communique included little other Soviet comment on events inside Poland in line with Moscow's strategy of not publicly associating itself too closely with military rule and leaving itself open to a charge of interference.

Western diplomats said the most important part of Mr Czyrek's visit was probably his talks with Mikhail Suslov, the Kremin’s chief party ideologist. Diplomats said it confirmed that Moscow was deeply concerned about where the Polish United Workers' party (Communist Party) stood under military, rule and what future it had

in directing the country's affairs.

Reports from Warsaw suggest the Polish party has been pushed into the background by the imposition of martial law quite apart from the loss of authority it suffered when the Solidarity free trade union was in its heyday. It is thought that Moscow favours a purge of the Polish party to produce a scaleddown but orthodox unit, stripped of reformist elements.

In Warsaw yesterday the head of the “watchdog" control commission of the Polish Communist Party called for a return to political orthodoxy and integrity in public life.

A Deputy Prime Minister. Miecxyslaw Rakowski, said martial law could be lifted in a matter of weeks while another Deputy Prime Minister. Jerzy Ozdowski, said he would resign if the Catholic Church told him to do so. He also said that the country’s authorities “would like to end” martial laW by February 1. But there was no timetable j'for ending the state of emergency. Mr Ozdowski said the timetable for lifting* military rule “depends on the situation.”; Mr Ozdowski is a Catholic who was appointed a Deputy Prime Minister in November, 1980. A Government spokesman, Jerzy Urban, said that the Polish authorities would like to include Lech . Walesa, head of Solidarity, in future agreements on trade unions.

Although Mr Walesa’s future is “unknown, lie is such a personality that a place will be found for him in future agreements,” Mr Urban said.

His hint at moderation by the authorities was tempered by a statement making plain that union activity had been banned from Government institutions and Ministries.

“We demand loyalty to the State,” Mr Urban said.

Mr Ozdowski sought to play down Catholic Church opposition to martial law and the suspension of civil and union rights, saying “the Church-State axis is alive and well.”

But a Reuter correspondent quoted a Church official in Warsaw as saying that a meeting between the military leader (General Wojciech Jaruzelski) and the Catholic Primate (Archbishop Jozef Glemp) on Saturday had left virtually all the main disputes unresolved. In Brussels the United States called on its N.A.T.O. allies yesterday to follow up their condemnation of Soviet involvement in the Polish crisis with concrete action.

The Secretary of State (Mr Alexander Haig) making it clear he regarded Poland as a test of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and East-West relations, told reporters: “Yesterday we created a clear and united framework for action. Now we must act.”

Meanwhile Pope John Paul has been given a letter from General Jaruzelski. Vatican officials said the letter was in reply to one sent by the Pope just before Christmas in which he urged Poles not to resort to further bloodshed and called for resumption of peaceful dialogue on reforms of Polish society. The details of General Jaruzelski’s letter were not divulged.