General given pat on back

Press, 2 July 1986, Page 10

General given pat on back

NZPA-AP < Warsaw The Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, has given a ringing endorsement of the Polish President, General Wojciech Jaruzelski, for his '“unbending defence” of Poland in crushing the threat to communist rule posed by the Solidarity free trade union. Mr Gorbachev’s comments, in a speech to the first Polish United Workers’ Party (Communist Party) congress in five years, were believed to make up the most definitive statement on the decision to impose martial law and suppress Solidarity issued by a Soviet leader. Accusing the West of trying to use the Polish crisis to foment unrest, Mr Gorbachev called the Solidarity period ' a “struggle for the existence of socialism itself in Poland” and said it was a

lesson for other Eastern European countries. The Polish crisis had not been a “protest of workers against socialism” but “a protest against distortions in socialism.” Mr Gorbachev said it had demonstrated the dangers for Communist parties when they lost touch with workers. After 16 ? months of worker unrest and repeated threats of Soviet intervention, . General Jaruzelski imposed martial law In December, 1981, and crushed Solidarity, the first free trade union in the Soviet bloc. Martial law was lifted in 1983, but Solidarity Is outlawed and many . of‘its supporters are in prison. In the strongest endorsement he has given to an Eastern European leader, Mr Gorbachev said, “Poland owes a lot to its outstanding leader. Wojciech Jaruzelski."