Jaruzelski set to quit as party chief

Press, 29 July 1989, Page 10

Jaruzelski set to quit as party chief

NZPA-Reuter Warsaw President Wojciech Jaruzelski, who imposed martial law on Poland in 1981 but later guided the country to the forefront of political reform in Eastern Europe, looks set to quit as Communist Party chief in a major political shake-up.

A source close to Mr Jaruzelski, aged 66, said he would offer to resign today at a Central Committee meeting, relinquishing all party posts to concentrate on his new job as State President. “This plenum is one of the biggest events in current Polish history,” said one party source, describing the two-day meeting that started yesterday in Warsaw. The general, who ordered martial law to crush the Solidarity trade union movement, has overseen dramatic changes in the last year that led not only to Solidarity being relegalised but even to it beating the Communist Party in Parliamentary elections in June. The Central Committee meeting could also see a

third of the its 230 members and some or all of the ruling Politburo replaced, the party source said. Party sources pointed to the outgoing Prime Minister. Mieczyslaw Rakowski, as key contender for the top party post. But his Government has come under attack by Solidarity which said it wanted a special Parliamentary commission to investigate its economic record and possibly file a case to the State Tribunal, a body empowered to try Government officials. The appointment of a successor to Mr Jaruzelski would probably open the way to resolving the nagging question of filling the job of Prime Minister, which carries the power to form a Government

The sources said the candidate could come from outside the. party, possibly the Peasant Party leader, Roman Malinowski, but it would probably still take a month to form a Cabinet entirely to Parliament’s liking. The Peasant Party, traditionally Communist allies, strongly backs the outgoing Government’s intended scheme to free presently subsidised food prices in an attempt to ease shortages and cut an enormous Budget deficit Supporters of the scheme say the the only alternative would be to introduce general rationing. Critics argue that the scheme would fuel inflation as workers are compensated for price rises and could spark unrest.