Volume 33, Number 21 & 22 · January 15, 1987
A New Deal in Poland?
By Abraham Brumberg
For the Poles the decree of September 11, 1986, seemed one of the most astonishing events in recent history. No one had expected it. All of Poland's political prisoners, the official announcement said, would be released within five days. Zbigniew Bujak, the head of Solidarity's Provisional Coordinating Committee (TKK), who only three months earlier had been arrested after eluding the police for nearly five years; Leszek Moczulski, the fiery leader of the small nationalistic KPN (Confederation of Independent Poland); Czeslaw Bielecki, the eloquent writer and architect who had been weakened by a hunger strike [1]—all would now regain their freedom along with hundreds of others. In December 1981, Solidarity was caught off guard when Jaruzelski took advantage of the union's self-confidence and, in a matter of hours, put the entire country under martial law and about five thousand Solidarity activists in prison. Now, when the General (as he is commonly referred to in Poland) seemed to concede one of Solidarity's principal demands, its leaders were again taken unawares. For nearly three weeks they had little to say.
Feature, 5834 words
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