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Document No. 94: Transcript of the Soviet Politburo Meeting on the Crisis in Poland, December 10, 1981 ——————————————————————————————————————————— This extraordinary document records a Soviet Politburo meeting just three days before the declaration of martial law in Poland. The main topic of discussion initially is Poland’s economic situation and Jaruzelski’s earlier request for economic assistance. It appears from the discussion that Moscow is not certain whether martial law is finally imminent. Of the many important points raised here, one of the more significant is the Soviets’ indication that they have no intention of introducing forces into Poland to back up a Polish crackdown. This directly contradicts Jaruzelski’s ex post facto rendition of events, in which he contends Moscow was poised for an outside military solution but that he managed to help avert its intervention. The full Soviet record is not yet accessible, and therefore the question of Soviet intentions remains open, but this document is powerful evidence against Jaruzelski’s allegation that he was struggling to keep the Soviet Army at bay. Another interesting conclusion that can be gleaned here is that the Soviet formation since 1969 of a loyal Eastern European officer corps bore fruit in the Polish case—at least in the short term. In the long term, however, Soviet and communist control could not be maintained. ____________________ ON THE QUESTION OF THE SITUATION IN POLAND Brezhnev: This question does not appear on our agenda. But I think this session of the Politburo must begin with this question since we sent Cdes. [Nikolai K.] Baibakov and [Viktor G.] Kulikov on a special mission to Poland to discuss urgent and pressing questions with the Polish comrades. On December 8, Cde. Kulikov provided information on the discussions he held in Warsaw, and yesterday, December 9, Cde. Baibakov reported from Warsaw that he held discussions with Cde. Jaruzelski. From these and subsequent discussions, it was apparent to Cde. Baibakov that the Polish comrades hope to receive additional raw and other materials during the first quarter of next year from the USSR and other socialist countries roughly in the amount of $1.5 billion. […] And now let us listen to Cde. Baibakov. Baibakov: following the instructions of the Politburo I left for Warsaw. I met there with all of the comrades with whom it was necessary to talk over the questions I was entrusted with. First of all, I held a discussion with Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers Cde. [Janusz] Obodowski. In this discussion, the Polish comrades raised the question of economic aid. […] 456 The time is now approaching for Poland to repay its credits to the West European countries. For this, Poland requires a minimum of 2.8 million hard-currency rubles. When I heard what our Polish comrades were asking and how much all of this aid amounted to, I raised the question of bringing our mutual economic relations into balance. Along with that, I noted that Polish industry is falling short of fulfilling its plan by significant margins. The coal industry, which is a fundamental source of foreign currency, is essentially disorganized, necessary measures are not being taken, and strikes are continuing. Now that there are no strikes, coal extraction is still occurring at a very low level. […] As is known, by decision of the Politburo and by request of the Polish comrades we are providing them with aid in the form of the supply of 30,000 tons of meat. Of these 30,000 tons, 16,000 tons have already been redirected abroad. It must be said that produce, meat in this case, is being supplied in dirty, unsanitized railroad cars used to transport ore, in a very unattractive condition. Genuine sabotage is taking place during the unloading of this produce at Polish stations. The Poles utter the most obscene words about the Soviet Union and the Soviet people, they refuse to clean the railroad cars, and so on. It is simply impossible to count all of the insults that pour out about us. Realizing this situation with the state of the balance of payments, the Poles want to introduce a moratorium on the repayment of debt to the Western countries. If they announce a moratorium, then all Polish vessels in the waters of any state or at the docks, and all other property located in countries to which Poland is in debt will be seized. Therefore the Poles have now given orders to the captains of vessels to leave port and to...

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