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184 Document No. 29: Transcript of CPSU CC Politburo Meeting January 22, 1981 In the previous document, Polish party officials give a detailed account of the volley of criticisms leveled at them by Leonid Zamyatin, head of the CPSU CC International Information Department during his January 13–20 visit to Poland. In the transcript below, the Soviet Politburo discusses Zamyatin’s conclusions about the situation in Poland. He notes that there is still a degree of unity among the leadership and that the party is making serious attempts to come to grips with the variety of problems facing the country. On the other hand, he affirms that Solidarity has a membership of several million and that they represent “a major force.” The PUWP, he adds, no longer has “a genuine creative connection with the people” and the workers have legitimate grievances. Lack of control over the mass media is a particular sore point. The Politburo briefly discussed the problems Zamyatin’s trip highlighted, then approved a decision to instruct various CC departments and government agencies to make proposals for the Politburo Commission on Poland to consider. The following month, a working group of the Commission recommended ratcheting up the pressure on the Polish authorities to reassert party control over the crisis. […] 8. About the visit of the delegation of CPSU party officials led by Cde. L. M. Zamyatin to Poland. Zamyatin: A gradual process of increasing activity by party organizations is taking place in Poland now. Confidence in their own power is growing among the party organizations. The party has conducted the first tests, but it has not reached the apex of these tests yet. Currently they are talking about so-called “free Saturdays” and Rural Solidarity. These are the questions over which, obviously , very serious arguments will arise. It is important to note that the PUWP has an understanding with the United Peasants’ Party on these issues. The difficulty of the Polish situation lies not only in the fact that the enemy, whom we must fight decisively, is acting, but also in the fact that under pressure of past mistakes the party has lost a genuine creative connection with the people. The working class has many reasons for dissatisfaction. This is especially typical for young workers, who have not experienced any hardships yet. This is precisely what Solidarity has capitalized on. Now the Polish working people are putting forward the slogan of renewal of socialist life, i.e. a return to Lenin’s norms in the party and the state. As far as Solidarity is concerned, it is not homogeneous in its composition. By the way, one has to say that this is the main force with which the PUWP has to deal right now. In Wałęsa’s opinion, he has ten million people in Solidarity right now. The PUWP CC believes that there are six million there. The counter- 185 revolutionary forces are organizing around the Committee for Workers’ Defense, the so-called KOR. Those are Kuroń, Michnik, gwiazda, Lis, Walentynowicz— altogether approximately 40 people. Solidarity is now essentially a political party , most actively hostile to the PUWP and the state. In addition, Wałęsa’s group, supported by the bishops, represents a major force. If one looks at the situation in Poland right now, it is characterized by a certain stepping up of the role of the party, of its concrete actions. This, of course, leads in turn to increasing tensions because the counter-revolutionary forces have their own plans; they are striving for power, but they see that the counteraction that the PUWP is putting up, does not give them the possibility to implement their plans. Today, Poland has branch trade unions, with approximately 6.5 million members . [Our] friends think about uniting them in a federation and minimizing the role of Solidarity’s most militant wing using political methods. They intend to cut KOR away from Solidarity. The PUWP CC is currently involved in forming a third trade union, the so-called autonomous trade union. Of course, this work is primarily being conducted in those party organizations and at those enterprises where the actions of Solidarity are strong. The PUWP is actively working on the problems of rebuilding trust among the masses. As far as the young people are concerned, the independent youth union covers approximately 13 percent of them. Constant discussion is going on among the young people. One can see the results of the absence of teaching of Marxist –Leninist sciences in...

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