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315 Document No. 56: Report to HSWP CC Politburo with Verbatim Transcript of July 21 Telephone Conversation between Kania and Brezhnev July 22, 1981 This apparently verbatim transcript of a Brezhnev–Kania telephone call shortly after the PUWP’s Extraordinary Ninth Congress was delivered to Hungarian leader János Kádár by a Soviet representative in Budapest. Kádár was about to travel to the Soviet Union to meet Brezhnev, where Poland was certain to be a major topic of discussion. Brezhnev opens the call by congratulating Kania on his reelection as first secretary of the party. It is an ironic moment given that the Kremlin had probably tried to have Kania ousted at the June 9–10 plenum. Kania, naturally, plays along. In more moderate tones than in previous communications (see, for example, Document No. 39), the Soviet leader admonishes against further “capitulations” and warns that “the whole struggle is still ahead of you.” Kania in turn promises somewhat outlandishly to “seize the counter-revolution by its throat,” although in reality the political divide within the Polish leadership, preserved by the congress, all but ensured that no dramatic action was likely by either side. Typically, Brezhnev used the informal “ty” when addressing Kania, while the Polish leader used the more respectful “vy”. REPORT Comrade János Kádár received Comrade Valerii Musatov, the chargé d’affaires ad interim of the Soviet Embassy in Budapest, at his request on July 22, 1981. Comrade Musatov reported that Comrade Stanisław Kania phoned Comrade Leonid Brezhnev on July 21 while the latter was on holiday in the Crimea. The following conversation took place between them: S. Kania: good morning, Comrade Leonid Ilyich. L. Brezhnev: good morning, Stanisław. First of all, I would like to congratulate you on the occasion of your re-election to the post of first secretary of the PUWP CC. I closely followed the work of the congress. It was a difficult congress. What is your assessment of it? S. Kania: You are right, the congress took place in a difficult situation. But after all, it created conditions for development. There can be no doubt about that. I wonder whether Comrades grishin and Rusakov informed you about the course of the congress. L. Brezhnev: I read all the reports coming from Warsaw during that period. I followed with interest the television coverage of the work of the congress. 316 S. Kania: You probably know how the congress received Comrade V. V. grishin’s speech. The delegates applauded every remark referring to the Soviet Union and supported the idea of friendship with your country and our solidarity in the struggle for the principles of socialism. It made the proper impression. The congress adopted good resolutions. This holds especially for the rules and regulations of the party which your comrades helped us with. In other documents , however, the wording may not be perfectly correct. Nevertheless, we hope that we will be able to amend them when they are put into practice. Unfortunately , some comrades whom we would have liked to see on the Politburo did not get [appointed] to it. I am thinking of Comrades Żabiński and grabski. grabski obtained few votes in the secret ballot. In my opinion he had committed a number of mistakes and therefore he lost the votes not only of the revisionists but also those of the reliable comrades. The present composition of the Politburo will fully ensure that we will work more effectively in the future. Comrade Milewski, minister of internal affairs, became a member of the Politburo. We plan to give him the post of administrative secretary of the Central Committee. You probably know him well. L. Brezhnev: I have heard about him but I have never met him in person. S. Kania: Foreign Minister J. Czyrek became a member of the Politburo and the secretary of the CC. We elected two comrades who had previously been doing lower-grade party work to the posts of secretaries of the CC. These are Z. Michałek and M. Woźniak. The former will deal with agricultural issues and the latter with economic ones. We hope that Michałek, who used to work as the director of a major state farm, will be able to help us in reshaping the village structure. ThecompositionofthePolitburoisgood,allinall.Itismadeupofreliablepeople. L. Brezhnev: If that is the case, then it is good. S. Kania: We managed to elect all the people I had wanted into the controlling...

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