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452 Document No. 61: Transcript of CC PUWP Secretariat Meeting June 5, 1989 On the day after Solidarity’s sweep of Poland’s first open elections since communist rule, ultimately netting the union 99 of 100 Senate seats, the Polish party leaders vent their shock and dismay in this transcript from the Polish archives, opened in the 1990s. The Secretariat’s members rant that this has been “a bitter lesson,” “the aktiv and the party are not connected with the masses,” “[w]e trusted the Church, and they have turned out to be Jesuits,” and “50 percent of our party now consists of all sorts of managers and retirees” who were unable to show any “self-protective instinct in the elections.” Aleksander Kwaśniewski (who would later be elected president of Poland in the 1990s as the country joined NATO) remarks that even “party members were crossing out our candidates” on the ballots. (In fact, only two of 35 party candidates survived the epidemic of X’s). Like Gorbachev, the Polish communists have no idea of the degree to which the “System” has already lost its legitimacy. Also like Gorbachev, they believe they can still enact reforms and frame a modified arrangement with the opposition in which the party would retain the leading role. But the whole edifice is coming down around them, and even in their current state of shock these Polish officials understand there is no choice but to negotiate a coalition government, and they specifically “[w]arn against attempts at destabilization, pointing at the situation in China.” By contrast, on the same day as the Polish elections, the Chinese Communist Party ordered the army to crush the popular demonstrations that took place on Tiananmen Square in Beijing—in effect, choosing the methods of 1956 and 1968. For Gorbachev and the Poles in 1989, that brutal approach was the road not taken. The Agenda: An exchange of views on the first round of elections to the Sejm and Senate. Cde. W. Jaruzelski stated at the beginning that the election results are very bad for the coalition. What should be done right away in the next few days? • In today’s TV newscast, a statement preceding the official election results— decide who will speak; • Today, a meeting with the allies; • June 6, hold a Politburo meeting and a conference with first secretaries of the Voivodeship committees; • Consider different dates for a CC meeting (in an extraordinary procedure before June 18, after June 18), adopt a decision at the Politburo, set dates for consultations with CC members; • get in touch and hold talks with the Church hierarchy, consider a meeting with Primate J. glemp. The Church is the major culprit in the situation that has arisen; Melyakova book.indb 452 2010.04.12. 16:20 453 • Hold informational meetings with ambassadors accredited to Warsaw; • Consider the advisability of going ahead or postponing the planned visits of the chairman of the Council of State to London and Brussels and President Mitterrand’s visit to Poland. Cde. Czarzasty said an analysis of the election shows that they had the character of a plebiscite, a referendum, which we had not been assuming. So far full results of voting for the national list are not available. The Voivodeship committees are signaling that the clergy, particularly on election day, were issuing calls to vote for “S”. Youth participation in the election was very low. Cde. J. Czyrek assessed that electoral assumptions could not be met. The personal formula turned out to be ineffective. The result has been decided in the first round. The opposition is not interested in the second round. Forecasts of election turnouts also were not on target. The coalition side, the party itself, has proven ineffective in its campaigning and propaganda effort. The majority of voters decided beforehand whom to vote for. Now the most important thing is to master moods in the party and in the entire coalition. The allies are uneasy, “Solidarity” has already shown support for some of their candidates and it can still do it in the second round. Urgently establish contacts with the Church, but also with the leadership of the opposition (decide on the forms and levels). Urgently hold a meeting of the Commission on Understanding. Undertake visits to London and Belgium, but postpone Mitterrand’s visit to our country. Cde. S. Ciosek: Today someone from the leadership or Cde. Urban should appear on television. He is signaling a mood of depression among the engaged journalists...

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