Word: martialled
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Haig had come to Brussels determined to prevent an open rift between the U.S. and allies like West Germany, whose initial responses to martial law had been far milder than Washington's. Over and over, Haig warned that NATO must "prevent the failure in the East from becoming a failure of the West." In the end, the allies closed ranks around a compromise that stopped short of adopting U.S.-style sanctions but prepared the way for future punitive action...
...toward Western unity occurred in Paris, where French President François Mitterrand met for three hours with West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt. The two leaders had some differences to iron out over the Polish question: Mitterrand had consistently taken a strong, anti-Soviet line about the imposition of martial law, while Schmidt had originally been tepid in his criticism, although he took a tougher stand after conferring with President Ronald Reagan two weeks ago. At the end of their meeting, Mitterrand and Schmidt declared that their views were now in harmony...
...sanctions, at the same time warning that prices for food and other consumer goods could soon rise as much as 400%. Since increases in state-subsidized food prices have sparked three major labor upheavals, Communist authorities were reluctant to raise them again before the crackdown. But martial law, says Deputy Premier Mieczyslaw Rakowski, now provides "an umbrella for conducting necessary economic and social reforms." By the same logic, however, an easing of repression would invite open protest. Admits Rakowski, the onetime party liberal who has become a key figure in the regime (see box): "We cannot lift martial law today...
Signs of repression are everywhere. Personal letters arrive bearing the censor's purple stamp. Telephone callers hear a voice repeating "Rozmowa kontrolowana, "meaning their conversation is being monitored. Major intersections are blocked by military checkpoints. Summary trials continue for workers accused of organizing strikes in defiance of martial law. Some of them have already received jail terms of up to seven years, although five were acquitted after their own factory managers and foremen refuted the prosecutor's charges. Meanwhile, a systematic campaign is under way to discredit intellectuals who supported Solidarity...
...repression and bloodshed. Despite the fact that the clampdown killed 17 people, by the government's admission, Jaruzelski may have remained true to his pledge-at least in a literal sense. Most of the acts of brutality that have been committed in the five weeks since Jaruzelski imposed martial law on Poland have not been the work of the young, generally amiable army recruits, but that of independent security squads specially trained to use force on their countrymen...