Word: polisher
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...increasing demands. If the government failed to do so, he could see no way to stave off the final collapse of Poland's mismanaged, strike-hobbled economy. At the same time, he had to reassure the Soviets, who, no matter how reluctant they might be to intervene directly in Polish affairs, let it be known that they would do so if Solidarity was on the verge of seizing control of the state. Yet, by moving so forcefully against the union, whose 10 million members represent 28% of the Polish population, Jaruzelski could only have deepened the resentments that fueled Solidarity...
...Were the Polish people reassured? On the contrary, they were in shock and mourning. The queues at food shops, a familiar sight in contemporary Poland, had resumed. But the shoppers, their cheeks red from the deep cold (5° F in many places), were sullen. In the countryside, the only visible evidence of the nation's changed circumstances was the snow-muffled rumble of tanks and military trucks along the roads. But inside their houses, people were praying?and cursing. "I have lived through two wars," said a farmer north of Warsaw, "and now I am on my third. Just...
...been seen for six months. "Where has it all been?" asked a woman shopper in Warsaw. A clue to that mystery was supplied by a Dutch truck driver, who had taken part in a 150-vehicle convoy to deliver donated food from Western Europe. He was directed to a Polish warehouse that he said contained "more butter than I've seen in my entire life." Poles generally welcomed the government's sudden bounty, which disappeared in a flash in widespread hoarding, but many considered the new supplies a cynical effort to win support...
...meantime, Jaruzelski's efforts to impose authority were welcomed with restrained enthusiasm by the Soviet Union. According to some Polish government sources, Jaruzelski was pressed by the Soviets to make the move. About a month ago, according to these accounts, he was given an ultimatum by the Kremlin. Soviet representatives told him?and him alone?that the Polish party was no longer in control, that the Sejm (parliament) was running wild, and that if he did not act to restore order, the Warsaw Pact would do it for him. Though Jaruzelski emphasized last week that Poland remained a sovereign state...
Indeed, some Western diplomats believe Jaruzelski acted strictly on his own when he declared martial law. The reasoning: Jaruzelski anticipated a strong Soviet reaction if he did not move decisively against Solidarity's increasing demands. In this view, Jaruzelski is essentially a Polish nationalist still striving to achieve a historic compromise acceptable to the moderates in Solidarity, the liberals in the Politburo, the church and the army...