Word: rakowski
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Just before Margaret Thatcher's visit to Poland last week, Prime Minister Mieczyslaw Rakowski had nothing but praise for her firmness in tackling Britain's economic problems. "I would very much like to be a pupil in her school," said Rakowski. Polish officials admired her effectiveness in curbing unions that blocked industrial reorganization...
...Poland newly installed Prime Minister Mieczyslaw Rakowski took a different approach. As the government continued the daunting task of reaching a compromise with the leadership of Solidarity, the banned trade union, Rakowski invited four independent and opposition figures to join his Cabinet last week. Though all four rebuffed him, Rakowski promised to hold the seats open in case they changed their minds. As he admitted to TIME last week, "Our centralized system for decades has limited individuals' abilities to adapt, to take initiatives. We have to get rid of all those blockages...
When Prime Minister Zbigniew Messner resigned two weeks ago, Poles figured that the choice of his successor would say much about the regime's attitude toward demands for reform. It did. Last week Mieczyslaw Rakowski, 61, a critic of the banned Solidarity union, became the new Prime Minister. Said a Solidarity official: "This is the worst possible choice...
...Rakowski took on some formidable problems, notably a deteriorating food situation, labor unrest and a round-table meeting set for this month with "moderate" opposition groups, including Solidarity. On his first day in office, Rakowski countered his Solidarity opponents by saying, "Our enemies have not yet surrendered." No olive branch there...
Since then the authorities have made an ostentatious show of openness and reason, typified by Deputy Premier Mieczyslaw Rakowski's televised debate last week with two former Solidarity members. Most viewers, however, quickly recognized the pair as apostates who had publicly recanted their allegiance to the union during the martial-law period. Nor have Warsaw's claims of liberalization persuaded the U.S. to lift its objections to Polish membership in the International Monetary Fund or to the restoration of Poland's most-favored-nation trading status. Both measures are crucial to the economic health and political stability...