Word: rakowski
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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...
Thatcher was hardly pleased, however, when Rakowski cited her policies as a precedent for another government assault on the outlawed Solidarity movement. As part of Rakowski's new economic reform program, the government announced, it would close down on Dec. 1 the famous Lenin shipyard in Gdansk, whose workers gave birth to Solidarity during a strike in 1980. Its 11,000 employees, including Solidarity's founder, Lech Walesa, a shipyard electrician for 21 years, would be forced to find jobs elsewhere...
...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...