Word: walesa
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...just returned to Rome from the earthquake-shattered villages of southern Italy when he was called to help Kalb in Poland. With a Polish visa, prudently obtained back in August, he was able to fly directly to Warsaw and spend part of a day with Solidarity Leader Lech Walesa at church and at Walesa's home outside Gdansk. "The Poles are marvelously brave and calm," observes Amfitheatrof, who along with Kalb witnessed last week's emotional unveiling of the workers' monument in Gdansk. "Whatever the future holds for them has enormous implications for Eastern Europe and quite...
Shortly before 5 o'clock, the dignitaries were introduced. Poland's President Henryk Jablonski, a silver-haired figure in a black overcoat: a smattering of applause. Franciszek Cardinal Macharski of Cracow wearing crimson biretta and robes: hearty applause. Then Union Leader Lech Walesa, the improbable hero of last summer's strikes, bundled in his customary duffel coat: tumultuous applause. After a minute of silence, the city's church bells began to peal, and ship sirens wailed from the port, a keening cry that sent shivers through the crowd. The names of those who died at Gdansk...
...even more extraordinary for its message. With the world anxiously looking on, representatives of union and church and state sat together on the podium, unified as Poles despite their differences, all hoping to change the face of Communism without bringing on Soviet intervention. "Our country needs internal peace," said Walesa. "I call on you to be prudent and reasonable...
...worried lest it get out of hand. If it did, Soviet troops stood on alert at Poland's borders. "The Poles," said a concerned analyst in Bonn, "seem to have a particular talent for courting national suicide." But the workers were not contemplating retreat. Said Union Leader Lech Walesa: "We are not cowards. We are not going back, ever...
Solidarity Leader Walesa seems torn between his impulse toward restraint and his desire to show that the unions cannot be cowed. In an interview with TIME he was alternately combative and cautious. "The authorities have been trying to provoke strikes, and these provocations are unacceptable," he said at one juncture. "If the government does not stop, we will really have a strike-a very serious one." A moment later, he was appeasing: "We do not want to strike, but our solutions will be adapted to circumstances...