Word: walesa
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Dates: during 1980-1980
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...Lech Walesa, leader of the Polish workers, who has championed freedom and the rights of his fellow Poles...
Until last week, Lech Walesa and other union leaders had not been able to rein in Solidarity's rank and file. But in response to the Moscow summit, Solidarity warned its local branches not to strike without its authorization. The next major test of his control could come at week's end with the start of observances marking the tenth anniversary of the 1970 Gdansk riots, in which at least 49 Poles were killed. This symbolic occasion could touch off another bout of labor unrest and perhaps force Moscow's hand...
...cuts for the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which oversees law enforcement. By thus challenging the state security apparatus, the unions were in effect directing a challenge at the heart of the Communist system itself. "This is absolute foolhardiness," said a worried East bloc specialist in Bonn. "This goes against Walesa's assurances that Solidarity's purpose was more economic than political. It adds to the tinder...
...Lech Walesa, the Solidarity leader, has had increasing difficulty controlling his unruly rank and file. In recent weeks he has been counseling moderation and discipline, arguing that the union should concentrate on organizing instead of spending itself on a series of local skirmishes. He is also worried that the union may be overplaying its hand. As he told workers in Warsaw last week, with an unmistakable warning about the ominous possibility of Soviet intervention, "It will be a great mess if we go on strike . . . Let us not forget that tanks and rockets could be the reply...
...report that there have been nationalist demonstrations at schools in the Estonian capital of Tallinn, as well as a strike at a tractor factory in the city of Tartu. Students in Tartu held protest rallies, demanding an end to the 40-year-old So viet occupation of their country. Walesa is characteristically defiant about the possibility of Soviet intervention. "Tanks can guard us," he says, "but they cannot make us work...