Poland Rejects Walesa Bid for Solidarity Talks

The government today rejected Lech Walesa’s calls for talks with Solidarity and said President Reagan’s praise of the outlawed trade union federation last week has hindered U.S.-Polish relations.

Government spokesman Jerzy Urban said authorities saw no point in engaging in a dialogue with Walesa, leader of the outlawed labor union, saying previous “attempts at reconciliation were torpedoed” by Solidarity before the December, 1981, imposition of martial law.

In a statement last week, Walesa called on the authorities to talk with Solidarity or risk condemning the nation to deepening poverty and despair. He made his statement to mark the fifth anniversary of the signing of the Aug. 31, 1980, Gdansk accords between the government and striking workers, which allowed the creation of free unions.

Urban said Reagan’s pro-Solidarity statement of Aug. 31 confirmed what he called the U.S. government’s hostile aims toward the Polish nation by “giving support to destructive elements aiming at impairing the constitutional order in Poland.”

In his statement, Reagan declared that the Solidarity movement continues to live despite its suppression after the December, 1981, military crackdown, and urged the Communist government in Warsaw to listen to the voice of the outlawed union.

In his response, the Polish spokesman said at the start of his weekly news conference, “Unfortunately, the United States does not give up its attempts to interfere in the internal affairs of our state, which is a condition for the normalization of relations.”

On Friday, Walesa said Solidarity had prepared a 500-page report on the national situation to prove to the government that it is capable of developing constructive suggestions on how to get the country out of its social-political crisis.

Asked whether the government has received the report and considers it constructive, Urban replied that he was only familiar with statements by Walesa summarizing its contents.

“Mr. Walesa had announced that he would like to contribute something constructive to our common life,” Urban said. “What he presented is a libel totally condemning everything . . . that is being done” in Poland.