Walesa Urges Strikers to Seek ‘Real Reform’

Solidarity leader Lech Walesa on Tuesday urged cheering strikers to press the Warsaw government not only for higher wages but also for “structural changes” that he said would “build a better Poland.”

As Solidarity banners fluttered from the gates of the massive Lenin Shipyard, birthplace in 1980 of the now-outlawed independent trade union, Walesa declared: “The shipyard is fighting to put the country on the road to reform.”

And, he warned, “If we don’t achieve a real reform this time, then we will have a bloody revolution.” The Polish government, he said, “made us the beggars of Europe, the beggars of the world. How ashamed I am that they are begging the world for credit while only throwing us a few pennies.”

The walkout by about 7,000 workers shut the shipyard for a second day, while 17,000 strikers kept the nation’s largest industrial enterprise, the 32,000-worker Lenin Steelworks at Nowa Huta in southern Poland, paralyzed for an eighth day.

But the government continued to hold out against strikers’ demands, which have broadened significantly beyond an original commitment to obtaining higher wages. Government spokesman Jerzy Urban said of the key demand for nationwide recognition of Solidarity: “This is not a question that can be an object of negotiations.”

The shipyard workers, who gathered for most of the day just inside the main entrance, shouted their encouragement for the strikers at Nowa Huta. And they gave loud cheers at reports delivered by their leaders that other unions--including port workers in Gdansk--were discussing plans to join the growing list of state-run enterprises besieging the government for higher wages.

Copper Mine Strike

A new strike was reported to have taken hold among about 1,000 workers at a copper mine in Polkolwice in southwestern Poland. Another brief strike at a Wroclaw railroad car factory ended when the factory management quickly gave in to worker demands for a $50-per-month wage increase.

After nightfall, the Gdansk shipyard was ringed by police and paramilitary anti-terrorist squads, which prevented a planned march by Solidarity sympathizers to the factory gates. Solidarity sources outside the shipyard said that Walesa, who had left the area in the early afternoon, had been spirited back into the shipyard by a secret entrance.

Inside during the day, the mood was subdued, except during two appearances by Walesa, which seemed to galvanize the workers.

The current wave of labor unrest, which began in earnest April 25 after sporadic strikes nationwide for the preceding six weeks, is the worst to hit Poland since 1981, when martial law was declared by the Communist government of Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski.

The strikes come at a crucial period for Jaruzelski’s troubled regime, which has been struggling to enact an economic reform proposal. It was the central feature of that plan--higher prices meant to boost a more market-oriented system--that prompted immediate worker demands for higher wages.

Urban attempted to play down the importance of the strikes, saying they “do not threaten socialism, which has deep roots in this country, but they do threaten reform.” He appealed to workers to moderate their demands, pointing out that strikes could bankrupt state enterprises and cause loss of jobs.

The Lenin Shipyard workers, whose strike in August, 1980, brought Poland to a standstill and caused one government to collapse, went on strike Monday after a May Day exhortation from Walesa to show “solidarity” with striking employees at Nowa Huta.

Electrician’s Job

But Walesa, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983 and is still employed an electrician at the Gdansk shipyard, contended Tuesday that he would not lead the strike.

“You need a new Walesa, many more new Walesas,” he said. “You declared this strike. I’m with you, and I’ll always be with you. I can advise you.”

Standing on a platform and speaking through a hand-held microphone, Walesa cracked jokes with crowds of up to 1,500 workers with the aplomb of a stand-up comedian.

“The (official) radio said there were only 200 of you here,” he said as he began his delivery. “Of course, it was a small radio.”

But Walesa’s major themes were that workers should press for “real reform” and “structural change” as well as for higher wages and should maintain a peaceful stance toward the authorities.

He urged the shipyard workers to demand “pluralism” in Poland, a frequent theme of Solidarity activists.

“Without pluralism, no country will catch up with the 21st Century,” he said.

‘Influence on Power’

Walesa said Solidarity does not “want to take power on our own--it would be a mistake if we did. But we want structural changes that will reward good work, and we want an influence on power.”

He made cutting references to the negotiating committee of the officially recognized union at the shipyard and at one point entered into a mild debate with Henryk Koscielski, the head of the committee, pressing him to demand the right for multiple labor unions.

“We are doing nothing secretly,” Koscielski replied. “Our doors are open. We are doing everything we can.” He added that the “official” negotiators have not taken a stand opposing Solidarity.

Although the debate was polite, it underscored the new conditions in the shipyard--as in many industrial enterprises in Poland--in which Solidarity, stymied for nearly seven years in its effort to reform Polish society, may well have lost some of the support and spirit that characterized the movement in 1980 and 1981.

Society More Divided

“It’s different now,” said Piotr Ivanowicz, who has spent 23 of his 38 years working in the shipyard. “Society is more divided now. In 1980, people were more together.” The situation in the shipyards, he suggested, was similar.

“We don’t have as much information about what is going on now as we did back then. We don’t even know who these people in the new union are. Things are not as well organized,” he contended.

Like hundreds of other workers, Ivanowicz had spent most of the previous 24 hours sitting on the grass near the main gate or walking around the yard. Around him, other workers sat in small groups, some playing cards, some taking in the warm sun.

Although Ivanowicz earns only the equivalent of $50 a month, he agreed with Walesa that genuine change in Poland, not money, is the important issue in the strike.

“They could give us more money,” he said, “but prices would go up again in a few months, and the money would not solve anything. A solution? We will continue to stay here and see what happens. Maybe, like in 1981, the tanks will come in--but after they leave, we will have to come back here.”