Strike Paralyzed by Lack of Support, Walesa Says

Lech Walesa said today that an eight-day strike at the Lenin Shipyard showed Solidarity’s strength but that lack of widespread support “paralyzed” the strike effort.

“We were paralyzed because there were so few of us,” Walesa told reporters at St. Brygida’s Church near the shipyard in this Baltic port, where the electrician led workers to form the Soviet Bloc’s first independent union federation eight years ago.

He said the action showed “our strength as well as our helplessness” and that the workers will try again if necessary.

Walesa and about 1,000 haggard strikers abandoned their occupation strike Tuesday evening. Strike leaders said they wanted to avoid a police raid, but Communist authorities said the action failed for lack of support.

The official PAP news agency reported some shipyard supervisors were back at work today and normal work will resume Thursday. Walesa said he got a phone call at home in the morning asking him why he was not there.

“If there are people who think we lost, it is because we still lack solidarity” among workers nationwide, he said.

But Walesa said that “if necessary we will try again. Nothing ended. Nothing is finished.” He added that the 15-member strike committee that engaged in five rounds of negotiations with management will not be dissolved.

There was no immediate word on whether the strikers would face legal charges or disciplinary action. During negotiations, the strikers had been offered amnesty but only if they left the shipyard Sunday night.

In Warsaw, Poland’s Communist government won sweeping powers today to push through economic reforms and ban unofficial work stoppages after overcoming a two-week wave of strikes.

The Sejm, or Parliament, voted 352 to 0 with eight abstentions to pass a special powers act enabling the government of Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski to freeze prices and wages, lay off workers and fire managers until the end of the year.