Gorbachev Gets Restrained Applause at Polish Plant

Mikhail S. Gorbachev, visiting a cradle of the banned Solidarity union, won polite but restrained applause from Polish shipyard workers today as he promised to stick to the job of reforming Soviet communism.

“We have undertaken an immense task. As I have said, he who endures, wins,” the Soviet leader said to light hand-clapping from about 2,000 workers at a formal rally in Szczecin’s Adolf Warski shipyard.

Gorbachev was visiting the Baltic port on the border with East Germany on the third day of his Polish tour designed to demonstrate political support for Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski and his reform programs.

The Polish and Soviet leaderships are facing one of the hardest, most demanding periods of the two countries’ history, Gorbachev declared.

“One should not bend, shy away or panic in the face of difficulties,” he said at the Warski yard, one of the three main centers of strikes that in 1980 led to the formation of Solidarity.

The Soviet leader made no reference to the free trade union born in the Baltic coast strikes of August, 1980, and dissolved in 1982 by Jaruzelski, who stood with him on the podium.

Looking nervous but speaking virtually without notes, Gorbachev carefully chose a different word from the solidarnosc of the banned union’s title as he thanked the workers for what he called their “solidness” in the task of perestroika, or restructuring.

He said the Soviet Union valued Poland’s contribution to reforming socialism. “We find much in your achievements that can be used in perestroika. “

But in an apparent reference to Poland’s turbulent recent past, he said mistakes should be avoided “because political mistakes are often paid for not by one work force or region but by the entire nation and country.”

Gorbachev said his chats with bystanders during his visit had been spontaneous and unscheduled. They showed that the Poles are genuinely friendly and interested in what was happening in the Soviet Union, he said.

Many workers in overalls and helmets could be seen slipping out early from the giant hull construction workshop before the rally ended.