Thatcher, Walesa Cheered at Solidarity’s Birthplace

To cheers of support from thousands of workers, Margaret Thatcher and Solidarity leader Lech Walesa laid a wreath today outside the Lenin Shipyard to honor Poles slain during 1970 riots.

Shipyard workers in hard hats, their hands raised in V-for-victory salutes, chanted “Solidarity! Solidarity!” as the British prime minister and Walesa placed the flowers at a towering monument near the shipyard.

The monument honors dozens of Polish workers who died when security forces opened fire to quell riots over food prices.

Thatcher is the first Western leader to meet Walesa at the shipyard, where Solidarity began eight years ago.

Polish media have been giving heavy coverage to Thatcher’s visit but have been omitting references to her “private program”--the code for her visits with Solidarity supporters.

However, newspapers today did print the full text of her rather sharply worded dinner speech Thursday calling for dialogue with Solidarity.

A crowd estimated at 20,000 thronged the square around the monument and shouted, “Down with communism!” and “Out with Rakowski!” Prime Minister Mieczyslaw Rakowski has ordered the shipyard closed for financial reasons.

“Mrs. Thatcher, Don’t Let the Shipyard Be Closed,” read one sign.

“See how many have come despite their efforts to stop them? They have filtered through somehow,” Walesa told reporters. “We will not be defeated. This is a monument of hope.”

Thatcher periodically disappeared into the crowd. There was no sign of communist government officials nor of Polish security police who have followed her throughout most of her three-day visit.

The trip to the shipyard, which the government plans to close Dec. 1, was the high point of Thatcher’s visit, which ended today. The British leader has publicly endorsed the banned Solidarity trade union federation.

After the wreath-laying, Thatcher visited St. Brygida’s Church, where she had lunch in the rectory with Solidarity leaders.

Thatcher thanked the crowd for its reception. “I had to come here and see for myself the spirit of the Polish people,” she said.