The World - News from Dec. 6, 1988
Poland’s Communist authorities gave Lech Walesa a passport for the first time in seven years, and the Solidarity union leader said he is surprised he is being allowed to travel abroad. Walesa will fly to Paris on Friday for celebrations marking the 40th anniversary of the U.N.’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is the first time the leader of the banned union has received permission to leave Poland since imposition of martial law in 1981. Meanwhile, the official press printed one of the few positive statements about Walesa to appear since that time. A Communist Party daily called him “a worthy spokesman for national agreement” after his recent TV debate with the leader of the official, government-sponsored trade unions.
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