The World - News from Dec. 23, 1988

Solidarity union leader Lech Walesa expressed satisfaction with Communist Party indications of willingness to reform Poland’s labor union system, but he said he wants Solidarity legalized before talking with government officials. “It is a signal (from the party), but we are saying once again that without . . . relegalizing Solidarity, there is no possibility of agreement,” Walesa said in Gdansk. Walesa was referring to comments made at a party Central Committee meeting by Polish Premier Mieczyslaw F. Rakowski, who urged the committee to poll local party members on the future of Walesa and Solidarity. “Your answer . . . will decide what we will do. And (that) will decide the future of socialism in Poland,” he said.