WORLD : Walesa Hits ‘Ruin’ by Communists

Lech Walesa told Poland’s communist rulers today they had ruined the country and only sweeping democratic reforms could rescue it from catastrophe.

Speaking at the first round of government-Solidarity talks on Poland’s future, Walesa said in a speech seen by millions of Poles on television that the communist system had failed and must be dismantled. Seated across a massive round-table from communist negotiators, Walesa said bluntly that the era of the one-party state was nearing its end. “We know that the country is in ruins,” he said. “It was not dwarfs that ruined it, but a system of exercising power which robs citizens of their rights and wastes the fruits of their work.”