Walesa Wants Coalition Minus Communists

Lech Walesa called today for a coalition government in Poland excluding the Communist Party and grouping the opposition Solidarity movement with two small political parties allied to the Communists.

“The only political solution in the present situation is the creation of a Council of Ministers based on a coalition of Solidarity, the United Peasants’ Party and the Democratic Party,” the Solidarity leader said in a statement.

The United Peasants’ Party and the Democratic Party have for decades acted as loyal allies of the Communists. But in Poland’s current climate of rapid political reform, they have suggested that they are looking for a more independent role.

Prime Minister Czeslaw Kiszczak, who was appointed Aug. 2, is trying to create a “grand coalition” government between the Communists and Solidarity, but the opposition has rejected the proposal.

Walesa, who released his statement in the Baltic port of Gdansk, said Kiszczak’s appointment proved that the Communist Party was determined to retain the monopoly on power that it acquired in 1944.

“This has exacerbated the crisis of confidence and has reaffirmed society’s fears that essentially nothing has changed and that hope for the future is non-existent,” Walesa said. “In view of all this, I once again categorically oppose the formation of a new government by Gen. Czeslaw Kiszczak.”