Solidarity, Under Pressure, Agrees to Give Communists Greater Power

Prime Minister-designate Tadeusz Mazowiecki, under pressure from Polish Communists and the Soviet Union, promised today to give the party more than two ministerial posts in the Solidarity-led government he is forming.

Two ministries, defense and interior, had previously been promised to the Communists. The two ministries control the police and the army.

Mazowiecki, speaking to the Solidarity caucus in the National Assembly, said that with the Communists retaining control of those powerful ministries, it would be foolish to try to exclude them from the rest of the government.

The speech by Mazowiecki followed a 40-minute telephone talk Tuesday between party chief Mieczyslaw F. Rakowski and Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev in which it was agreed that it was “impossible” to have a government without the Communists, a party spokesman said.

It was highly unusual for the party to publicize such a telephone conversation, announcing it at a news conference.

‘Would Be a Trap’

The announcement appeared designed to stress the Soviet Union’s interest in having a strong Communist presence in the next government but it still reflected Moscow’s acceptance of the idea that the party should reach an accommodation with the Solidarity-led coalition.

Mazowiecki warned the Solidarity deputies that limiting the Communists to just two ministries could backfire. “The Communist Party in total negation would be a trap for the country,” he said.

Hinting that the party would eventually take back power by force unless a compromise was reached, he said: “No opposition in the world which . . . has the army and security services . . . remains the opposition.

“Our new partners must not feel like secondary partners.”

The lower house of the National Assembly, the Sejm, is to vote Thursday on Mazowiecki’s nomination. Ratification is expected because Solidarity leader Lech Walesa has put together a Solidarity-led majority by wooing two minor parties formerly allied with the Communists.

Mazowiecki did not say how many government ministries will be apportioned. He said he plans to present a government within a week.

Party spokesman Jan Bisztyga said that Mazowiecki’s envoy, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, had his first preliminary coalition talks on Tuesday with party Central Committee Secretary Leszek Miller. Bisztyga refused comment on the party’s coalition demands.

Mazowiecki said that there are no specific decisions but that it must be a “broad coalition.”

“One cannot today form a government in Poland other than a broad coalition having the support of all forces sitting at the Sejm,” he said.

Mazowiecki told the Solidarity lawmakers that he has President Wojciech Jaruzelski’s assurance that the army and security forces will cooperate with a government led by the opposition movement they had long sought to repress.

He also took a mild stance toward the removal of party loyalists from state jobs. He said he plans no “witch hunts” when he takes over. His only criteria for employment will be “competence and loyalty to the new government,” he said.