Gorbachev Says Party Is Vital to Polish Reforms

Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev asserted Tuesday that Poland cannot solve its problems without the Communist Party, a party spokesman said.

Gorbachev, who leads the Soviet Union’s Communist Party, spoke for 40 minutes by telephone with Mieczyslaw F. Rakowski, head of Poland’s Communist Party, party spokesman Jan Bisztyga said.

“Gorbachev expressed confidence that the Polish party would successfully solve the social and economic problems in the interest of socialism and voiced the conviction that solving these problems is impossible without” the Communist Party, Bisztyga said.

Poland’s Communist Party is pressing for maximum representation in the new Cabinet.

The conversation came as Tadeusz Mazowiecki, the Solidarity prime minister-designate, held talks on forming the East Bloc’s first government led by non-Communists. Mazowiecki met with leaders of Poland’s political factions and said he hopes to form his government within a week.

The Parliament vote to confirm his nomination as prime minister was postponed from today to Thursday to allow further consultations, Sejm Speaker Mikolaj Kozakiewicz said.

Although there are enough votes for Mazowiecki’s election, even without support from the Communist Party, the prime minister-designate faces the delicate task of balancing competing interests in the new alliance.

Mazowiecki met Tuesday with Jan Janowski, floor leader of the Democratic Party, outgoing Prime Minister Czeslaw Kiszczak and Marian Orzechowski, Communist Party parliamentary leader.

Later, Mazowiecki said he had “a very intensive conversation about problems which interest us” with Orzechowski. He also met with the speakers of the Sejm and Senate, the two chambers of the National Assembly.

The distribution of portfolios and names of future ministers are the capital’s most sought-after secret, and the competition for them among parties is intense.

Mazowiecki has so far given no details of his intentions, saying only that he wants the “broadest possible” coalition of pro-reform forces from every party.

However, the Communist Party was promised the defense and interior ministries, controlling the army and police, as part of Solidarity leader Lech Walesa’s agreement with President Wojciech Jaruzelski, who is allowing Solidarity to take charge of the first non-Communist government in Eastern Europe since the end of World War II.