Premier Offers Poles ‘New Page in History’ : Outlines Vision of Political, Economic Changes as Parliament Approves Opposition-Led Cabinet

Declaring that Poles are about to “begin a new page in their history,” Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki on Tuesday outlined his vision of sweeping political and economic changes for Poland, while the Parliament overwhelmingly approved his appointments for the first opposition-led government in the Soviet Bloc.

In an often eloquent speech that seemed the emotional peak of Solidarity’s remarkable 18-month climb from the political wilderness to the centers of power, Mazowiecki pledged a Polish state “based on the rule of law” and forsaking an era when “the state wanted to rule not only over the deeds but over the minds of the people.”

“I’m coming as a man of Solidarity, faithful to the heritage of August,” Mazowiecki said, referring to the month in 1980 when Solidarity became the East Bloc’s first legal independent trade union. “I understand that, first of all, as society’s great common appeal to determine the fate of the country.

‘Overcome Quarrels’

“The heritage of August is also about the ability to overcome quarrels and divisions, the ability to seek partnership, to abandon thinking in terms of taking revenge for the past,” he said.

Mazowiecki, a longtime Solidarity activist and the editor of its weekly newspaper until he was approved as prime minister two weeks ago, told Poles they will face further economic hardships, including rising prices and unemployment, in the months ahead before his government could pull the country out of “economic catastrophe.”

But he urged Poles to “overcome feelings of helplessness” and laid out a general plan of action that seemed designed to convince his countrymen that genuine change, after years of hollow Communist promises, is finally on the way.

The lawmakers, including the 173 Communists who saw control of the Parliament slip from their hands last month, rose to applaud Mazowiecki’s speech and then again when his Cabinet selections were approved.

A wave of concern swept the hall, however, when Mazowiecki stopped his speech after 47 minutes, wiped his obviously weary face and asked for a recess. Doctors at a medical aid station in the building checked his heart and blood pressure, saying afterward that both were normal. They said that Mazowiecki, 62, who has ulcers and a degenerative spine ailment that makes standing difficult, had felt faint. After a 45-minute pause and a walk outdoors, he resumed his speech.

“I’m very sorry,” he said when he returned to the podium, “but this is the result of several weeks of too intensive work, and I have reached the same condition as the Polish economy. But I have overcome it, and I hope the economy will too.”

He went on with his outline for what sounded like a blueprint for a new Poland, a vision that included equal access to mass communications and the eventual development of a stock market.

He also promised significant reforms in the police that will guarantee social protection and not “social obedience.”

He pledged an open news media, in which the press will not be “administratively regulated,” censorship would be “restricted” and right of access to radio and television “equal for all.”

“The time of limiting or restricting the freedom of Polish journalism has passed,” he declared. “The time of its great role in creating the political culture of society has begun.”

Autonomy to Universities

Mazowiecki said restrictions on institutions of higher education will be lifted and legislation passed to give autonomy to universities. He promised an active environmental protection plan to help curb the country’s massive problems of air and water pollution. And he said his government will move to revitalize the nation’s health care system, in part by removing bureaucratic barriers to private clinics and hospital cooperatives.

It was the economy, however, that Mazowiecki listed as the nation’s most critical problem.

“The average standard of living is lower today than it was 10 years ago,” he said. “And the fear of poverty has expanded in the countryside as well as the cities. The economy is in the noose of foreign debt. Industrial capacity is quickly being worn out. The breakdown in the housing industry is deepening, which particularly affects young people.

“The ecological crisis in some parts of the country has taken on catastrophic dimensions. For the first time since 1982, a rapid drop in production has begun. . . .

“The spiral of wages and prices, which is infecting the whole economic organism, has joined these phenomena in recent months. We are threatened by an enormous inflation that could lead to complete economic chaos. We are determined, as soon as possible, to halt this process and to make a turn in the economic situation of the country.”

Noting that economists had predicted a rate of inflation that could reach 4,000% within the coming year, Mazowiecki said the government will call an immediate halt to the printing of “empty money,” which he said was the fuel for inflation.

In addition, he said, the government will:

--Lower state budget subsidies, limit centrally financed investment plans, convert some military industries to civilian purposes and curb government credit for new investments.

--Develop a plan for selling shares in state industries, with plans for employees to buy bonds or stocks in some industries, and the eventual creation of a stock market.

--Curb state monopolies, with particular emphasis on the food industry.

--Accelerate the creation of a modern banking system and remove obstacles to the creation of private commercial banks.

--Remove barriers to the sale of farmland, which he said would allow agricultural acreage to pass “into the hands of those who are most capable of using it in the best way.”

Mazowiecki warned that his measures to curb inflation will be painful but argued that the government had no choice but to adopt a stern program to halt the wage-price spiral.

“There is no guarantee,” he said, “that there will not be an even higher monthly movement in prices than we have already had. With such high inflation, a motivation to produce disappears, and farmers don’t sell wheat, which has for them more value than the devaluing money. The decay of the system of production must sooner or later cause sharp social tensions from which it is only a step to general chaos in the country. This is a very likely scenario if we delay or hesitate from taking these hard but necessary decisions.”

Mazowiecki’s Cabinet nominations included 11 members of Solidarity in a total membership of 23. With Mazowiecki’s vote in the Council of Ministers, as the Cabinet is called, Solidarity will hold control.

The Communists were given four ministries: Defense, Interior, Transportation and Foreign Trade.

The United Peasants’ Party and the Democratic Party, after abandoning their long alliance with the Communists to join a new Solidarity coalition last month, were given four and three posts, respectively.

Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski, the president, watched the proceedings in the Sejm, as the lower house of Parliament is known, from a special box in the gallery, sitting by himself in a high-backed wooden chair. On Monday, Jaruzelski said Mazowiecki’s efforts to form a government had met with his “greatest approval.”

Solidarity leader Lech Walesa watched the Sejm session on television from his home in Gdansk.