Walesa Loses Battle in Polish Power Struggle

Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki scored a victory Sunday in his power struggle with Solidarity leader Lech Walesa by winning a pledge from Poland’s provincial citizens committees to form a pro-government party.

After weeks of mounting differences, the contest between the two men erupted into the open when Mazowiecki asked the 49 provincial committees, formed in 1989 as Solidarity’s electoral arm, to forge a national movement to support his government.

He told committee chairmen at a meeting in Parliament attended by prominent Solidarity politicians that the government wants the committees to be “a huge political base” for building democracy.

Ignoring opposition from Walesa, the committee leaders accepted Mazowiecki’s proposal and voted to meet July 1 to discuss setting up a national federation with its own structures and political program.

The decision means that the committees, which helped Solidarity win huge victories in parliamentary elections last year and in last month’s local elections, are moving to become a pro-government party.