News In Brief
| Gdansk, Poland
Poland marks an anniversary with accusations of the West
The Communist Party marked the fourth anniversary yesterday of strikes that gave birth to the now-outlawed Polish trade union Solidarity by accusing the West of trying to start ''bloody civil war'' in Poland and wreck the country's alliance with the Soviet Union.
Solidarity founder Lech Walesa, surrounded by about 150 supporters, walked silently to the monument to workers at Lenin Shipyard, where he laid flowers and knelt in prayer. The monument was built in 1980, due to pressure from Solidarity to commemorate scores of workers who were killed nearby in a 1970 clash with security forces.
Meanwhile, Polish newspapers reported yesterday a pay raise for top government officials which nearly doubles their salaries. It said the raises were needed to deal with the ''galloping depreciation of earnings.'' Poland's inflation rate in 1983 was nearly 25 percent.