Walesa urges an end to 'mutual distrust'
Warsaw
Solidarity leader Lech Walesa -- in a broadcast interview on Polish radioOct. 8 -- called on the government and unions to "start understanding each other." "If we can get rid of the mutual distrust," he said, "then I think a year fromnow the mood of Poland could better.
"Without getting self-management to work and without trust in those who are responsible for everything, without trust in the union, it will not be possible. The time has come for us really to sit down at the table and start working for the good of all the people."
The interviewer put it to Mr. Walesa that Poles formerly were given a slogan, "Working for the country, we work for ourselves." The Solidarity leader replied: "I would turn that around -- working for ourselves, we work for the country."
The interview sounded a notably more concilatory note toward the concept of cooperation with the government than many of the speeches and resolutions at the Solidarity convention, which ended at Gdansk Tuesday night.
On the last day, after six ballots, the convention finally elected its 107 -member national committee.
Like the delegates at the Communist Party congress last July, delegates at theSolidarity conference elected many little-known local activists. They rejected some of thebest-known intellectuals who had advised the union leadership since last year. They also voted out all but one of the seven Communist Party members formerly on the committee.
As finally adopted, the union program put added emphasis on self-management and its eventual application throughout Polish life, not only in economic enterprises but also in the state administration and political activities.It called for electoral reform, beginning with open elections to local government bodies next year.
Meanwhile, in Warsaw the government was working on the draft of a law that could open the door for industrial plants to engage in foreign trade on their own account, in line with the greater independence visualized in last year's basis agreements on reform between the government and Solidarity.