POLAND

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90G01353R001500230070-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 4, 2013
• Sequence Number: 70
• Publication Date: August 22, 1988
• Content Type: MISC

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/09/11: CIA-RDP90G01353R001500230070-8 5X1
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22 August 1988
Talking Points for DDCI
25X1
Poland
The labor unrest in Poland, which escalated today with a walkout
at the Gdansk shipyard led by Lech Walesa is potentially the worst
crisis for the government since the imposition of martial law in 1981.
There are now more workers out on strike than last spring and in more
crucial industries.
o Coal miners, demanding large pay hikes and relegalization of
Solidarity, began the walkouts last week and were soon joined
by port and transport workers who have crippled the port city
of Szczecin.
o In addition to the Gdansk walkout, ri-e7W=TEF1e-actTon-s-a-re
repo-nted-at-a-maj-e-n-faeterT-427n=WaTs-aw-and=the-Nowa Huta=stee-I,
rmi--At=1-t-hTis7i7polnt-7=a-47-4-nst7a71-I-ations-are-oamstrinyo,lving
25X1
-A
The government strategy thus far is a repeat of last spring, with
threats of lost jobs and pay, a media campaign villainizing the
strikers, and intimidation by surrounding strike sites with riot
police. Th-gove-rnment-epparantIy=haa=tak-en=meagto-prepa-r-e--Tn'a
14-se-af_force_against_the-s-trersH,
o The authorities, however, would probably have to use greater
force than last spring--when they intervened with security
forces at Nowa Huta--because of the loss of surprise and
greater number of strikes.
o The government refuses to deal with Solidarity but has given
some signals it might be willing to deal with strikers on their
economic demands. 25X1
Offering negotiations on pay demands, nonetheless, may not be
enough to end the walk-outs because the strikers' insistence on
legalization of Solidarity appears stronger than last spring. If
worker militancy continues to grow, the odds for forceful government
intervention will increase markedly. Although the government has the
ability to restore order with force, we believe such a policy would
leave an even greater legacy of bitterness and alienation--ensuring
that any peace established would be volatile and probably only
temporary. 25X1
Czechoslovakia
25X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/09/11: CIA-RDP90G01353R001500230070-8
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/09/11: CIA-RDP90G01353R001500230070-8 5X1
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As many as 10,000 people joined a25X1
spontaneous protest march in Prague yesterday evening on the 20th
anniversary of the Warsaw Pact invasion that toppled the Dubcek
regime.
o Even dissidents, who had expected only small-scale protests,
appeared to have underestimated the frustration many
Czechoslovaks, particularly youth, feel with the regime, which
is increasingly out of step with the reforms occuring in the
Soviet Union. 25X1
25X1
SECRET
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/09/11: CIA-RDP90G01353R001500230070-8
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/09/11: CIA-RDP90G01353R001500230070-8
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Polish Labor Unrest, August 1988
Sweden
The United States Government has not recognized
the incorporation of Estonia. Latvia. and Lithuania
into the Soviet Union Other boundary representation
float necessarily authoritative.
(
BOftlholm Denmark)
Baltic Sea
Pomeranian
Bay
Swinoujscie
Strikes in
progress
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Szczecin
Dock and transport
workers on strike
Gdadsk.
Threatened
strikes,
Wane
WARSAW
Soviet
Union
Wroclaw
Solidarity leader
47: arrested
otowice. Nine strikes
*lit in progress
ttqlne
Czechoslovakia
Austria
Hungary
50 75 100 Kilometers
2 0 75 100 Miles
714290 (547779) 8-88
25X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/09/11: CIA-RDP90G01353R001500230070-8