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Background Reports

Weekly Record of Events in Eastern Europe, 24 November 1989 29 pages

RADIO FREE EUROPE
RADIO LIBERTY

RADIO FREE EUROPE Research
24 November 1989

WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS IN EASTERN EUROPE

16 to 22 November 1989

BULGARIA

November 16 A one-day plenum of the BCP Central Committee
relieved a number of Politburo members, candidate
members and CC secretaries of their duties, elected
their replacements, ousted several persons from
membership in the CC, including Zhivkov's son
Vladimir, and issued recommendations for further
personnel changes in the National Assembly.

November 17 The National Assembly unanimously approved the
release of Todor Zhivkov as State Council head and
elected BCP Secretary-General Petar Mladenov as his
replacement. A number of personnel and
organizational changes in the Council of Ministers
were also enacted during the session, which was
broadcast live on national TV for the first time
ever. In an unprecedentedly frank debate, deputies
praised Mladenov's enthusiasm for perestroika and
sharply criticized Zhivkov.

The National Assembly revoked Article 273 of the
Penal Code, which had been used to punish dissidents
and members of independent groups, and ordered a
general amnesty for those convicted under it.

In an interview with French television, Petar
Mladenov declared that he was "personally in favor
of free elections" in Bulgaria and an end to travel
restrictions. Newly promoted BCP Politburo member
Andrei Lukanov said that the next elections would
probably take place "under conditions of pluralism."

This material was prepared for the use of the staff of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

[page 2]

WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
16 to 22 November 1989

A rally lasting about 30 minutes sponsored by the
Sofia Fatherland Front to support changes in the

leadership was attended by approximately 10,000
people in Sofia who chanted their support for
reforms and for the prosecution of Zhivkov.

Figures on bilateral trade with the USSR and Eastern
Europe released by the United States Department of
Commerce showed that U.S.-Bulgarian trade registered
a 71 percent increase in the first half of 1989
over the same period in 1988.

November 18 Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze said
that the new Bulgarian leadership had some very
interesting ideas about the concept of perestroika
and the renewal of Bulgarian socialism and said that 
Moscow supported Bulgaria's new course.

An estimated 50,000 people attended an officially
sanctioned rally in Sofia's Alexander Nevsky Square
that was organized by independent groups and lasted
for about three hours. Speakers, who included many
leading dissidents, welcomed Petar Mladenov as the
new leader but called for more fundamental human
rights and democratic reforms, including free
elections. Many of the banners carried by the
demonstrators denounced former leader Todor Zhivkov.
Activists from the Moslem Pomak minority said that
police had banned people from the Pomak region of
Gocedelchev from coming to Sofia to join the rally.

Petar Mladenov met with top generals including
Politburo member and Defense Minister Dobri Dzhurov,
and thanked them for their support. 

November 19 Citizens' Initiative, an independent umbrella group
for leading Bulgarian dissident groups, announced a
pro-democracy program to several thousand people who
had gathered in Sofia's South Park to discuss recent
political changes. Eco-Glasnost' recruited 500 new
members and added 1,000 signatures to its petition
demanding the declassification of information on
Bulgarian nuclear power.

The popular television discussion program "Every
Sunday," banned last summer after it broadcast a
statement challenging the idea of world proletarian

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WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
16 to 22 November 1989

revolution, returned to the air waves, presenting a
series of interviews that were in part critical of
the government.

Independent student groups and the official Komsomol
communist youth league issued a joint statement
demanding the founding of a legal independent
student union and democracy in higher education.

November 20 The official news agency BTA reported that hundreds
of thousands of people participated in pro-reform
rallies in Vratsa, Ruse, Burgas, Varna and elsewhere
but did not indicate who had organized them.

BTA reported that when Mladenov was asked by workers
in a Sofia plant about the leadership change, he
responded that there had been "no special trip to
Moscow, nor...any special meeting with the Minister
of Defense...or interference by the army."

In an interview published in Narodna Mladezh,
Politburo member Andrei Lukanov said that the roles
of the government and the party must be clearly
delineated.

November 21 A group of workers at a Veliko Tarnovo electronics
plant staged a two-hour strike to protest the way
incentive bonuses were being distributed. After a
"stormy discussion" with and concessions by
management, the workers returned to their jobs.

At a plenum of the Bureau of the Komsomol CC, the
leadership of the youth organization accepted
responsibility for having failed to defend the
interests and needs of Bulgaria's young people and
heard a speech by BCP Politburo member Andrei
Lukanov addressing the "great opportunity" for youth
to participate in a nationwide dialogue "under
conditions of the broadest pluralism."

November 22 A one-day meeting of the BCP Politburo enacted a
number of personnel and organizational changes: it
removed Todor Zhivkov's son Vladimir as head of the
CC Culture Department; set up a party and state
commission headed by Andrei Lukanov to deal with
"deformations in social and economic life" under
Zhivkov; turned over to public organizations 11 of
the reportedly 30 official residences and 6 hunting
preserves previously used mostly by Zhivkov and his
guests; and disbanded the Banner of Peace, a

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WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
16 to 22 November 1989

children's organization previously managed by
Vladimir Zhivkov. It also announced that a CC Plenum
would be held on December 11 to discuss the economic
and social crisis and related issues.

The Council of Ministers appointed 41-year-old Filip
Bokov, an English-speaking Foreign Ministry
official educated in the USSR, as the first-ever
government spokesman.

[page 5]

WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
16 to 22 November 1989

CZECHOSLOVAKIA

November 16 The Czechoslovak government decided to halt
one-day and two-day trips to Czechoslovakia by
Polish, Hungarian, Soviet and Yugoslav
citizens organized by Czechoslovak travel
agencies and by factories. The measure was
aimed at curtailing short shopping trips to
Czechoslovakia by citizens of those countries.

CPCS Presidium member and CC Secretary
responsible for ideology Jan Fojtik left for
Moscow for a working visit at the invitation of
the CPSU CC.

Government spokesman Miroslav Pavel disputed a
New York Times report that Moscow had told the
Czechoslovak leadership to accelerate reforms.

About 500 students staged a pro-democracy
demonstration in Bratislava.

November 17 A spokesman for the Czechoslovak government
said that citizens who wanted to travel to the
West would still have to go to police for
approval, even though they would no longer
need to apply for an exit visa.

An authorized rally in Prague, attended by
some 50,000 people, to commemorate the death
of Czech student Jan Opletal 50 years ago at
the hands of the Nazis, turned into a
pro-democracy and anti-government
demonstration. Police riot troops responded
with unprecedented violence. According to
official Czechoslovak sources, 17 people were
injured, and 143 protesters, including Prague
Spring leader Alexander Dubcek, were arrested,

Sweden said Czechoslovakia had given dissident
playwright Vaclav Havel permission to visit
Stockholm to receive the 1989 Olof Palme
Prize.

November 18 Actors and students called for a one-week
boycott of all theater performances and
university classes and urged a two-hour general
strike on November 27 to protest police
brutality in Prague on November 17.

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WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
16 to 22 November 1989

The official Czechoslovak dailies Lidova
Demokracie and Mlada Fronta criticized riot
police and paratroopers who smashed the
November 17 demonstration.

Some 2,000 people were forced to disperse by
police in Prague after gathering and laying
flowers at the site where demonstrators were
beaten during the November 17 demonstration.

November 19 Rude Pravo suggested the Soviet-led 1968
invasion would be re-evaluated.

At least 20,000 people took part in a
demonstration in Prague calling for the
resignation of CPCS General Secretary Milos 
Jakes and protesting the reported death of a
student, Martin Smid, in the November 17
demonstration. The authorities denied his
death.

Czech Prime Minister Frantisek Pitra appeared
on television late at night to stress that
nobody was killed during the November 17
demonstration and to urge artists and students
to call off their strike plans.

"Civic Forum," an alliance of at least a dozen
opposition groups, joined by representatives
of the Socialist Party and the People's Party,
met in Prague and adopted a resolution calling
for a dialogue with the authorities and for the
resignation of seven of the 13 members of the
CPCS CC Presidium. 

Charter 77 activist Petr Uhl was charged with
the offenses of spreading alarming news and
damaging Czechoslovakia's interests abroad for
having informed Western news agencies that
student Martin Smid had been beaten to death by
police during the November 17 Prague
demonstrations.

November 20 More than 200,000 people demonstrated in Prague
for an end to Communist rule. Thousands also
protested in other Czechoslovak cities.

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WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
16 to 22 November 1989

East German party Secretary General Egon Krenz
indefinitely postponed his visit to
Czechoslovakia due November 21. No reasons
were given.

Students began sit-in strikes at a number of
schools and universities all over the country
as part of growing protests against the
crackdown on demonstrators on November 17. Most
Czechoslovak theaters were also on strike, and
their premises used for public debates on the
crisis in the country.
 
Svobodne Slovo, the daily of the
Communist-allied Socialist Party, carried a
sharply-worded statement by the party's
leadership condemning the police violence on
November 17 and pleading for a real dialogue
between authorities and society.

Dissident playwright Vaclav Havel said he would
not be going to Sweden to accept the 1989 Olof
Palme Prize because the situation in
Czechoslovakia "is becoming dramatic".

The U.S. canceled a visit by CPCS chief
ideologist Jan Fojtik, saying it would be
inappropriate because of the Czechoslovak
government's "consistent pattern of violations
of human rights".

The Secretariat of the CC of the Union of
Socialist Youth backed a call by the Union's
Prague Municipal Committee for the Czechoslovak
government to resign and for an inquiry into
police violence.

November 21 More than 200,000 people again demonstrated in
Prague, while student strikes were reported to
have been spreading throughout the country.
Vaclav Havel announced to the crowd in
Wenceslas Square in Prague that representatives
of the new Civic Forum had met earlier in the
day with Prime Minister Ladislav Adamec, who
promised a dialogue with the opposition.

The Czechoslovak Philharmonic, as well as
employees of Czechoslovak Radio and Television,
the National Gallery, and other institutions
joined the protest against the police violence.

[page 8]

WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
16 to 22 November 1989


November 22 The CPCS CC Presidium discussed the situation
in the country and called a CPCS CC plenary
meeting for November 24.

More than 200,000 people demonstrated in Prague
for democracy and the resignation of the
leadership. A message from Alexander Dubcek
was read to the crowd. Another huge rally was
reported from the Slkovak capital of
Bratislava. Virtually all university and
college students were on strike.

[page 9]

WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
16 to 22 November 1989

GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC

November 16 In a government statement to the West German
parliament, Chancellor Helmut Kohl said Bonn was
ready to cooperate with and give aid to East
Germany provided East Berlin accepted political
changes. Kohl added he wished to learn details
about how leaders in East Germany planned to carry
out the announced free elections. Acknowledging
freedom of travel as a first important step, he
cited freedom of opinion, information, the press,
trade unions and especially independent parties as
needed to achieve the East Germans' desire for full
freedom.

Agreement on an East German coalition government
was reached between the four communist-allied
parties and the SED. State and party leader Egon
Krenz called in parliament for the resignation of
27 deputies including his predecessor, Erich
Honecker.

About 10,000 people took part in a pro-democracy
rally in Ilmenau organized by the opposition group
New Forum.

British Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd visited the
Berlin Wall and the Brandenburg Gate, shook hands
with East German guards, and spoke to visitors
crossing from East Berlin.
 
Neues Deutschland announced the appointment of a
new editor, Wolfgang Spickermann, together with a
fresh editorial team, to replace Herbert Naumann.
Spickerman promised more lively and accurate
reporting, and also disclosed that former East
German leader Erich Honecker had personally ordered
last year's ban (now lifted) on the Soviet magazine
Sputnik.

European Community finance ministers decided to
include East Germany in a survey of the needs of
East European countries committed to restructuring
their economies along market-oriented lines.

November 17 In a new government announced by Prime Minister
Hans Modrow, the four communist-allied parties--
the Liberal Democrats, Christian Democrats,
Peasants, and National Democrats -- got 11 out of

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WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
16 to 22 November 1989

the 27 cabinet posts (down from 44). The SED
retained the defense, interior and foreign
ministries. The State Security ministry was
downgraded to a Government Office for National
Security and will cut its staff.

Prime Minister Modrow told the Volkskammer that the
process of reform was unstoppable and that the
people would sweep aside anyone attempting to
reinstate former conditions. The West German
government welcomed the speech as an "unsparing
break" with the past, expressing hope that
Modrow's pledges of openness, honesty and of the
state's desire to serve the people would soon
become reality.

SED Secretary General Egon Krenz said his
predecessor Erich Honecker had accepted "personal
responsibility" for the present crisis in East
Germany.

West German environment Minister Klaus Toepfer said
his country was ready to double its
200-million-dollar aid to help the GDR clean up its
environment.

November 18 U.S. President George Bush sent a message to Krenz
and Modrow praising recent changes in East Germany.
The 500-member East German parliament approved the
new coalition government of Prime Minister Hans
Modrow with five voting against and six abstaining.

November 19 The FRG Interior Ministry said more than 890,000 
East German visitors crossed into West Germany this
weekend. Those visiting West Berlin brought the
figure up above the one million mark.

Thousands of East Germans marched through the
cities of Dresden, East Berlin, Karl-Marx-Stadt,
Frankfurt an der Oder, Erfurt, Meiningen, Schwedt
and Neusterlitz to demand freedom of speech and an
end to the SED's power monopoly.

Ralf Koechert, spokesman for a group of scientists
from several East German academic institutes,
called for a public rally in East Berlin on
December 9 to discuss the nation's future.

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WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
16 to 22 November 1989

New Forum called for formation of a human chain
across East Germany on Sunday, December 3, to
demonstrate for free elections and genuine
power-sharing.

November 20 East and West German officials met in East Berlin
for talks about East Germany's reform plans. West
German government spokesman Hans Klein said
Minister of State Rudolf Seiters was on a
fact-finding mission in the GDR to obtain precise
information about the envisaged political and
economic changes.

East Berlin announced that by mutual agreement of
the two countries, East German state and party
leader Egon Krenz had indefinitely postponed his
visit to Czechoslovakia due to begin November 21.

Between 100,000 and 200,000 people participated in
demonstrations in Leipzig, with repeated calls for
various reforms. Similar demonstrations took place
in Dresden, Karl-Marx-Stadt, Cotthus and Halle,

November 21 West German Chancellery Minister of State Rudolf
Seiters, on a fact-finding visit to the GDR, met
the Evangelical bishop of Berlin-Brandenburg,
Gottfried Forck, the Catholic bishop of Berlin,
Georg Sterzinsky, and leaders of East German
opposition groups.

Volkskammer president Guenter Maleuda said in an
interview with Die Welt that he did not exclude
that former party leader Erich Honecker and former
Politburo member Guenter Mittag might be tried
after a public debate in parliament: a special
parliamentary committee would investigate their
alleged misuse of power, corruption, and personal
enrichment.

Bonn announced that West German Chancellor Helmut
Kohl's planned visit to East Germany would be
delayed until after the special SED congress in
mid-December.

More than five million East Germans have visited
West Germany since the GDR opened its frontiers on
November 9. Less than 1% stayed.

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WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
16 to 22 November 1989

West German Foreign Minister Genscher had talks in
Washington with U.S. President Bush on developments
in the GDR. He called for a cautious approach to
encourage moves toward democracy in Eastern Europe.
Announcements in Bonn and Paris said that West
German Chancellor Kohl and French President
Mitterrand would visit the GDR on December 15-17
and December 20-22, respectively.

Prime Minister Modrow said "unpopular measures"
would be imposed to control the black market which
had flourished since borders were opened between
East and West Germany.

The New Forum district group in Erfurt founded a
newspaper. 

November 22 Egon Krenz said the coming extraordinary congress
of the SED must address the question of
responsibility for the nation's current situation.
The SED politburo proposed setting up round-table
talks between the coalition government and
opposition groups.

About 10,000 people demonstrated in Erfurt for
democratic reforms and an end to the SED's leading
role. A pro-reform demonstration also took place
in Gera.

[page 13]

WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
16 to 22 November 1989

HUNGARY

November 16 Hungary formally applied to become the first East
European member of the Council of Europe. The
application was handed over in Strasbourg by
Hungarian Foreign Minister Gyula Horn, who
expressed confidence that Hungary's application
would be approved.

European Community Executive Commission President
Jacques Delors left Brussels on a fact-finding
mission to Hungary and Poland, accompanied by
French Foreign Minister Roland Dumas, President of
the EC Council of Ministers. They examined
political and economic reforms in the two countries
as well as arrangements made to receive Western
aid.

Parliamentary deputy Zoltan Kiraly objected to the
Foreign Ministry's suggestion that HSP members
Sandor Gyorke and Janos Gorog be appointed
ambassadors to Moscow and Tel Aviv, respectively.
Kiraly pointed out that the political power
structure was changing in Hungary and this called
for diplomats who were members of different
political parties.

The National Union of Hungarian Journalists
protested against the mistreatment by Czechoslovak
police of an accredited journalist of the Patriotic
Front daily Magyar Nemzet.

The Council of Ministers discussed the reduction of
bureaucracy in the administration and Hungary's
energy policy. It approved the suspension of the
Hungarian-Soviet agreement to enlarge the atomic
energy plant at Paks, noting that Hungary's future
energy needs should be supplied by smaller plants
run by gas turbines.

The Opposition Roundtable in the city of Debrecen
expelled the Hungarian Democratic Forum after the
Forum's call for a boycott of the November 26
referendum. The referendum was to decide on four
different questions, including the timing of the
election of Hungary's President. The Forum had
disagreed with other opposition groups on the

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WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
16 to 22 November 1989

issue, arguing that an early presidential election
would also have meant holding an early general
election.

November 17 European Community Commission President Jacques
Delors said Hungary had to apply some unpopular
policies in tackling its economic difficulties
while preparing for its free elections.

Hungary and Romania clashed at the United Nations
over the refugees from Romania in Hungary.
Hungarian delegate Gyula Szelei told the U.N.
General Assembly's Social, Humanitarian, and
Cultural Committee that his country was not
prepared to handle the serious problem of refugees
from Romania by itself. 

A national conference of the official Trade Union
Council in Budapest criticized the government's
economic program, including the system of taxation,
and the high rate of inflation it entailed.

The residual HSWP announced it would hold its 14th
congress on December 17. The announcement was
signed by Karoly Grosz, the party's general
secretary until the HSWP was replaced by the HSP at
the party congress in October.

November 18 Hungarian Foreign Minister Gyula Horn announced
that the HSP would not attend the Romanian
Communist Party congress in Bucharest.

Hungary advised travelers not to try to cross the
border to Romania because Romanian border guards 
were-turning people back without explanation.

Hungarian Democratic Forum President Jozsef Antall
attended the West German CSU's party congress
in Munich.

The Presidium of the Hungarian People's Party
discussed the party's agrarian program which
included plans for restoring ownership of the land
to those who owned it in 1947.

The Hungarian Green Party held its founding
meeting. The party considered environmental
protection and the protection of the minorities as
its main tasks.

[page 15]

WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
16 to 22 November 1989

November 19 The European Community proposed a 1-billion-dollar
loan by the World Bank to aid Poland and Hungary.
Japan established a 300-million-dollar aid fund to
help Hungary and Poland.

Hungarian Premier Miklos Nemeth paid a short visit
to West Germany to discuss some economic issues
with Chancellor Helmut Kohl. It was announced that
West German Foreign Minister Hans Dietrich Genscher
would visit Budapest on November 23 to sign a half
a billion mark credit agreement guaranteed by the
FRG government.

A Hungarian government delegation left for Rome for
talks on resuming full diplomatic relations with
the Vatican.

The first memorial to Cardinal Jozsef Mindszenty
was consecrated in a churchyard in the village of
Nemesgulacs in western Hungary.

November 20 The Council of Ministers placed the national radio
and television network under the supervision of a
15-member special committee consisting of
representatives of various political parties and
churches. The move was said to be aimed at
ensuring authentic and independent media coverage
in the period before the first free elections.

November 21 The U.S. Congress completed passage of a foreign
aid bill that included 533 million dollars in
assistance for Poland and Hungary during the coming
year.

Hungarian alternative organizations protested
police brutality by Czechoslovak police during
demonstrations in Prague.

Hungarian ambassador Ferenc Esztergalyos urged the
United Nations to protect the human rights of
Hungarian pastor Laszlo Tokes in Romania.

Prime Minister Miklos Nemeth admitted to Parliament
that Hungary had published false figures concerning
its foreign debt in 1982, when it was accepted for
admission to the International Monetary Fund.
According to Nemeth, Hungary's gross debt will


surpass 20 billion dollars by the end of this year.

[page 16]

WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
16 to 22 November 1989

Environment Minister Laszlo Marothy resigned after
making a speech to Parliament condemning those who
persuaded the government to abandon the
controversial Gabcikovo-Nagymaros hydroelectric
plant.

In response to allegations of corruption published
in a book, former Defense Minister Lajos Czinege
resigned all his military posts.

November 22 A communique of the Democratic Trade Union of
Scientific and Academic Workers expressed
solidarity with Czech and Slovak demonstrators.

South Korean President Roh Tae-Woo arrived for an
official visit in Budapest, his first one to an 
East European country. The South Korean President
was to meet with Minister of State Imre Pozsgay,
Socialist Party President Rezso Nyers, and
representatives of the opposition parties.

Parliament voted to reject the government's
three-year economic plan, which called for wide
austerity measures.

[page 17]

WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
16 to 22 November 1989

POLAND

November 15 Solidarity leader Lech Walesa met with US Secretary
of State James Baker. Baker was reported to have
told Walesa that US food aid was on its way to
Poland, and that such deliveries would proceed as
quickly as possible.

November 16 In an address to the National Press Club, Walesa
said that reformers in Poland had won a victory,
but "any wind could destroy this house of cards. If
we want a real victory we need to build a strong
foundation under it by pouring economic concrete."
To this end, US investment was needed. Walesa met
earlier with US Commerce Secretary Robert Mosbacher
and Agriculture Secretary Clayton Yeutter.

In a statement to the West German Bundestag on his
visit to Poland, Chancellor Helmut Kohl said that
he and Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki had
attained their goal of a breakthrough in relations.
Kohl said the process of reform in other East
European states would run into trouble should
Poland's efforts fail. Kohl added that one of the
goals of his trip had been to reassure Poles that
they could rely on the West. The Bundestag
overwhelmingly approved a resolution welcoming the
joint declaration signed by Kohl and Mazowiecki on
November 14.

West German officials announced that 3,000,000,000
DM in credit would be made available to Poland
immediately. Britain made public details of a
$37,000,000 assistance plan to help Poland's
transition to democracy and a market economy.

The US House of Representatives voted to increase
to $938,000,000 the authorization bill for the US
economic aid package for Poland and Hungary. The
bill was passed on to the Senate for approval.

Foreign Minister Krzysztof Skubiszewski attended a
meeting of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.
Poland signed the Council's cultural convention and
conventions dealing with international television
and doping in sports. Skubiszewski told reporters
that Poland intended to apply for membership in the
Council at some time in the future. A final

[page 18]

WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
16 to 22 November 1989

communique issued by the Council expressed approval
for Poland's wish gradually to increase cooperation
with the Council.

Poland's Primate, Cardinal Jozef Glemp, announced
on his return to Poland from Rome that Pope John
Paul II had accepted his suggestion of a fourth
visit to Poland, expected in 1991, Glemp also
said that Jozef Kowalczyk, the first apostolic
nuncio to Poland since the end of World War II, was
expected to arrive in Warsaw within a week.

On the second anniversary of demonstrations in
Brasov, Romania, the Solidarity parliamentary
caucus called for Romania to release all political
prisoners. The deputies also appealed to the 
Romanian government to begin discussions with
independent groups and to end repression.

Radio Warsaw reported that a second mass grave of
Home Army soldiers had been discovered near Jacnia
in Zamosc Voivodship. The grave contained about 30
skulls with bullet holes in them. Radio Warsaw


reported that the soldiers had been killed in 1945
by the Soviet NKVD and the Polish security service.

A Katowice court issued formal registration to a
committee that had tried for years to win the right
to collect money for the construction of a monument
to the miners killed at the Wujek Mine just after
the declaration of martial law. The committee, led
by Kazimierz Switon, has about 4,000 members.

The Nobel Committee invited Walesa to Oslo to
make up for the visit he was unable to make to
receive the 1983 Nobel Peace Prize.

November 16 In a two-day session, the Sejm approved an amnesty
-17 bill affecting about 17,500 prisoners, some
one-third the total. The Sejm also passed a law on
job reinstatement for people dismissed for trade
union activity or for their political or religious
views after the introduction of martial law. It
formally abolished the central annual economic plan
in a bill on planning principles for 1990, and
elected the members of the Constitutional Tribunal,
with university professor Mieczyslaw Tyczka as
Chairman (both communist party nominees were

[page 19]

WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
16 to 22 November 1989

defeated), There was also angry discussion of
environmental damage in Poland caused by pollution
from Czechoslovakia.

November 17 Walesa met in New York with US labor union leaders,
New York Governor Mario Cuomo, and the leaders of
major American Jewish organizations. Walesa was
reported to have "deplored" anti-Semitism, but
urged that the past "not be allowed to cripple the
relationship" between Jews and the new Polish
government. Walesa was also awarded the
International Rescue Committee's Medal of Freedom.
Walesa told the awards dinner that his work was
aimed at putting such groups as as the IRC out of
business by creating conditions under which people
would not have to flee their homelands. Walesa
appealed once again for aid for Poland.

The statue of Feliks Dzierzynski was removed from
the square named after him in Warsaw where it had
stood since 1951. Crowds cheered as the statue
crumbled into pieces.

Deputy Defense Minister General Jozef Uzycki told
Trybuna Ludu that Poland's armed forces were being
cut by 33,000 men and would total 313,000 men by
the end of 1989. This would drop Poland's armed
forces from the 7th to the 9th largest in Europe,
Uzycki claimed.

President Wojciech Jaruzelski named former PUWP
Politburo member Stanislaw Ciosek as Poland's
ambassador to the Soviet Union.

Jaruzelski received General Piotr Lushev, the
Commander-in-Chief of the Warsaw Pact armed forces,
in Warsaw. The meeting, also attended by Minister
of Defensce General Florian Siwicki, discussed the
activity of the joint armed forces in conditions of
"progressing detente" in Europe.

November 18 European Community Commission President Jacques
Delors and French Foreign Minister Roland Dumas
held talks with Polish officials, including
Mazowiecki, Skubiszewski, and Jaruzelski, in
preparation for a special EC summit scheduled to
open in Paris in the evening. Mazowiecki told
reporters in Warsaw after the talks that the West
must not only loosen the noose of indebtedness, but

[page 20]

WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
16 to 22 November 1989

"get it off our necks altogether." Mazowiecki urged
the EC to take action as soon as possible to assist
Poland in rescheduling its debts, as lack of time
was the chief threat to economic reform.

In Chicago, Walesa addressed a crowd of about
20,000 Polish Americans at Daley Plaza. Walesa
appealed for aid for Poland, saying, "help our
spirits to survive, Poland belongs to all Poles."
Together with the Polish-American Congress, Walesa
announced a bond program to draw revenue for Polish
reconstruction from world financial markets.

Polish Television replaced the discredited "Daily
News" with a revamped "News" program. The new 
newscasters included Wojciech Reszczynski and 
Bohdan Tomaszewski. The program covered
Jaruzelski's meeting with representatives of the
"Katyn families" in which the murder of Polish
officers was unequivocally attributed to the NKVD.
Radio Warsaw reported that Jaruzelski had advocated
transformation of the Soviet-Polish commission of
party historians studying "blank spots" into a
pluralistic "state commission."

Cardinal Glemp began the religious process for
beatifying his predecessor, Cardinal Stefan
Wyszynski, in a ceremony at Gniezno Cathedral.

Trybuna Ludu criticized the results of the recent
Kohl visit to Poland. The communist party's daily
charged the government with giving away too much on
the issues of the German minority, the upkeep of 
German military cemeteries in Poland, and the use 
of German names for Polish cities in the German
versions of bilateral agreements.

A second congress of Polish liberals opened in
Gdansk. Nearly 300 advocates of economic and
political liberalism attended. Discussion opened
under the slogan "there is no freedom without
property rights." The congress concluded by
expressing support for the Mazowiecki government.

Adherents of a renewed "National Party"
(Stronnictwo Narodowe) held their first congress in
50 years. Some 120 delegates attended. Bronislaw
Ekert was elected chairman. Representatives said

[page 21]

WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
16 to 22 November 1989

the party stood for the primacy of national
interests, Catholic inspiration in public and
private life, and Slavic unity.

Jaruzelski met with representatives of various
organizations concerned with the fate of Polish
officers and other Poles imprisoned in the USSR
during and after World War II. Radio Warsaw
reported that participants in the meeting had
agreed that it was essential to reach agreement
with the Soviet government on the erection of
memorials at Katyn and prison camps in the USSR.

Radio Warsaw's Moscow correspondent reported on the
preparations for the creation of a Polish cultural
society in the USSR. Poles from Kazakhstan,
Siberia, and elsewhere had traveled to Moscow for
the founding meeting.

November 19 In Philadelphia, Walesa received that city's
Freedom Medal, which he had been awarded in 1981
but had been unable to receive.

The "Alliance for Democratic Elections in
Solidarity" held its sixth meeting in Bydgoszcz.
Participants in the meeting approved a resolution
calling for Solidarity's second national congress,
scheduled for early 1990, to be held as a
"unification congress," that would allow the
participation of all groups expressing allegiance
to Solidarity's ideals.

A poll conducted by Polish radio and television
showed that 55% of those surveyed opposed the
construction of a nuclear power plant at Zarnowiec.
22% supported the project. 23% had no opinion.

An official Lithuanian-Polish Friendship Society
was set up in Vilnius.

Polish Television reported that a Polish language
facility had opened at Grodno University in
Belorussia. 54 students were enrolled in a course
designed to train Polish language teachers for
Polish schools. According to the report, the last
Polish school in Belorussia closed in 1949.

[page 22]

WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
16 to 22 November 1989

Polish Television carried an eight-minute program
featuring former RFE Polish Service Director Jan
Nowak. Polish TV said Nowak would be appearing
monthly.

During a visit to the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk,
officials from two Sejm commissions concluded that
the decision by the government of Mieczyslaw
Rakowski to close the shipyard had been an economic
and political mistake.

PAP reported that Mazowiecki's appeal to miners to
work on their free Saturdays had resulted in
greater coal extraction than normal.

November 20 The zloty was devalued by 8.8%, in the sixth
devaluation since the Mazowiecki government took 
office and the 16th devaluation in 1989. The
official exchange rate for the dollar was raised
from 3,100 to 3,400 zloty. The free market value
of the zloty was about 7,200.

Walesa arrived in Caracas, Venezuela, where the
World Conference of Labor was meeting. He told a
press conference that strong unions were needed but
they must not strangle the economic systems in
which they operated. Before leaving the U.S.
Walesa said he was happy with his visit and
optimistic that President George Bush and the US
Congress would help Poland.

Bush vetoed a foreign aid bill that included
emergency aid for Poland and Hungary, on the
grounds that the bill included $15,000,000 for the
UN population fund. The US House, of Representatives 
later passed a new version of the foreign aid bill
which included $533,000,000 for Poland and Hungary.

A Japanese newspaper reported that the Japanese
government had decided to provide about
$180,000,000 aid to Poland and Hungary.
$100,000,000 would go to Poland's currency
stabilization fund.

Representatives of Polish groups in the Soviet
Union met with members of the parliament and with
Minister Aleksander Hall in Warsaw.

The Polish media reported on economic results for
the month of October. Prices rose almost 55%,

[page 23]

WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
16 to 22 November 1989

bringing the annual inflation rate to 447%. Housing
construction was down 15.7% from October 1988.
Officials noted two positive signs: because prices
continued to rise faster than wages, market
disequilibrium became slightly less pronounced; and
export to the West increased.

The government met to consider the economic
situation. According to PAP, it concluded that
"Poland's economy is on the brink of collapse."
Public sacrifice would be necessary to construct a
workable economic system.

PUWP Politburo member Leszek Miller met with a CPSU
counterpart, Alexander Yakovlev, in Moscow.

Jaruzelski met with journalists representing both
the formerly official and the formerly independent
unions. Despite agreement as to the virtues of
pluralism in the mass media, there were serious
disagreements between the two groups on the media's
proper role in the current political situation.

The French daily he Monde donated its 25-year old
printing presses to Gazeta Wyborcza.

Poland's central savings bank raised the interest
rate for three-year deposits from 96% to 171%; for
two-year deposits, from 90% to 120%.

November 21 Walesa spoke at a luncheon given by Venezuelan
President Carlos Andres Perez. He urged European
and Latin American countries to cooperate in
preventing further economic decline. Walesa also
appealed to unions to strike only when there was no
alternative and to build rather than destroy
political systems.

PAP reported that Mazowiecki's impending visit to
the Soviet Union would provide the opportunity for
a broad review of both past and present
Polish-Soviet relations. The chances for trust
between the two nations, PAP commented, would be
improved by a final accounting for the crimes of
Stalinism and "the wounds it inflicted on both our
nations."

[page 24]

WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
16 to 22 November 1989

The US announced it would send $50,000,000 worth of
corn and butter to Poland. It was agreed that
proceeds from the sale of the corn and butter would
be used to enhance economic development.

Norway's parliament approved a $31,800,000 aid
package for Poland.

In a letter to the Financial Times, privatization
plenipotentiary Krzysztof Lis said that some state
enterprises could be transferred to private control
by February or March 1990. Shares in the firms
would be sold both to employees and the public.

November 22 In an interview with TASS, Mazowiecki said he was 
convinced that solutions could be found to the many 
economic, historical, and political issues he was
planning to discuss with Soviet leaders during his
November 23-27 visit. "The goal of my government,"
Mazowiecki explained, "is to respect all agreements
with our allies...this is no a temporary element of
our policy, but arises from a deep understanding of
what the Soviet Union represents for Poland." The
Polish-Soviet relationship should evolve on the
basis of free choice, not at someone's bidding.

Government spokesman Malgorzata Niezabitowska
discussed Polish-Soviet relations at a Warsaw news
conference on the eve of Mazowiecki's visit to the
USSR. Niezabitowska said that Poland recognized
the importance of relations with the USSR based on
"external sovereignty and independence in internal
affairs." She added that the government felt that
"genuine reconciliation and friendship between our 
nations have now become possible."

Rzeczpospolita noted that Mazowiecki "goes to
Moscow as Poland's first post-war Prime Minister
from outside the circle of the communist power
elite. But this does not mean that he is an
anti-Russian or an anti-Soviet politician. On the
contrary, like all serious people in Solidarity and
outside it, he knows that the rapid progress of
democratic change in Poland is only possible thanks
to the support of Gorbachev and his entourage."

Minister Witold Trzeciakowski told PAP that the
West had offered Poland more than $10,000,000,000
in economic aid. Much of the aid, however, as

[page 25]

WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
16 to 22 November 1989

well as the rescheduling of Poland's enormous
debts, depended on Poland's reaching agreement with
the International Monetary Fund.

On his last day in Caracas, Walesa told a meeting
of the World Confederation of Labor that Marxist
governments in the Western hemisphere would soon
meet their downfall. He said leftist governments in
Cuba and Nicaraugua "can count the hours they have
left." In Poland, Walesa boasted, "we have ousted
Stalin, we are kicking Lenin around the knees,
and we're soon going to start in on Marx."

Czechoslovak opposition spokesman Vaclav Havel told
a crowd of 200,000 in Prague's Wenceslas Square
that a message of thanks had been sent to Poland's
Solidarity union for its expressions of support for
the Czechoslovak protest demonstrations.

The US State Department announced that it had
stopped accepting applications for refugee visas
from Poles and Hungarians.

[page 26]

WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
16 to 22 November 1989

ROMANIA

November 16 In an appeal issued on the second anniversary of
workers' protests in Brasov, the unofficial
Solidarity caucus in Poland's Parliament called on
Romania to release all political prisoners, to
start a dialogue with independent, pro-democratic
groups and to end governmental repression.

The 38-year-old Maria Bejan, a mother of two
children, was sentenced to a year in prison after
demonstrating outside the Bucharest passport office
for permission to join her husband in West Germany.

In an interview with the Cuban news agency Prensa
Latina, Nicolae Ceausescu reiterated his proposal
for an international meeting of communist parties
to discuss their "joint responsibility for the
cause of socialism."

November 17 Radio Budapest said that Romanian authorities had
begun curbing the entry into Romania of foreigners
via the frontier with Hungary. There were
speculations that this might be a precautionary
measure linked to the 14th RCP Congress scheduled
for November 20. The Yugoslav news agency Tanjug
added that random identity checks were being
conducted at the Bucharest airport, railway
station and bus terminal. The correspondent of the
French publication Journal du Dimanche was expelled
from Romania and the head of AFP's Vienna bureau
was denied entry. A Tanjug journalist was also
denied accreditation.

The Hungarian representative in the UN General
Assembly's Social, Humanitarian and Cultural
Committee said that 28,000 refugees from Romania
were now in Hungary.

The US Department of Commerce announced that
Romania's trade with the United States had declined
by 51% in the first nine months of this year. U.S.
purchases from Romania had fallen by 56% in this
period.

The Soviet daily Izvestia critically noted that
Romania had managed to repay its foreign debt

[page 27]

WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
16 to 22 November 1989

within so short a period of time only at the cost
of empty shelves in food stores and strict energy
savings.

Domestic media carried an interview by Egor
Ligachev with the Soviet magazine Argumenti I Fakti
in which the CPSU Politburo member claimed that
socialism had "tremendous resources" and could not
possibly be improved by capitalist methods. The
media also reprinted an article from the Chinese
Beijing Review accusing Western countries of
attempting to promote changes in the "character of
political power" in the socialist countries.

In an interview granted to the Chinese daily Renmin
Ribao and released by Agerpres, Ceausescu said he 
attached great significance to consolidating
cooperation between communist parties and socialist
countries, stressing in particular the importance
of Romania's bilateral ties with China and the CCP.

November 19 Hungary's ruling Socialist Party announced that it
will not attend the RCP Congress.

In an interview with the North Korean Communist
Party daily Rodong Shinmun, Ceausescu said that in
view of the intensified anti-socialist and
anti-communist activity of imperialist and
reactionary forces, the defense of socialism was
the duty of every party and nation and of socialism
in general.

November 20 Romania's Communist Party opened its 14th party 
congress in Bucharest. In his opening speech,
Nicolae Ceausescu firmly rejected the reform path
followed in other socialist countries. Socialism,
he emphasized, had proven its might and capability,
and it was absurd to claim that socialist and
capitalist production forms could exist side by
side. He called for strengthening CMEA and Warsaw
Pact cooperation, and obliquely revived the
Bessarabian issue by advocating repudiation of all
accords with Nazi Germany and elimination of
the consequences of these "pacts and diktats."

The Italian, Austrian and Finnish communist parties
decided to boycott the congress to protest against
Bucharest's policies, while the French CP declared
it had "fundamental" differences with the RCP and

[page 28]

WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
16 to 22 November 1989

its delegation to the congress would call for the
democratization of political life in Romania.
Ambassadors of NATO and EEC countries in Bucharest
also did not attend the congress, in protest
against Romania's human rights record.

A CPSU message to the party Congress, said mutual
exchanges of experience would better demonstrate
the "humanist potential of socialism", upon which
the "progress of each of the socialist countries
and the attractiveness of the socialist idea in the
world depended".

In an interview with the Polish Solidarity daily
Gazeta Wyborcza, two Romanian dissidents based in
Paris said they were seeking the support of other
European countries in their struggle against the
Ceausescu dictatorship.

November 21 French President Mitterand said in The Hague that
the inevitable contagion of democracy would soon
overtake Romania, even if reform there was for the
time being blocked by governmental repression.

Hungary urged the UN to protect the human rights of
ethnic Hungarian Pastor Laszlo Tokes, who had
allegedly received death threats. Romania's UN
Ambassador Petre Tanasie denied charges that
Romania was violating the human rights of its
Hungarian minority.

A message to the 14th RCP Congress from the
Yugoslav League of Communists emphasized the need
for "profound and substantial changes " in modern
socialism. The message added that democracy was
becoming a universal principle.

November 22 In an interview with the French radio, Foreign
Minister Roland Dumas said that the EC would
provide no financial aid to Romania until "the wind
of liberty blows over Romania as it blows
elsewhere." France currently holds the rotating
presidency of the EC.

Addressing the 14th RCP Congress, First Deputy
Prime Minister Elena Ceausescu praised the
successes of socialism in Romania which, she
claimed, ensured high standards of civilization
and general welfare. She added that Romania was

[page 29]

WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
16 to 22 November 1989

determined to reject any actions of "reactionary
imperialist circles" to destabilize and weaken
socialism.

Deputy Planning Committee chairman Constantin
Caloianu told Western reporters in Bucharest that
Romania would not follow the example of Polish and
Hungarian economic reforms. Romania's economy, he
added, was good enough.

In his address to the RCP Congress, TO chairman
Miu Dobrescu said that "management by the Party was
and would continue to be a sacred principle" for
Romanian trade unions. It allowed, he said,
their ever more substantial participation in the
building of the new society.

Radio Moscow told its Romanian listeners that it
was encouraging that Nicolae Ceausescu had pointed
out in his report to the party Congress that
Romania obtained a record cereal output of 60
million tons this year, because there was an
"acute shortage" of foodstuffs in the country.

The New China Agency said that Chinese Politburo
Member Qiao Shi, who is attending the 14th RCP
Congress, was "deeply impressed by the Romania's
powerful leadership."

- end -

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