Między szantażem i polityką. Internowanie Lecha Wałęsy
Blackmail or politics? The internment of Lech Walesa

Summary/Abstract: The paper considers political aspects of the internment of Lech Wałęsa during the martial law in Poland. It focuses on the negotiations between the authorities and the leader of Solidarity. Wałęsa was urged (and later blackmailed) to support the operation of rebuilding Solidarity into so-called neo-Solidarity. According to the plan of the Ministry of Interior, key positions in neo-Solidarity should by offered to the collaborators of the Security Service and activists ready for far-reaching compromise. The paper focuses on the course and dynamics of negotiations with Wałęsa by numerous authorities emissaries: Stanisław Ciosek, Paweł Chocholak and colonel Władysław Iwaniec. This article describes the negotiation strategy of both sides and shows why the attitude of Walesa was an important factor in the failure of the political plans of the Communist Party leadership.

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