Decisions of the Polish Leadership

As the economic and political crisis in Poland continued to worsen in the early 1980s, Soviet officials regularly and secretly met with Polish leaders to provide support, advice, and criticism. In April 1981, for example, a delegation of Soviet representatives traveled to Warsaw, Poland, to meet with Polish Communist Party officials. At the following meeting of the Communist Party in the Soviet Union on April 30, 1981, Central Committee members talked about the negotiations that took place in Poland. These meeting notes make clear the persistent pressure that Soviet leaders placed on Polish officials to act decisively in response to the opposition. These notes also reveal Soviet leaders' frustration with Polish officials who did not always follow Soviet recommendations. As this document demonstrates, Polish Communist leaders in the early 1980's were not their own masters during the crisis yet also often acted contrary to advice of their Soviet counterparts.