Further Discussions on the Roundtable Talks
Annotation
Prior to the historic roundtable talks between Polish Communist officials and leaders of the opposition that eventually took place from February to April 1989, Solidarity activist Andrzej Stelmachowski secretly met with Secretary Jozef Czyrek, a member of the Polish Politburo. While their occasional meetings to discuss the content, structure, and composition of the upcoming talks were informal, they reveal the willingness of both sides to negotiate during the talks and in preparation for those talks. In this letter to Lech Walesa, the leader of Poland's Solidarity Movement, Stelmachowski relayed information about his recent negotiations with Czyrek on September 20, 1988. During their meeting, Stelmachowski and Czyrek made tentative arrangements for the roundtable talks and shared their grievances about actions or inaction by the opposing side. The roundtable talks that resulted from such initial discussions eventually led to the dismantling of communism in Poland and and other countries within the Soviet bloc.
Text
Letter from Andrzej Stelmachowski to Lech Walesa,
1 October 1988
1 October 1988
Tel. 33-96-11
Mr. Lech Walesa
Chairman of NSZZ
“Solidarity”
in Gdansk
Dear Chief:
On 20 September I held another talk with Secretary J. Czyrek. In the beginning,
according to the instructions, I protested the arrest of the 17 students who make up the
National Council of the Independent Student Union (NZS), expressing hope that the next
meeting of this kind would not be disturbed, even more so because at stake here is a
selection of delegates to the “Roundtable.” I also intervened on behalf of two members of
the Striking Committee at Stalowa Wola, who still have not been re-admitted to their
jobs, drawing his attention to the fact that the recommendation to re-admit about 200
miners to their jobs in Silesia also have not been implemented.
Secretary Czyrek promised to take care of these matters: he would go personally
to Silesia to settle things and also for his part to prepare a “miners’ table.” At the same
time he has raised far-reaching grievances towards Onyszkiewicz because of his
appearance before a U.S. Congressional Committee, that is before the body of a foreign
state (it was indeed a great blunder). As far as the “Roundtable” talks are concerned, we
have agreed on the following:
1) The main “Roundtable” will number 50-70 people.
2) Individual teams will have about 20 people each, and their compositions may
change as the need arises.
3) There will be 5 teams (union, systemic-political, economic, social pluralism
and agriculture), and an additional sixth “table” will be operating in Katowice (on mining
and matters related to that region). Secretary Czyrek didn’t agree to set up a separate
table for dealing with law and order, but agreed to discuss these matters at the systemic-political “table.”
4) On the governmental side, representatives of the Party and allied parties will be
invited but also large social organizations, such as NOT, PTE, agricultural circles, leaders
of self-governmental and cooperative organizations, etc., but more on a personal rather
than an institutional basis.
5) It has been decided that “Solidarity’s” representation will be as large as the
party-government representation, including the “allies;” however, there will be a third
category of “miscellaneous,” comprised of well-known personalities who are not directly
connected to either side. Here Church representatives will be included.
6) As far as the duration of the “Roundtable” talks is concerned, there is a
proposal to start them on 17 October and finish before 11 November. If everything goes
well, there would be a great ceremonious ending, combined with the 70th anniversary of
regained independence.
7) The “Roundtable” will make only the most important decisions and will form a
Council for National Understanding, which would receive proper powers from the Sejm
and would prepare legislative drafts necessary for the introduction of political reform, as
well as essential elements of economic reform.
In connection with this, we allowed ourselves to conduct a number of
consultations, as a result of which we have prepared together with Bronislaw, Tadeusz
and Henryk draft lists of participants with a kind request for approval or correction.
The list of the “Roundtable” contains both a proposal of people comprising the
“S” delegation, as well as those supported for a “bargain” with the government side. I
would also like to reserve the right of “exchanging” from our side some people if the
need arises.
I would also like to propose for the future the open-ness of deliberations, so that
the public can be properly informed.
I am requesting your approval of the above arrangements, and particularly the
date of starting the talks and the list of participants.
Shaking your hand,
[signed]
[Source: A. Stelmachowski Papers. Translated by Jan Chowaniec for CWIHP.]
Credits
Andrzej Stelmachowski to Lech Walesa, 1 October 1988, trans. Jan Chowaniec, Cold War International History Project, Documents and Papers, CWIHP (accessed May 14, 2008).