On Lech Walesa's Trip to Italy

In January 1981, Lech Walesa, leader of the Solidarity Movement in Poland, along with other participants in the opposition, traveled to Italy. In response to this visit, the Central Committee of the Communist Party in the Soviet Union sent a telegram to the Soviet ambassador in Italy instructing him on how to handle the visitors. The instructions advised the ambassador to meet with the leader of the Italian Communist Party (ICP), Enrico Berlinguer, to discuss the threat of Solidarity. This document exhibits the fear that Soviet leaders felt regarding the ongoing and increasingly strong resistance in Poland. They feared that leaders of Solidarity were spreading their ideas and attempting to gain support from the international community, even from the ICP. It also shows that the crisis in Poland and the concern of Soviet leaders went beyond the borders of the Soviet bloc.