55. Telegram 4657 From the Embassy in Poland to the Department of State, July 6, 1976, 1448Z.1 2
SUBJECT:
- POLISH PRICE RISES: GIEREK’S RACTION TO RFE COMMENTARY
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4G
ACTION SS-25
INFO OCT-01 ISO-00 SSO-00 /026 W
——————————- 025841
R 061448Z JUL 76
FM AMEMBASSY WARSAW
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 2460
S E C R E T WARSAW 4657
EXDIS
E.O. 11652: XGDS-1 (IMPODET)
TAGS: PINT, PFOR, ECON, PL
1. FOLLOWING THE JULY 4 CEREMONY AT THE SEJM (SEPTEL),
FIRST
SECRETARY GIEREK MADE
SOME COMMENTS TO ME ON THE CURRENT CON-
CERNS OF THE POLISH REGIME.
HE WAS ACTIVELY SECONDED BY VICE
MARSHAL OF THE SEJM ANDRZEJ WERBLAN
(PZPR) AND, SOMEWHAT LESS
ACTIVELY, BY MARSHAL STANISLAW GUCWA
(ZSL). THE DISCUSSION
LASTED ABOUT TEN MINUTES.
2. GIEREK SAID THAT THERE SEEMED TO
BE A GENERAL RECOGNITION
IN THE WESTERCKPRESS, INCLUDING IN THAT OF
THE U.S., THAT THE
POLISH GOVERNMENT’S PROPOSED PRICE-RISE MEASURES
REPRESENTED
A NECESSARY STEP. IT WAS HIS IMPRESSION THAT MOST MEDIA
COM-
MENTATORS TOOK A SYMPATHETIC ATTITUDE TOWARDS THOSE
MEASURES,
“EXCEPT FOR THE TOMFOOLERY OF RADIO FREE EUROPE, WHICH
WIL-
FULLY DISTORTS THE SITUATION.” HE WENT ON, “THEIS
SURPRISES
ME, BECAUSE FAILURE TO REFORM THE PRICE STRUCTURE WILL
ONLY
WEAKEN POLAND AND PLAY INTO THE HANDS OF THGSE WHO DO NOT
WANT
OUR COUNTRY TO OCCUPY A SIGNIFICANT PLACE IN EUROPE. BUT
I
HAD THOUGHT THAT YOUR GOVERNMENT, MR. AMBASSADOR, AGREED
THAT
IT WAS GOOD IF POLAND’S POSITION WERE STRONGER,
RATHER THAN
WEAKER.”
3. I SAID I COULD ASSURE HIM THAT THAT WAS THE VIEW OF MY
GOVERNMENT
AND NO ONE IN IT WISHED POLAND TO BECOME WEAKER.
WE HAD PROVEN THIS
BY THE ECONOMIC COLLABORATION AND
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CREDITS WE HAD OFFERED.
4. GIEREK SAID HE HAD READ THAT THE
PRICE OF MEAT HAD RISEN
BY 103 PERCENT IN THE U.S. OVER THE PAST TEN
YEARS. IT WAS
NOW ESSENTIAL THAT IT SHOULD RISE IN POLAND. I SAID
I
COULD NOT DISPUTE WITH HIM ABOUT THE DOMESTIC-ECONOMIC
PROGRAM
OF THE POLISH GOVERNMENT.
5. GIEREK SAID THAT POLAND HAD
ENEMIES WHO WISHED TO KEEP
HER WEAK AND DEPRIVE HER OF THE ABILITY
TO MAKE HER VOICE
COUNT IN EUROPE. “RFE STUPIDLY PLAYS INTO THE
HANDS OF
THOSE ENEMIES,” HE SAID.
6. I SAID AGAIN THAT I COULD ASSURE HIM THAT NO ONE IN MY
GOVERNMENT
WANTED TO WEAKEN POLAND.
7. GIEREK SAID THAT, IF THE POLISH
GOVERNMENT’S PRICE-
REFORM PROGRAM COULD NOT BE SUCCESSFULLY
EFFECTED, THE
CONSEQUENCES WOULD BEAUHARMFUL NOT ONLY FOR POLAND,
BUT,
IN THE EYES OF ANYONE WHO WAS WISE ENOUGH TO TAKE A
LONG
VIEW, FOR “ALL THOSE WHO CONSIDER THAT IT IS IN
THEIR
INTEREST TO HAVE A STRONG POLAND IN THE CENTER OF
EUROPE.”
CONCLUDING, HE SAI, “IF ONE IS FAR-SIGHTED, HE WOULD
NOT
CONTRIBUTE TO THE REALIZATION OF SUCH CONSEQUENCES. IF
YOU
STUDY CAREFULLY MY SPEECH IN KATOWICE, YOU WILL FIND THAT
IT
CONTAINS ALL THE CORRECT ACCENTS TO CONVICE YOU THAT I
REALLY MEAN
THIS.”
8. ASSURING HIM ONCE MORE OF THE GOOD WILL OF MY GOVERNMENT,
I TOLD
GIEREK I WOULD TRANSMIT TO
WASHINGTON THESE REMARKS
OF HIS.
9. COMMENT: WHILE MOST OF THIS DISCOURSE WAS CONDUCTED IN
A
REASONABLE TONE, ALTHOUGH SERIOUSLY, GIEREK WAS BITTER
AND A LITTLE SARCASTIC WHEN HE
REFERRED TO RFE. OF COURSE,
HE FINDS IT INCOMPREHENSIBLE THAT A
RADIO STATION
FINANCED BY THE U.S. GOVERNMENT AND OSTENSIBLY
GOVERNED
BY A BOARD APPOINTED IN PART BY THE PRESIDENT,
SHOULD
BROADCAST ANYTHING NOT CAREFULLY CALCULATED IN ADVANCE
BY
THAT GOVERNMENT FOR THE IMPACT IT WILL HAVE ON ITS AUDIENCE.
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10. WHILE HE NEVER SAID SO, AND CANNOT EVEN BE SAID TO HAVE
IMPLIED
THIS UNAMBIGUOUSLY, I INTERPRET HIS REMARKS AS AN
EFFORT TO SUGGEST
TO US THAT HIS OPPONENTS WHITHIN THE
COMMUNIST CAMP, AND EVEN IN THE
SOVIET LEADERSHIP, ARE
BEING GIVEN WEAPONS AGAINST HIM BY RFE. HE
SEEMED TO BE
SAYING THAT, DESPITE THE DRUBBBING HE APPARENTLY
RECEIVED
FROM BREZHNEV DURING
THEIR “FRANK AND CORDIAL” TALK IN
BERLIN, HE HAD STRUCK TO HIS GUNS,
AS SHOWN BY THE ALMOST
COMPLETE ABSENCE FROM HIS KATOWICE SPEECH OF
COMMUNIST
TERMINOLOGY OR APPEALS TO COMMUNIST SHIBBOLETHS.
11. ALSO OF INTEREST IS THE IMPLICATION CONTAINED IN THE
REFERENCE TO
“CONSEQUENCES,” IN WHICH GIEREK
APPEAREDMXXMXXM
TO BE SUGGESTING THAT, IF HE FAILS AND IS REPLACED
BY
BY SOMEBODY ELSE — PRESUMABLY SOMEBODY HAND-PICKED BY
THE
SOVIETS - WE OURSELVES WILL BE PARTIALLY TO BLAME
BECAUSE OF THE
DESTRUCTIVE EFFECT OF RFE’S BROADCASTING.
END COMMENT.
SECRET
NNN
- Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy Files. Secret; Exdis. Gierek’s government enacted a drastic increase in food prices in June 1976; Gierek withdrew the increases shortly after Polish citizens, chiefly in Radom and Warsaw, reacted to the policy with violent strikes and riots.↩
- Ambassador Davies reported a conversation with First Secretary Gierek in which he protested Radio Free Europe’s commentary on Polish price increases.↩