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WARSAW
2030, 15 September 1981
At an extraordinary session of the
KOK on Sunday, which Kania attended for the first time, no final decision
was made about the imposition of martial law. Almost all of the
participants supported it. It seems that the tenor of the meeting
surprised Kania. Although he did not question that such a development was
inevitable, he reportedly said, in these precise words, that "a
confrontation with the class enemy is unavoidable. This involves first a
struggle using political means, but if that should fail, repression may be
adopted." Note-taking was forbidden at the session. During the KOK's
meeting, Kiszczak declared that Solidarity knew the details of our plans,
including Operation "Wiosna"
and its secret
codename. I should emphasize that this is a codename— the secret title
of the operation—and not the codeword needed to put it into effect. The
officials responsible for implementing the plans don't know the codename;
hence, it will be easy to compile a group of suspects. (The MSW
was given urgent orders
to find the source.) The first steps have already been taken. Except for
Szklarski and
me, everyone was excluded in operational directives from the planning. A
counterintelligence officer visited Szklarski
and me yesterday. He spoke about ways of preventing future leaks. At
present, Jasinski has
taken command of planning at the national level. Szklarski has temporarily
withdrawn. Since this morning we have been working, under Jasinski's
supervision and in cooperation with a PUWP CC official,
with the KOK
Secretariat, with the KPPRM, and with Pawlikowski from MSW,
on a unified plan of
command for the surprise introduction of martial law. The document is
still being put together, so I am unable to give a detailed account of it.
(I proposed a break so that I could send this telegram.) In brief, martial
law will be introduced at night, either between Friday and a work-free
Saturday or between Saturday and Sunday, when industrial plants will be
closed. Arrests will begin around midnight, six hours before an
announcement of martial law is broadcast over the radio and television.
Roughly 600 people will be arrested in Warsaw, which will require the use
of around 1,000 police in unmarked cars. That same night, the army will
seal off the most important areas of Warsaw and other major cities.
Initially, only the MSW's forces will take part. A separate political
decision will be made about "improving the deployment of
armies," that is, redeploying entire divisions to major cities. This
will be done only if reports come in about larger pockets of unrest. One
cannot rule out, however, that redeployments of divisions based far away
from the areas of future operations will commence with the introduction of
martial law or even earlier. For example, it would take roughly 54 hours
to redeploy the 4th Mechanized Division to the vicinity of Warsaw.
Because the investigation is
proceeding, I will have to forgo my daily reports about current
developments. Please treat with caution the information I am conveying to
you, since it appears that my mission is coming to an end. The nature of
the information makes it quite easy to detect the source. I do not object
to, and indeed welcome, having the information I have conveyed serve those
who fight for the freedom of Poland with their heads raised high. I am
prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice, but the best way to achieve
something is with our actions and not with our sacrifices.
Long live free Poland!
Long live Solidarity, which brings
freedom to all oppressed nations!
JACK STRONG
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