Grapevine: Apr. 9, 1990: Lech Walesa and Tadeusz Mazowiecki

AND DON’T INVITE LECH AND TADEUSZ TO THE SAME PARTY. Most Poles realize that Solidarity cannot go on being all things to all people: trade union, political party, shaper of the country’s future. But hopes that the breakup would be amicable now look unlikely. The problem stems from an old hero. Lech Walesa wants to be President by forcing an early election. But most Solidarity legislators seem to prefer remaining in government and Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki. Even though his drastic economic reforms have cut living standards as much as 40%, polls of Poles show that he is more popular than Walesa. Lech is sulking in Gdansk.