A Triumph of Moral Force

By Fred Bratman

Walesa discomfits the Communists by winning a Nobel Prize

His ulcer had been acting up and no wonder. Poland's government had initiated another smear campaign against him. This time, the authorities said, he was under investigation for currency violations. Days before, the state-run television network had played a tape recording in which he could purportedly be heard discussing a $1 million foreign bank account and bemoaning the fact that he had been passed up for a Nobel Prize last year. To relieve the pressure, Lech Walesa, leader of the now banned Solidarity movement, went off with a group of friends one day last week to hunt for wild mushrooms in the woods about 50 miles from his home. But he did not find the seclusion he sought. Walesa was pursued by U.S. and West German television crews that wanted his reaction to a bit of news that he, at first, could not believe: he had just won one of the world's most prestigious honors, the Nobel Peace Prize.

The importance of the award went far beyond the $192,000 in cash or the gold medal emblazoned with an image of the award's founder, 19th century Inventor Alfred Nobel, that the winner will receive in Oslo on Dec. 10. Walesa's selection boosted the sagging morale of a movement that has been crippled since General Wojciech Jaruzelski imposed martial law in December 1981. For Poland's government, it was a stinging reminder that the world had not forgotten the ideals behind Solidarity's struggle.

In the West the selection was widely hailed. President Reagan called the choice a "triumph of moral force over brute force." Pope John Paul II commended the Nobel committee for honoring the "intent to resolve the difficult problems of the world of the worker, and of Polish society, through the peaceful means of sincere dialogue and the reciprocal cooperation of all."

The 78 other nominees this year included some strong competition: the Pope, former U.S. Middle East Negotiator Philip Habib, Nazi Hunter Simon Wiesenthal and several international organizations, like the United Nations Children's Fund. In citing its reasons for picking Walesa, the Nobel committee declared that his activities had "been characterized by a determination to solve his country's problems through negotiation and cooperation without resorting to violence." It added: "Lech Walesa's contribution is both an inspiration and an example." The committee knew its decision would create a stir. Said Chairman Egil Aarvik: "I don't expect any thanks or gratitude from the Polish authorities. But I can imagine that the attitude of the Polish people will be very different."

He was right. By the time Walesa returned to his home in the Baltic seaport of Gdansk, 1,000 supporters had already gathered outside his apartment. "Lech, Lech," they chanted as they hoisted their hero into the air. Walesa dedicated the award to the 10 million members of the outlawed Solidarity movement. He immediately promised to turn the prize money over to a fund that the Roman Catholic Church has been trying to establish for the country's farmers.

The Polish government reacted with predictable defensiveness. By the time Warsaw radio issued its first news bulletin on the subject, six hours after the award had been announced in Oslo, residents of Gdansk could see extra-heavy detachments of blue-and-gray uniformed policemen on the street. Clearly embarrassed by the choice, the government charged that the West was attempting to provoke unrest in Poland. In a pointed attempt to denigrate the award, news bulletins claimed that past winners, including Henry Kissinger and Menachem Begin, had used the prize for political ends and not to promote peace. Said Poland's deputy government spokesman Andrzej Kono-packi: "This is a political affair that depreciates the value of the Nobel Prize for the future."

The press in the Soviet Union, China, East Germany and Rumania simply ignored the news. Czechoslovakia's Communist Party newspaper, Rude Pravo, mentioned the award but called it a "provocative gesture" and suggested that Walesa could add the Nobel Prize's "pieces of silver" to the million dollars he was already hoarding in Western banks.

The prize came at a time when Walesa's influence seemed to be diminishing. Since his release after eleven months of internment, the government has attempted to discredit or ignore him. When Walesa met with the Pope outside Cracow last June, John Paul reportedly explained to him that his militant stand was an obstacle to improving Poland's domestic situation. Since then, Walesa has kept a low profile, shunning most demonstrations and refraining from openly challenging the regime. Similarly, Solidarity's call in August for a boycott of Warsaw's public transportation went largely unheeded.

Walesa became the second Communist-bloc citizen to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1975, the Soviet government did not allow Dissident Physicist Andrei Sakharov to travel to Oslo to receive the prize in person. Would the Polish government allow Walesa to go? After initially saying that he would send his wife Danuta and thus avoid a direct confrontation with the authorities, Walesa said that the one thing holding him back was that he would feel uncomfortable "drinking champagne and celebrating" when hundreds of his countrymen are jobless or in jail for their political beliefs. His real fear, however, may be that the Polish authorities will allow him to travel to Oslo, but then not permit him to return to Poland.

--By Fred Bratman. Reported by Roland Flamini/Bonn

With reporting by Roland Flamini This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.