WARSAW : Solidarity’s Birthday

Poland’s Solidarity trade union, widely seen as a precursor of 1989’s extraordinary political upheaval in Eastern Europe, launches two weeks of celebrations to mark its 10th anniversary amid appeals by its leader, Lech Walesa, for an end to “personal attacks.”

The call reflects the fact that Solidarity’s battles, once directed against a monolithic Communist power structure, are now internal, between liberal and conservative camps. It now appears that Walesa and Solidarity Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki may contest Poland’s presidency as early as this fall, marking the most interesting political race yet in the region’s post-Communist era.