ABSTRACT
Soon after Kama’s rise to power, Western observers differed over Soviet thinking about Poland. President Carter’s national-security adviser at the time would later remark about Polish affairs as he saw them in 1980: “Toward the end of September and certainly by early October, the situation began to look more ominous, with portents of possible Soviet intervention.” 1 Diplomats in Moscow, however, failed to see the ill omens. In late October they reportedly believed that most Soviet officials felt that “the political struggle in Poland, though fraught with danger, is still at an early stage” and “the Polish leadership still has large reserves of power and influence to bring to bear” (New York Times, October 30, 1980).
