ABSTRACT
In a sense the progress of the historical debate has been stymied by the demonizing of both the issue and those held responsible, most especially General Wojciech Jaruzelski. General Wojciech Jaruzelski is one of the figures whom most people recognize at a glance. A caricaturist’s delight with his iron-rod back, bald head and dark glasses, he was, the antithesis of the flabby octogenarians of the Soviet politburo. Jaruzelski has always chosen to accept the burden of the decision to introduce martial law alone. Both Jaruzelski and Mieczyslaw Rakowski maintain that the negotiations between the government and Solidarity were real and that the party was genuinely seeking a national agreement. Both claim that, on the basis of their information then, that Solidarity was planning a major strike, that would involve armed resistance, for 17 December. Rakowski claims that it was the discredited Radom tapes that made Jaruzelski change his mind and agree ‘at the last minute’ to introduce martial law.
