General Jaruzelski moved to crush Solidarity and in 1981 he declared martial law.

In 1981, the regime imposed martial law to crush Solidarity, but it stayed alive underground.

"This is a man who, back home, is a stalwart doctrinarian who favored the bloody use of force to crush Solidarity."

Much has changed since General Jaruzelski used martial law to crush Solidarity in 1981.

However, he intended all along to crush Solidarity.

Party officials recall the complete military support General Jaruzelski was given by the army when he imposed martial law to crush Solidarity in 1981.

In December 1981 he was the tough-minded Communist boss who imposed martial law to crush Solidarity, the grass-roots labor movement.

The union-backed candidate was nominated by General Jaruzelski, the leader of those who engineered the imposition of martial law essentially to crush Solidarity.

The ruling party is the weakest of any in the bloc, though it had sufficient power to crush Solidarity by armed might.

"We had not expected the mass character of the movement," says Jaruzelski, who tried to crush Solidarity with tanks in December 1981.