Poland’s Involvement in Disarmament Initiatives in the 1980s: PZPR-SPD Working Group and Jaruzelski’s Plan Cover Image

Zaangażowanie Polski w inicjatywy rozbrojeniowe w latach 80. XX wieku – grupa robocza PZPR-SPD i plan Jaruzelskiego
Poland’s Involvement in Disarmament Initiatives in the 1980s: PZPR-SPD Working Group and Jaruzelski’s Plan

Author(s): Małgorzata Świder
Subject(s): International relations/trade, Military policy, Post-War period (1950 - 1989)
Published by: Oficyna Wydawnicza KA AFM
Keywords: Jaruzelski’s plan; PZPR-SPD working group; disarmament; arms control; NATO; Warsaw Pact;

Summary/Abstract: In the mid-1980s, Poland, fighting for a return to the international political arena after imposing diplomatic sanctions on it due to the imposition of martial law in 1981, engaged in two disarmament projects. These were works within the PZPR-SPD working group and Jaruzelski’s plan announced in 1987. Both of these initiatives referred to earlier Polish concepts, first of all the Rapacki plan and the Gomułka plan. The initiative to establish a joint working group came from the West German Social Democrats, who saw in it the possibility of breaking the international isolation of Poland, and for the SPD to remain in international circulation. The Jaruzelski plan, harmonizing with the plan of Mikhail Gorbachev, was an expression of the changes taking place under the influence of perestroika in both Poland and the USSR. Consulted with other states of the Warsaw Pact, mainly from the USSR (a delegation of experts from the USSR took active part in its formation) became the basis for other disarmament / peaceful socialist countries.

  • Issue Year: XXXIV/2019
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 257-280
  • Page Count: 24
  • Language: Polish