WORLD : Walesa Hits ‘Ruin’ by Communists

WARSAW — Lech Walesa told Poland’s communist rulers today they had ruined the country and only sweeping democratic reforms could rescue it from catastrophe.

Speaking at the first round of government-Solidarity talks on Poland’s future, Walesa said in a speech seen by millions of Poles on television that the communist system had failed and must be dismantled. Seated across a massive round-table from communist negotiators, Walesa said bluntly that the era of the one-party state was nearing its end. “We know that the country is in ruins,” he said. “It was not dwarfs that ruined it, but a system of exercising power which robs citizens of their rights and wastes the fruits of their work.”