POLAND'S SOLIDARITY SPLITS

July 18, 1990

Solidarity supporters of Polish Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki formed a political party Monday, sealing their break with union leader Lech Walesa. Zbigniew Bujak and Wladyslaw Frasyniuk, underground Solidarity leaders in the 1980s, were appointed joint leaders of the new Citizens Movement-Democratic Action.

About 60 or 70 prominent Solidarity politicians and parliamentary deputies were at the meeting. They accused the Solidarity leader of naked ambition, despotism, and destabilizing the government.

Walesa's opponents formed the new party after he successfully blocked their bid to turn the Citizen's Committees - Solidarity's electoral machine - into a pro-government party that could have triumphed in elections due by next spring.