General Jaruzelski asked Soviets for military support against Solidarity but the Kremlin feared US reaction.
Slawek Szefs reports
According to information found on the website of the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), general Jaruzelski was to ask the Kremlin for military assistance in case the imposition of martial law in Poland in 1981 encountered active resistance of society.
This runs counter to the interpretation of the events by the general himself, who is presently on trial charged with heading an armed conspiracy against his nation. In numerous interviews and court statements the now 86 year-old former communist party boss and government leader has maintained that martial law was "a lesser evil" for Poland, threatened with military intervention by the Soviets fed up with the political success of Solidarity.