Soviet reaction to the Polish crisis of 1980–1981 Kremlin was discontented with how leniently this suppression proceeded, and on 18 October 1981, it forced the Polish United Workers' Party to replace Kania with Jaruzelski. The latter promised to impose martial law but demanded backing his action by a promise of Warsaw Pact military intervention if he failed to control the situation. On 29 October, Jaruzelski's demands were discussed at a session of the Soviet Politburo, where Andropov confirmed the consensus that no Soviet troops would be sent to Poland. At the 14th annual meeting of the Committee of Ministers of Defense of the Warsaw Pact, which took place
Wojciech Jaruzelski the 100 seats in the fully elected Senate were also won by Solidarity-backed candidates. Amid such a crushing defeat, there were fears Jaruzelski would annul the results. However, he allowed them to stand. Jaruzelski was elected by parliament to the position of president. He was the only candidate. Jaruzelski was unsuccessful in convincing Lech Wałęsa to include Solidarity in a "grand coalition" with the Communists. He resigned as first secretary of the PZPR on 29 July 1989. Mieczysław Rakowski succeeded him as party leader. The Communists initially intended to give Solidarity a few token cabinet posts for the sake of