Polish general battles on to protect his place in history

Twenty years after communism crumbled in central Europe, most of the party leaders from 1989 are dead or living in obscurity - except for Poland's General Wojciech Jaruzelski, who is still fighting to salvage his reputation.

Now 86, the general sits ramrod straight at his desk, quietly explaining that his decision to declare martial law on December 13 1981 and crush the Solidarity labour union helped prevent a Soviet invasion of his country.

The general says, in a conversation with the Financial Times, that he acted after being convinced of a growing threat from the USSR, which was already using economic levers to prod the Polish government to act.

"There was constant, psychologically draining and exhausting pressure," says Gen Jaruzelski, and because he worried that if Poland spun out of control it could destabilise the postwar division of Europe.

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