World Notes Poland

It had been common knowledge to many Poles for months. Then last week, the Polish Communist Party made it official: General Miroslaw Milewski, 57, the man who was in charge of the security police at the time of the slaying of Father Jerzy Popieluszko last fall, had been forced to resign from both the ruling Politburo and the Central Committee. Milewski is the highest-ranking official to fall from power as a result of the pro-Solidarity priest's murder. Earlier this year, three secret-police officers were found guilty of the killing, and a fourth was convicted of instigating it.

Another plot was being investigated last week in Gdansk. The intended victim was Lech Walesa, 41, head of the banned Solidarity movement. Police were holding a paroled murderer who recently confessed that in 1983 he was asked by a mysterious man to murder the Solidarity leader. Said Walesa: "I am convinced that somebody is behind this."