Poles react to death of communist-era strongman Jaruzelski General Wojciech Jaruzelski, Poland's last communist leader who tried but failed to crush the freedom-fighting Solidarity union, died Sunday aged 90. Jaruzelski marked Polish history by trying to strangle the Soviet bloc's first free trade union with a brutal military crackdown on December 13, 1981. Poles remain divided over his legacy. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES of Poles reacting to the news of his death.