Wooing the Worker

The drab Polish industrial city of Lodz has a tradition of defiance dating back to the 1890s, when the city's textile workers staged violent demonstrations against the Russian czarist occupiers. Last week Lodz once again showed its rebellious spirit as 10,000 textile workers, most of them women, went on strike. Their action was a warning to the regime of Party Leader Edward Gierek, who succeeded Wladyslaw Gomulka in December after bloody workers' demonstrations against higher food prices and a cut in earnings.

Gierek's tactics in settling the December riots helped create the Lodz situation. To placate workers in Poland's big Baltic shipyards, Gierek did what no Communist leader in history had ever dared to do: instead of crushing the protesters, he gave in to their demands. Bargaining personally with the strikers, Gierek agreed to rescind a complicated new bonus system that workers feared would reduce their take-home pay. He also raised the minimum wage and pensions. But Gierek held fast on one crucial point: he refused to cancel an average 17% increase in food prices.

Soviet Help. Gierek's maneuver seemed to defuse the dangerous situation. But then the Lodz workers struck, demanding a 16% wage increase and better working conditions. Gierek sent Premier Piotr Jaroszewicz and three other Politburo members to reason with the workers. After several sessions, including one that lasted until 4 a.m., the officials returned to Warsaw with no settlement in sight.

Gierek faced a difficult decision. To break the strike would alienate workers and strengthen the position of his chief rival, General Mieczyslaw Moczar, the tough law-and-order security chief who crushed a 1947 Lodz strike in which two workers died and 80 were wounded. The Soviet Union came to Gierek's rescue by offering an estimated $500 million in credits and grain shipments. Buoyed by Soviet help, Gierek was able to cancel the price increases. The Lodz workers went back to work and the rest of the country remained quiet.

The question remained, however, whether Gierek's somersault on prices would embolden other workers to make fresh demands next week or the week after. The Polish press launched a campaign obviously inspired by the regime to warn Poles that the latest concessions "reached the absolute last boundary."

Local Shake-Up. Gierek desperately needs time to gain the full confidence of Poland's disgruntled workers. He is replacing unpopular local party officials with men and women from the factories. He continues to send ministers and high party officials scurrying throughout the country to talk with workers and farmers. Last week he personally visited Radom, Kielce and Katowice, matter-of-factly explaining to workers the impoverished state of the economy and appealing for understanding and help.

Gierek also spent several mysterious hours in Bialystok, near the Soviet border. In the past, the thick forests near Bialystok have sheltered secret meetings between Soviet and Polish leaders. With the 24th Soviet Party Congress scheduled to begin in Moscow on March 30, the Russians are anxious to stabilize the situation next door. For the moment, the Soviets are backing Gierek. If he fails to keep the situation under control, however, the Kremlin may well consider other options.

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