No Sugar Daddy

Poland's Communist leader Edward Gierek could hardly forget that he had been swept into power in 1970 by a wave of riots against rising food prices. So, for more than five years, he kept prices frozen even while wages rose by 40%. Such an artificial situation could not last indefinitely, and Gierek suddenly announced in June that the prices of many staples would go up an average 60%. Once again the restive Poles started fighting back.

In some 70 localities, demonstrators marched through the streets, staged sit-down strikes, even overturned a locomotive and tore up tracks on the main line from Warsaw to the west. The most violent outbreak occurred in Radom, a factory town of 180,000 in central Poland, where at least 75 policemen as well as hundreds of workers were injured and the Communist Party headquarters was set afire.

Gierek quickly backed down and canceled the price increases. But that was only a temporary maneuver. In a show trial designed to brand the Radom protesters as vandals, six carefully chosen defendants--all had criminal records--were sentenced to four to ten years at hard labor on charges of looting and destruction of state property. At the same time nearly 700 ordinary Radom workers were hauled into summary trials held in secret. About 80% of them reportedly were given sentences of six months to five years at hard labor. Most of the others were dismissed from their jobs, which in Eastern Europe usually means eviction from state-supplied apartments, loss of medical aid and other benefits.

Hoarding Housewife. Last week Gierek took a risky new tack in dealing with food shortages: he restored rationing to Poland for the first time since 1950. He restricted purchases of sugar, a basic and highly prized commodity, to two kilos (4.4 lbs.) per person per month at the legal price of 50-c- per kilo. (Extra amounts can be bought at 2 1/2 times that price.) He also announced that rationing may soon be extended to meat, for which he has already proposed a 30% price increase.

Ironically, Poland is traditionally an exporter of beet sugar, but this summer's drought severely cut production, and the shortage has been aggravated by hoarding. One farsighted Warsaw housewife recently managed to stockpile 1.5 tons of sugar for herself. In addition, the Soviets last spring tripled their purchases of Polish sugar (to 151,000 tons). When Gierek asked permission to make smaller or later deliveries, Moscow refused.

The country remained calm last week, but, as one West German businessman in Warsaw observed, "You have the feeling the place could explode any minute." To avert new violence, Gierek has promised to conduct "a frank, open dialogue" with the public about his food policy. Just in case that should fail, he has also canceled military leaves so that Polish forces can maintain a state of semi-alert.

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