Seething with Change

By Thomas A. Sancton

The unions and the party embark on a delicate experiment

To the cheers of hundreds of sympathizers gathered below the five-story concrete building, two workers proudly hoisted a new red-and-white banner that proclaimed, INDEPENDENT AND SELF-GOVERNING TRADE UNION OF GDANSK. Inside, the wood-paneled hall buzzed with excitement. A young organizer from a tractor factory near Warsaw boastfully announced that 50% to 80% of the workers in his sector had signed up for the new unions. A burly miner from the Silesian coal fields, on the other hand, complained of official harassment against efforts to organize his mine. The familiar figure of Lech Walesa, 37, the triumphant leader of the original Lenin Shipyard strike, rose to make a telling disclosure. During a recent trip to Warsaw, he recounted, the authorities had in effect tried to buy him off by offering him the leadership of the party-controlled official trade union--a lure he had duly refused. Pledged Walesa to a rising cheer: "We cannot lose touch with the workers."

Such were the growing pains of an independent labor movement taking root in hostile ground. The gathering in Gdansk last week was the first nationwide meeting of some 150 organizers, representing new independent unions throughout the country, come together to stretch their new muscle and air their concerns. The convention-like meeting, in fact, was only one sign of the seething activity that was continuing to take place in Poland after two months of labor turmoil. "The Poland of today is not the same as before July 1980," conceded a top government official. "It will be impossible to return to the situation we had before."

For one thing, the strikes had not entirely dissipated. A lingering ripple of scattered stoppages continued at more than a dozen enterprises last week; some smaller factories experienced their second and third walkouts. Moreover, in Berlin, in what some observers interpreted as a spillover from the Polish upheaval, several hundred West German employees of the East German-run railroad* went on strike to press a series of demands: higher wages, new fringe benefits and, not surprisingly, an independent union.

The long shadow of the Soviet Union still loomed over Poland. Indeed, the Pentagon reported signs of ominous Soviet military activity on Poland's borders. The moves involved 20 Soviet divisions in East Germany and 20 in western Soviet military districts. Washington analysts were unsure whether this might be in preparation for an eventual intervention, but Secretary of State Edmund Muskie said the U.S. was closely monitoring the situation. President Carter delivered a promise and a careful warning: "We will not interfere in Poland's affairs--and we expect that others will similarly respect the right of the Polish nation to resolve its problems on its own."

In Warsaw, meanwhile, newly installed Party Boss Stanislaw Kania moved to restore public confidence and cope with the country's awesome economic problems (see box). Scrapping the economic plan of deposed Party Boss Edward Gierek, the new regime announced that it would slash its 1980 budget by $400 million, mainly from the investment sector, in order to help fund the pay raises that the workers have been promised. Fulfilling another pledge it had made to the strikers, the government this week prepared to resume regular radio broadcasts of the Roman Catholic Sunday Mass, for the first time since the Communists came to power in 1947.

Changes also seemed to be brewing within the party ranks. The official press hinted at impending purges that would be aimed at "clearing from the party ranks those individuals who have given in to the temptations of an easier life and corruption." The notorious example that was held up was that of Maciej Szczepanski, the Gierek confidant who formerly ran the state broadcasting network and now stands accused of embezzlement. Also purged were two other top party officials: Zdzislaw Grudzien, party chief in Katowice and a Politburo member, and Jerzy Zasada, party leader in Poznan. There were indications that more heads would roll at both the forthcoming Central Committee plenum and a subsequent party congress that Kania has already called.

At the same time, the party also seemed intent on trying to divide the workers from their intellectual backers. The official press last week stepped up its campaign against "antisocialist elements" and specifically denounced KOR, the dissident group that has been advising the strikers. Explained KOR's leader, Sociologist Jacek Kuron: "They want to rid the [independent labor] movement of activists so that they can take over and do what they did with the official trade unions."

If Warsaw does expect to absorb the free trade unions, the defiant delegates who met in Gdansk last week promise to put up a stiff fight. Speaker after speaker denounced attempts by factory managers or local authorities to block the formation of independent unions. The most commonly cited tactic: threatening to cut off the social benefits of workers who join the new organizations. Others mocked promises of internal reform by official union leaders anxious to hold on to their original membership. Still others blasted the government for withholding information about the new unions in the press. Said a bus driver from Lodz: "We should have unity as soon as possible so that we can oppose these problems."

The question of national unity, in fact, dominated the Gdansk meeting and sparked an intense four-hour debate. Delegates from smaller factories and towns called for a strong central organization to protect them from harassment by local officials. Those from larger cities and more populated regions like the Baltic coast, where the new unions are already strong, favored a loose advisory body. A closed-door session finally produced a compromise: a national " coordinating committee" whose member unions will retain their own decision-making powers but will adopt uniform statutes and register as a group with the Warsaw district court. To no one's surprise, Lech Walesa was elected chairman.

While most Western experts remained skeptical about Kama's intentions, the Polish people appeared somewhat more optimistic about the prospects for economic and political reforms. Conscious of their new-found power, the workers felt they probably could meet any attempt by the government to renege on the basic concessions with renewed strikes. The implicit threat was not lost on the authorities. Said Tadeusz Fiszbach, party boss in the Gdansk area: "Only cooperation with the new unions will make our survival possible in a difficult situation."

--By Thomas A. Sancton. Reported by Henry Muller/Gdansk

*The four-power agreement after World War II gave East Germany control of railroad service for East and West Berlin.

With reporting by Henry Muller

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