Poland: Workers Win Half a Loaf

The episode recalled the early 1980s, when Solidarity, the independent trade union, wielded its strike weapon to extract concessions from Poland’s Communist leaders. Faced with a threatened 15-minute nationwide walkout called by the now banned labor organization, the government of General Wojciech Jaruzelski last week postponed planned food-price hikes averaging some 12%. Unlike the old days, both sides claimed victory. The authorities attributed their decision not to Solidarity’s walkout plans but to actions by the officially sanctioned All-Poland Trade Union Alliance, which had also come out against the price rises. The government thus sought to turn its retreat into a success by burnishing the credibility of the labor federation that it / backs as a defender of workers’ interests.

The workers did not win the complete cancellation of the price hikes: the government promised only to introduce them gradually and to offset their effects with cost of living payments to lower-income groups. Behind the official backdown: the knowledge that four times since the end of World War II there have been major revolts sparked by food-price protests.