Mutual Distrust

Moderates on the defensive

"He was a symbol for all liberals in 1 the party. He was the symbol of hope that it could change." The subject of that description by a Polish journalist was Stefan Bratkowski, 47, one of the Polish Communist Party's leading advocates of cooperation with the independent Solidarity union and the Roman Catholic Church. Bratkowski's liberalism cost him his party membership last week.

The decision, revealed at a highly charged Central Committee meeting, comes as a blow to those who hope a reasonable compromise is still possible between the embattled party and the increasingly militant, 9.5 million-strong Solidarity union.

Bratkowski's idea, ironically, did not appear very different from one advanced by the government only a few days earlier:

the creation of a permanent committee composed of government and labor leaders to discuss Poland's pressing economic problems. Mutual distrust, however, remains so profound that the suggestion quickly became the focus of a new row between the party and Solidarity. The union's eleven-man presidium rejected the offer because it objected to the inclusion of the old Communist-controlled unions, which still claim to have 4 million members. The government termed Solidarity's response "outrageous," but nonetheless accepted the union's offer to hold bilateral talks on how to alleviate the growing food shortages. It also gave in to Solidarity's demand for a temporary price freeze on most basic goods.

The climate worsened as moderates in both camps faced a growing challenge within their ranks. Although Solidarity had called for a moratorium on strikes, workers in various cities put down their tools last week to protest widespread food and fuel shortages. In Zyrardow, 27 miles west of Warsaw, 12,000 women occupied textile mills. A union official explained that the townspeople faced "real starvation"; they had to wait three or four days, he said, for their weekly ration of 1 1/2 lbs. of meat.

At a provincial party meeting in Warsaw, Communist Party Leader Stanislaw Kania came under attack for showing excessive "submissiveness and liberalism."

As the capital swirled with rumors that Kania would be replaced, he adopted an uncharacteristically hard line. "Solidarity, instead of becoming one of the forces for socialist renewal, is becoming one of its main brakes," he told a meeting of the 200-member Central Committee. Kania's tone did not bode well for the future of party-Solidarity cooperation. Nor did the union's latest threat. It will meet this week to decide whether to call for a nationwide warning strike.

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