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...
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