POLAND: Playing Russian Roulette

Strike-happy unions continue their risky game with Moscow

For a time it seemed to have all the makings of a rerun of last summer's strike drama. Threatening a citywide general strike, workers in Warsaw put up posters and donned red-and-white armbands. Many newsstands stopped selling government newspapers and displayed small Polish flags, a symbol of union protest. At the Ursus tractor factory, flash point of the 1976 food riots, more than 600 assembled workers cheered as union organizers from other Warsaw plants pledged to shut down their enterprises. The battle cry was...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!