The political battle bezxsen leaders of the regime and the free trade unionskcj turnedess dramatic, but atillerious, contest^inboth aidea have questioned the other'a geed faith.
The special effort by Deputy Prime Minister Jagielski yesterday to persuade the leadership of the new trade union,o calX off its one-hour strike set for tomorrow indicates the gravity with which the regime views the currant phase. Jagielski, whothe Gdansk agreements and has more credibility with the union leaders than any other Polish leader, probably argued that tha regime is fulfilling its side of the agreements and that the strike is unnecessary. Ha also may have pointed outtrike tha day before an important party Central Committee plenum would cnly give ammunition to conservative elements ln the party who could argueoncessionary policy loads todemands from workers. nion spokesman announced yesterday after the meeting with Jagielski, nowever, that the union would go through with the strike, earns*
The regime wanted to head off the strike also because it fears that it will show Moscow the strength of tha new unions and lead to Soviet pressureougher lino toward worker demands. Moreover, the regime would like toooperativo relationship with the unions in which strikes are used onlyast raiort. There also ia the possibilitytrike might encourage in-craased student activity. aaaaV
The "Solidarity" leadership has appeared to bein its approach to the- regime. The session cnthat authorized the strike, for example, was described as "stormy." Lech Walesa appears to have been morsabout calling this strike than his two deputies, Bogdan Lis and Andrzej Kolodzie j. famV
To justify the strike, the leadara of "Solidarity" haveumber of grievances. Those include the regime's failure to implement fully wago increases
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promised by the end of September, limited media coverage of the nev union's activities, harassnent of the union* by SOPB6 local officials, and the failure of some of these officials to consult the unions on wage and other issues*
, The strike probably stems as much if not more,nion leadership's varying assessments of theds of its fledgling organization. Son* probably believe that such demonstrations ara necessary to maintain the morale of their supporters and to gain new adherents.
Others may be feeling pressure fromore aggressive posture and probably are reluctant at this juncture to ignoreinority view. Only six ofelegates at the meeting cm Monday reportedly felt that negotiations on waqe increases were going unsatisfactorily.
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