European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 10, 1980, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 12 the stars and stripes James Reston wednesday. September 10, 1930 Carter s trying to Jimmy Ronnie into a Corner , Lell us a Story. One of those funny political stories. To lilies is no til subject for children. I Lii be. Grandpa Don i be an old Damper. Well once upon a Lime there a an american president who was in terrible 1 rouble i and Vhal s new about that Vojt was his name Jinmy. And he was running for re Clicc lion against ,1 Man named Ronnie you re making this All up. Net at All. This Jimmy was a Gix d Man with 11 big Prin and a squeaky voice but or could t win for losing. Millions of people were nut of work f Van professional football players were Down to their last yacht the women were orc Al the men and tie men were sure Al inc women and both were sore at Jimmy who was Doua to his last Peanut and was about to lose his Job. So what did he do. Grandpa Well of night lie called his staff together in inc White mouse and told them to come up with a plan to turn him into u Winner and Lurn humic into a loser by 9 o clock the next morning. Stiffen up the president said inc future of the Republic depends on  and did they stiffen up they were stiff All night but they appeared nest morning with a 500-Page re port proclaiming the achievements of Jim my s administration and extolling the character building virtue of adversity. Cut it Down to so words ordered the president Al this joint up spake Jimmy s political wizard. His name was Jurden but he pronounced in Jordan. Why ? shut up. Stupid let grandpa go on. Well inc Wilard said we have a two part plan Lucky plan no. 1 and Lucky plan no. 2" grandpa Why did t Jimmy just deny he d Ever been president Don t interrupt silly what was inc plan grandpa the Secretary of slate thought it would be useful if Ronnie the other Guy got Sun of confused Between the billion people in China proper and the other chinese Folk on Taiwan. You know sort of lost track of 91m million chinese. You sound vaguely mad Ilie president said. What would be the paint Well if the voters got the idea that Ronnie could misplace China maybe one Joseph b. Treaster Day he might lose track of Europe or Canada and that would t help his Campaign would it you re raving absolutely bonkers any other equally Brilliant ideas yes the problem is to make the Volcks think of Ronnie s ideas instead of your ideas right .1" right a Sage named Strauss thought it might also be useful if Ronnie insulted the South by identifying it with inc Kutus klan or said some Nice things about the nobility of the Vietnam War. Or explained his personal theory about inc evolution of the human race. Ronnie also has the notion that pollution does t Alt come from cars but from Trees and Strauss went on. But grandpa Ziy kid knows Ronnie could t say anything As dumb As All that was thai the plan that was the first part of the Jilan. The second pan or Lucky plan no. 2, has to do with foreign affairs. Here we have come up Urilt an even better  sail the advisers i Hope so replied the president what we need is some big event that Mil demonstrate thai the communist world Lias even More problems than we have. Something unusual that will make the Vot ers  make them what make them think you re going Loo far but proceed quickly  we were thinking of something Lile an uprising in Poland. Music and Brzezinski think this would be a wonderful stroke of Luck. Strikes among the polish dockworkers along the Baltic and in the Coal mines. An Gry editorials in pravda military Maneu vers in East Germany and Czechoslovakia and All that. I think you get the  followed suppose by appeals from the Pope for peace understanding and free Dom precisely. As we figured it. Ideally of the Rise and fall of Poland s communist party chief Edward Gierek fell from Power in Poland As he had risen on the tide of a workers revolt for economic improvements. Of Crek s predecessor As head of the communist party Wladyslaw Gomulka. Had risen and fallen the same Way a decade earlier. Live Gierek who was hospitalized last week with a heart attack Gomulka was said to have fallen ii after Liis position had been deeply eroded by a workers uprising to demand improved economic conditions. Gomulka s predecessor Edward Ochab fell from Power after worker riots in 1956. I Cocks replacement came less than a week after sinking our Kors Toboul 600, 000 it the Peak of their walkout had returned to their jobs the workers won the right to fort Independent  and go on strike. The regime also promised to curb censorship and give churches and other groups Access to the government controlled news organic unions. As he took control in late 1970 Alicr rials Hail broken out in five Northern polish cities und it least 50 people had been killed by the police i cock a Coal Miner in his youth Laid the workers that they had sweated for is years received Little in return and de served better. He immediately wiped out the Price in creases and wage fryc is instituted by go Rulka und promised More luxuries. Before Long however he was steering the moderate Middle course that characterized his Rule though he moved More slowly than some critics would have liked the Poland that i cock ran was second to Hungary among soviet bloc countries for Liberal policies and individual freedoms. He opened the doors of Poland to foreign investors and made it possible for poles to travel More freely to the West and his own travel he was the first party Lender in Poland s postwar history to visit the United slates and West Germany helped Spur Trade with the West Gimrek has generally been regarded As a  with Little interest in ideology. He appeared u have struggled in vain against hardliners in the party for genuine economic Reform that among other things would have provided for decentralization of planning investment and management. Of Crek s opponents argued that the soviet Union had seen no need for such changes in its own Economy and would Likely be irritated by the development even though similar reforms had already been accomplished in Hungary. The hallmark of his Early Rule which gained him popularity was a massive pro Gram of industrialization coupled with a Large increase in consumer goods. It was this Over the Long haul that led to a Stag Bering hard currency debt thai forced the government to Cut food subsidies touching off the recent labor unrest. Gierek was close to West German Chan cellar Helmut Schmidt and president Gil card d Estwing of France. They regarded him As a soviet bloc Leader who had a vision of an Eastern and Western Europe with common interests. His greatest previous crisis had come in the summer of 1976, when strikes protest marches and riots broke of across the country in response to a government announcement that food prices were to be in creased on average of 60 percent. He re acted by withdrawing the new Price Structure. Within 24 hours order was re stored. Gierek a 1ol, powerfully built outgoing Man with bristling Gray hair spent most of his Early years in France and Belgium he did not begin his political career in Poland until he was a when he returned from Belgium where he had been in the resistance and the Bel Gian communist party after world our ii he worked briefly As a staff member on course the polish government would give in to the workers demands censorship would be lit cd sort of free Trade unions would spread from the factories 10 the universities and mass would be celebrated Over All slate radio and television networks. And of course All this would have some effect on the rest of Eastern Europe gentlemen please the president said of All the wild and stupid notion i have Ever encountered including my own this in clearly the wildest and silliest set of proposals Ever placed before a president in the history of the United states. How a you propose that we make All these wonderful fantasies come True leave in to Ronnie. Or. President. Leave it to Accident. Gut of course we Are Only giving you policy  Oliai s the moral of the Story grandpa i Lod you before you Don t always have to be smart to win but you have to be Lucky to no York to rom the Central committee of he polish United workers party in Warsaw in 1948, then struck out for the Industrial southwestern Region of Silesia where he had been born in the Village of Porabka on Jan. 6, 1913. It was amid the a Eccl Mills and Coal mines of Silesia that he established Lii Msall is a farce in polish politics by 1991, i cock had become first Secre tary of the party committee in Katowice the largest City in the Region. Studying part time at the Krakow Academy of mining and metallurgy he received a mining Engi Neering degree in 1954, by the Middle 1960s, he had gained i National reputation As a disciplined admin us Riutor bused largely on the High production of the Anthracite coat mines in hit re Gion. When the worker riots Shook Gomulka t regime Silvia remained relatively Calm an apparent Factor in his Elevation la party Leader. By then Gimrek had been a member of the politburo for 14 years. After inking charge of the party in a land Gierek travelled a great Deal Willils the country. At a speaker he exuded Conli self Assurance. For years Worken Congo Rcd him one of their own. But toward the end he was accused of growing aloof. In we Yorn Tomti