Krenz Goes to Moscow; Head of Union Group to Quit : East Germany: Tisch, a Politburo member, is one of the hard-line Communists being replaced in apparent response to growing demonstrations.

Another casualty in the East German Politburo was announced Tuesday as Communist leader Egon Krenz flew to Moscow for talks with Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev.

The official East German news agency ADN said that Harry Tisch, the Politburo member who heads the official trade union federation, will resign Thursday.

It was not made clear whether Tisch, who has been accused of failing to defend the workers’ interests, will stay on as a member of the Politburo.

Tisch, a tough-talking, dedicated Communist, has been chairman of the Confederation of Free German Trade Unions since 1975.

Also Tuesday, the West German newspaper Bild reported that Margot Honecker, wife of the deposed Communist leader Erich Honecker, has been replaced as minister of education. Bild said that Margot Honecker, who has been described as even more doctrinaire than her husband, had been replaced by Helga Labs, who has headed the Teachers’ and Educational Workers’ Union.

Two weeks ago, at a meeting of the party Central Committee, the resignations of three Politburo members were announced, including that of Erich Honecker, who had been the subject of increasing popular pressure for political and economic reform.

Other changes in the Politburo membership are expected to be announced when the Central Committee meets Nov. 8-10.

In another development, Karl-Eduard von Schnitzler, East Germany’s most prominent TV commentator, who denounced capitalism and anti-communism for nearly 30 years, made his last broadcast.

Von Schnitzler said farewell Monday on the final edition of his 20-minute weekly show, an apparent victim of his government’s attempts at reform.

“I have nothing to be ashamed of,” he told his audience, adding, “Revisionism is still with us, and the class struggle continues.”

ADN, the East German news agency, announced Tuesday that Krenz had departed for Moscow but did not disclose the time of his departure. Krenz is scheduled to meet this morning with President Gorbachev to discuss reform proposals, then meet with reporters afterward.

In Warsaw, Polish officials announced that Krenz will stop in the Polish capital for eight hours Thursday en route home from Moscow. Sources here said this will give Krenz an opportunity to meet the new Polish prime minister, Tadeusz Mazowiecki.

In Warsaw as in Moscow, Krenz is expected to be urged to introduce political and economic reforms. He has already promised some changes, including liberalized travel rules and amnesty for people who have fled to the West--and for others jailed for trying.

And he has said that his country has much to learn from the example set by the Soviet Union. This represents a radical departure from the rigid positions taken by Honecker, his predecessor.

Krenz left Berlin amid growing popular demand for democratic reform. Hundreds of thousands of people in half a dozen cities took to the streets Monday night in peaceful demonstrations.

New Forum, the largest of the groups demanding reform, sent a message of support Tuesday to human rights activists in neighboring Czechoslovakia. The message said in part: “We are convinced that new times will come to you, too, and that the Prague Spring will finally have its summer.”

Prague’s “spring” came during the Czechoslovak reforms of 1968, undertaken by Alexander Dubcek and crushed by troops of the Warsaw Pact.