What was going on when I was born?

''Our suffering is that of the entire nation, terrorized by military force.'' - Archbishop Jozef Glemp of Poland. (A18:1.)

The following dispatch was written by a freelance journalist who recently spent six weeks in Afghanistan. By JERE VAN DYK ZARKAT, Afghanistan - The guerrilla resistance of Afghan tribesmen has steadily intensified since the Soviet intervention two years ago, but it is still disorganized. For the most part, the resistance involves inconclusive fighting between Islamic guerrillas who are often poorly armed and Afghan soldiers who are often poorly disciplined, bolstered by Soviet air power. During six weeks inside Afghanistan, this reporter accompanied a dozen different guerrilla bands, ranging in size from 5 men to 50, through 4 of Afghanistan's 29 provinces. Many days, no enemy gunfire could be heard, and farm families harvested crops and tended sheep as if there had been no war.

A health emergency was declared in New York City yesterday in the 17-day-old strike against the city's private carting companies. Both sides, meanwhile, continued talks in an atmosphere of optimism. In an emergency session, the five-member board unanimously approved a resolution that termed the accumulation of garbage ''conducive to rodent and insect infestation and fires and the spread of disease in and around the City of New York, thereby endangering the life, health and safety of persons residing or employed therein.'' The declaration, requested earlier in the day by Mayor Koch, allows the city to begin picking up 100,000 tons of uncollected garbage.

In an industry noted for its grudging reluctance to embrace new technology, the McLouth Steel Corporation has long been a trendsetter. The Detroit-based company was the first steelmaker to install the innovative basic oxygen furnace in 1954, and by the early 1970's was the first to process all of its steel through the efficient continuous casting method. Later on, steel mills across the country were refurbished using both technologies. Despite the quickness with which McLouth Steel embraced new technology - and perhaps because of it, some analysts say - McLouth Steel could not survive the present recession. Last week, when its 10 lenders refused to renegotiate $166 million in long-term debt, the nation's 11th-largest steelmaker acknowledged it could not pay its bills and took shelter from its creditors under Chapter 11 of the Federal bankruptcy laws. It has 120 days to reorganize.

IT'S the season for entertaining, and while the well-organized among us have been prepared for weeks to give holiday parties, others will have diffi-culty scrounging up even a dozen glasses, least of all matching ones. But in Manhattan, from stands along Canal Street to department stores and restaurant supply emporiums on Fifth Avenue, there is a dizzying choice of reasonably priced, handblown and machine-made glasses. They can be purchased as open stock or in sets. Tumblers and wine goblets, double old-fashioneds and champagne flutes, squat shot glasses and shapely brandy glasses are available. New Yorkers in search of bargains in glasses are particularly fortunate because the volume and choices of glassware on the market in the New York area are staggering. The Pottery Barn, a chain of home-furnishing stores in New York, with franchises in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, sells more than a million pieces of glassware a year. If the 1930's and 40's are destined to go down in glassware history as the era of the decorated glass, the 1980's will undoubtedly be known as the age of the plain clear glass. They will also be remembered as the time when cheap glassware moved out of the kitchen and onto the dining-room table.

The following article is based on reporting by Philip Taubman and Special to the New York Times Jeff Gerth and was written by Mr. Taubman. The chairman of the House intelligence committee said today that its investigation into the activities of two former American intelligence agents had raised serious questions about the conduct and policies of the Central Intelligence Agency. The chairman, Representative Edward P. Boland, said the committee's investigation of the former agents, Edwin P. Wilson and Frank E. Terpil, had dealt with the agency's apparent inability to control businesses it secretly owned and to maintain the security of its operations. Mr. Wilson and Mr. Terpil, former employees of the C.I.A., have been charged with illegally shipping explosives to Libya. The investigation, Mr. Boland said, also focused on the lack of agency policies to govern contacts between current and former employees and the capacity of the C.I.A. to conduct internal investigations of reports of abuses by its staff. Those and other issues examined by the committee, formally the House Select Committee on Intelligence, will be the subject of public hearings early next year, according to Mr. Boland, a Massachusetts Democrat. He provided a status report on the panel's investigation in an interview today.

Dr. Armand Hammer, chairman of the Occidental Petroleum Corporation, today announced the start of a business venture with the Soviet Union involving Iowa Beef Processors, Occidental's recently acquired meat processing unit. The 83-year-old businessman, famous for his business dealings with the Soviet Union over the years, disclosed the pact at a press conference in Occidental's office at the International Trade Center here. The venture would capitalize on the expertise of Iowa Beef, which has revolutionized the way meat is butchered and packaged in the United States, and now might apply similar technology in Russia.

Syria, in U.N., calls for sanctions against Israel A3 Egyptian leader confers with aides on Golan annexation A5 Around the World A8 U.N. calls on El Salvdador to ne- gotiate with rebels A9 Chilean Government arrests at least seven dissidents A10 Sakharov's wife back in Moscow after hunger strike A12 Peking paper in English finds a niche A13 East-West parley in Madrid wel- comes compromise A14 Soviet force in Afghanistan is said to increase to 110,000 A15 Excerpts from domestic Polish broadcasts A18 Excerpts from Poland's Catholic Primate statement A18 Government/Politics L.A.'s Mayor Bradley has good chance to become Governor A21 Court records depict Rep. Rich- mond in potential conflicts B2 Byrne to let Kean decide future of Liberty State Park B6 Washington Talk Dean Burch is model of the Wash- ington lobbyist B10 Congress set for another "district work period" B10 Briefing B10 Decision File B10 General Around the Nation A20 Floridians now heeding author's warnings about water A20 F.A.A. head expects normal air traffic control by 1984 A24 Off-duty police officer foiling rob- bery killed in Queens B3 Industry/Labor Gotbaum withdraws from race for head of municipal workers A23 The Home Section Home Great glasses: a lot of shapes for the money C1 Unearthing treasures among the trivia C8 When improving is better than moving C8 Safety panel upholds gas heater standards C9 The quandary of Christmas tip- ping C1 Design Notebook: preserving a historic estate C1 Hers C2 Helpful Hardware C2 Home Beat C3 Aid for consumers: telephone tapes C3 Home Improvement C4 Women's groups join to raise funds C5 Calendar of Events C7 Gallery shows works by tapestry artists C11 Gardening: steps for success with amaryllis C12 Arts/Entertainment Merce Cunningham tries a chain letter as a fund-raiser C14 MacMillan's ballet "Wild Boy" has premiere in Washington C17 A roundup of books on antiques is reviewed C22 Doris Betts's novel "Heading West" is reviewed C23 Verdi's long-ignored opera, "Il Corsaro," is sung C32 Obituaries Victor Kugler, gave sanctuary to Anne Frank D23 Donald Cook, ex-chairman of S.E.C. and utility executive D23 Health/Science Rift twice as long as San Andreas Fault is found A25 Sports Collins wary of Yankee bid B18 Meadowlands to ask N.C.A.A. for preseason football game B18 Knicks hold off 76ers, 117-115 B19 Flyers surge in 3d period and beat Rangers, 7-3 B19 Starr still on trial in Green Bay B19 Nets lose to Bulls in overtime B19 Dave Anderson on Holmes-Coo- ney and the Purple Mob B20 Panic not a part of Islanders' style B20 Giants may play their "baby bulls" together B23 Features/Notes Notes on People B11 Sports People B18 Going Out Guide C22 News Analysis David Shipler assesses Israeli move to annex Golan Heights A2 Drew Middleton on Syria's mili- tary strength A3 Tony Schwartz explains reasons for upheavals at CBS News C17 Editorials/Letters/Op-Ed Editorials A30 Santa or grandfather clause? Strings on cordless phones Time and the subways Topics: kinds of scholarship Letters A30 Anthony Lewis: Mr. Begin's sur- prise A31 William Safire: Reagan rolling over A31 Lisa Anderson: ignore Colonel Qaddafi A31 George Leopold: dead end in the mail room A31

The following article is based on information arriving from Poland. Poland's martial law authorities were reported yesterday to have broken several major strikes, including one at the Lenin shipyard in Gdansk, and the Roman Catholic Church emerged as a powerful voice in opposition to the regime's new measures. The Government's decision to introduce martial law was called ''a blow applied to the hopes and expectations of society'' in a statement released yesterday by the Polish Episcopate. The bishops demanded the release of detainees and an end to the ban on the Solidarity union. They accused the Government of terrorizing the nation by military force.

HILE it's not about to replace the ''Hallelujah'' chorus, there's an oft-heard refrain around town on the subject of Christmas tipping, and it goes like this: ''I'm giving the same as last year.'' If an informal survey conducted in the city is any barometer, inflation is apparently having little or no effect on the amounts people are giving this year. As for whom they intend to tip -either out of appreciation or apprehension - building service employees, cleaning people, hairdressers and garage attendants were most often mentioned. Surprisingly, postmen were put in the ''maybe'' category, and the majority of people who dine out with any frequency had no reservations about saying they felt their handouts to maitre d's throughout the year were sufficient. The question of how much to give has been simplified (some say outrageously so) in some co-op apartment buildings. As early as Thanksgiving, for instance, tenants of the Brevoort-East, a co-op in Greenwich Village, received a notice informing them that ''the approaching holiday season gives us the opportunity to express our appreciation to the employees.''

Because of an editing error, the first paragraph of an article in some edi- tions yesterday on a Federal Court order directing the early parole of 350 prisoners incorrectly named the state affected. It is Alabama.

Industrial production declined 2.1 percent in November, the Government reported yesterday, as the 1981 recession continued to spread through the economy. The decline from October in the index, which measures the output of the nation's factories, mines and utilities, was the largest since the 3 percent drop in May 1980, at the depth of the 1980 recession. The Commerce Department's chief economist, Robert Ortner, said yesterday that with the latest drop in industrial production, which accounts for about a third of the economy's total output, the decline in the gross national product this quarter could be 6 percent to 7 percent. The Administration recently estimated that the drop would be about 5 percent. The G.N.P. rose six-tenths of 1 percent in the third quarter.