Solidarnosc— dress rehearsal for the coming political revolution

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12 SOCIALIST ACTION SEPTEMBER 1985 Aug. 31, 1985, was the fifth anniversary of a massive strike wave in Poland that led to the signing of the historic Gdansk Agreements. Solidarnosc was formed—a 10-million strong, working-class, social movement rising up to challenge the decaying foundation of bureaucratic rule in Poland.

Still, the conservative and undemocratic leadership which Solidarnosc fought against retains dictatorial control of the economic and political institutions. Its policies are enforced through military and police repression whenever modest economic concessions are insufficient to quell the unrest.

The misrulers have a 40-year record of injustice and mismanagement which has drastically limited Poland's potential since capitalism was overthrown after World War II. The policies and attitude of the regime have remained unchanged from that time.

With the country's resources being drained by this privileged bureaucracy, the mass of working people have never fully enjoyed the benefits of the nationalized industry, the monopoly of foreign trade, and the planned economy.

The Polish government sponsors inequality in the distribution of goods and services to satisfy its own narrow desires against the needs of the working class as a whole. And the Stalinist bureaucratic machine, misnamed the Polish United Workers Party (PUWP), defends its privileged status by refusing to concede the slightest bit of democratic control to the millions of working people.

Despite the formal lifting of martial law in early 1983, the regime has continued to force the working class to absorb the dire consequences of a severely mismanaged economy. The 1982 average real income in Poland was as low as it was in 1946 with 30 percent of the population living below the poverty line.

And it's getting worse. Since the beginning of this year, prices for basic family commodities such as flour, rice, and cheese have risen by 30 to 40 percent. Fuel and energy supply prices have been boosted by 22 to 30 percent.

These unpopular and unnecessary austerity measures are drastically lowering the workers' standard of living in order to pay off the $25 billion debt owed to 15 capitalist governments and 501 Western capitalist banks. More and more, the government has had to resort to military and police force to push through its economic "reforms."

Thus, barely 13 months after a general amnesty had released 652 political prisoners-many of them held without charges or trial—the regime has begun another campaign of repression. There are almost 200 political prisoners back in jail today, most of them the same ones who had been previously amnestied.

These include top Solidarnosc leaders like Adam Michnik, Wladyslaw Frasyniuk, and Bogdan Lis, who were recently sentenced to several years in prison for "inciting pubic unrest." They were arrested while meeting with Lech Walesa to discuss a response to the 1985 price increases.

Who is responsible for the crisis?

Typically, PUWP officials have blamed the workers and Solidarnosc for the serious economic problems confronting Poland. Aside from being ≥30 JACEK KURON racin samiato 20 zr.

ZBIGNIE W ROMASZEWSKI тост stl 20zг = .. nothing more than a self-serving coverup designed to shift responsibility for the economic crisis away from the bureaucracy and onto the workers, the explanation is factually incorrect.

First, it must be recognized that the crisis occurred well before Solidarnosc came into existence. By 1979, the economy had virtually bottomed out. Poland's net growth in that year declined; the first time this had occurred in the postwar period.

And in 1980, when Solidarnosc was formed, lost production time due to strikes represented only 2.1 percent of all lost production time. In 1981, the last year of Solidarnosc's legality, strikes accounted for less than .2 percent of the lost time.

More than twice this amount of lost time was caused by material shortages induced by poor management and planning. Substituting bureaucratic planning for democratic control by working people, the national plan was often influenced by the conflicting biases of the various sections of the apparatus.

Different sections of the bureaucracy would compete in seeing who could spend the most from the massive infusion of loans beginning in 1976. This 1984 z30 POLSKA *4545-95.- 28=25 ADAM MICHNIK KAROL MCOZELEWSKI 20 гг Pacie soienătin 20 гг HENRYK WUJEC _ 20zr .et..

Stamps of Solidarnose leaders printed on underground presses.

Tom Laney (continued from page 9: “Tom Laney: "Concessions are killing labor'”)

mercial Workers union] has done a great job. It's been a combination that has pulled that local union together.

After almost a year, they are still getting over 90 percent membership support for the union down there. I think that gives a lie to those people-to those labor bureaucrats—who say that the rank and file will no longer stand by these leaderships and that they don't want to fight.

I'm not saying that the "corporate campaign" strategy is perfect or anything like that. But I think that Rogers and Guyette complement each other. It's great for that local union.

And I think if they can win the fight, this could be pivotal for the entire labor movement. They are getting a lot of national publicity now. If they could win, that would be evidence to other local union people that they can stand up in a more traditional way for their rights.

S.A.: What is the mood among the ranks in your area?

Laney: In the past it was automatic to get a better shelf of benefits and cost of living. Things kept going up each bargaining period. But this isn't true any more.

I think people have become frustrated. They aren't quite sure what to caused severe damage to the economy a whole.

For example, the Nowa Huta Lenin Works outside of Crackow grew into the world's largest facility as a result of a major investment effort in the 1970s. But major parts of the plant had to be shut down one to two days a week because of lack of electricity.

The expansion of the energy supply controlled by one sector of the bureaucracy had not kept pace with the frenetic industrial growth plans of another.

In another case, $1 billion was spent on Massey-Ferguson designed tractors before it was realized that Polish farm equipment did not fit the tractor. Unable to export due to the world capitalist economic downturn of the 1970s and because the managers failed to obtain the proper export license, the plant produced 500 tractors a year instead of its original plan for 75,000.

A similiar deal with RCA to build 600,000 TV sets in 1981 produced only 50,000 sets because of the scarity of parts supplied by other sectors of the economy.

Other numerous examples of half completed factories lying idle because of faulty investment conceptions and decisions could be detailed. Bureaucratic mismanagement is responsible for the crisis, not the working class organizing to resist these abuses.

Polish history explains revolt World War II began in 1939 with the Nazi invasion of Poland from the west. Remarkably, the Nazi attack had the tacit agreement of Stalin. In exchange, the Stalin-Hitler Pact permitted Stalin to recover land in Eastern Poland which had been forced from the young Soviet Republic in the 1921 Treaty of Riga.

Stalin's complicity with the Nazi plunder in Poland was accompanied by the dissolution of the historic Polish Communist Party. As in Spain earlier, militants who disagreed were executed. (After Hitler invaded the Soviet Union, in 1943, Stalin disbanded the whole Communist International in deference to his new allies, the British and American imperialists.)

Thus, the enormous prestige won by the Soviet Union's Red Army because do about the concessions that are being handed down. Because of a long period of divorcement of the leadership from the rank and file, many members had the notion that things would always be taken care of. They didn't see the need to get involved in their local unions or in the labor movement.

What we're wrestling with up here is trying to convey to our membership that the labor movement is dying and will be killed by all these anti-union people, by all this concession bargaining, and that unless they get active and become a force in their local unions—a force like people in P-9-their own working conditions will be drastically affected.

S.A.: Some people said that the planning meeting in Gary, Ind., was somewhat narrower than they had hoped or expected.

Laney: I guess sort of everyone had the same feeling that it was pretty narrow. But there was also the feeling that you can't move a whole lot of people on an issue outside of concessions. Some people got up and spoke about the need for labor party formations, a general strike, and this kind of thing. But most people got up and said you can't move people on any of these other issues.

S.A.: So you think that the fight at this stage must be limited to the single issue of concessions?

Laney: That's right. We can then move on from there. As we move along people will be receptive to a lot of other helen +tanald of its role in liberating Poland was partially offset by Stalin's reactionary and chauvinistic policies. These memories and the subsequent role of the Soviet Union in supporting the anti-working class policies of the PUWP account for the mass suspicion and hostility of the Polish people toward the Soviet leadership.

Role of the Catholic Church Historically, millions of Poles have had deep illusions regarding the role of the Catholic Church. This is partially a result of the Church's opposition to foreign invaders since the 14th Century when a Polish king was first converted to Catholicism.

Unlike other European countries, the Church was not patronized by the dominant ruling sectors because most were Protestant invaders intent on taking the Church's riches for themselves.

A similiar "nationalist" oppositionist stance was adopted by the Church against the Nazis during World War II. Over 3000 priests were killed in the war, many for heroic acts.

Most importantly, the Church is the only Polish institution outside of direct Stalinist control. It enjoys relative freedom to hold meetings and assemblies and has thereby attracted many of the politicized opponents of the regime. And finally, the Church skillfully utilizes its overseas ties to provide scarce (continued on page 13)

ideas. A woman got up at the planning meeting and asked that the meeting include something on the unemployed. I really agreed with her. I think this should have been on the agenda.

But I think that people who begin to understand what concessions are doing to us will see the need for organizing the unemployed and moving on to other Issues.

S.A.: Many union activisits feel that limiting the fight to concessions is too defensive and won't really find a responsive chord among the ranks and among labor's allies in the community?

Laney: I think that that it is premature to talk about a broader program for the rank-and-file movement. Speaking as a representative from my local, we don't have hundreds of people in line waiting to throw out the Democratic Party.

I know you can move people against concessions because in 1982 our local union was one of seven out of the 95 bargaining units that turned down concessions. This was in the face of a lot of pressures from the international union and all sorts of other problems in the local.

But I'm not sure the membership is ready to move on any other issue. I would probably agree with most other things, but these aren't issues that can mobili: ze the ranks today. That's true in my lor :al and probably in most other places.

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Anna Walentynowicz rallies dock workers in historic 1980 strike in Gdansk. order Polish Inprekor, write to PEC, 2, Rue Richard Lenoir, 93100, ice. One copy; 2.5 dollars or £1.20. Subscription (six issues); 0. Cheques/postal orders should be made payable to International SOCIALIST ACTION SEPTEMBER 1985 (continued from page 12)

consumer items to an appreciative population.

It is obvious that the Church derives much, if not most, of its influence from certain material economic and political needs it provides, and not from its spiritual or ideological services. As a result, the Church's influence is far more tenuous than most observers realize.

And, it should not be forgotten, the Catholic Church's opposition to the Stalinist dictatorship is pro-capitalist, while that of Solidarnosc is anti-capitalist as well as anti-bureaucratic.

The mass of Solidarnosc often disregarded the Church's admonitions to conciliate with the regime during the 1970, 1976, and 1980 strike waves. At one point, Walesa was even compelled to publicly advise the Church to confine itself to religious matters and leave the temporal world to Solidarnosc.

Mismanagement and repression

The whole period from 1948 to 1956 was marked by slow growth and repression. In 1956, 50 workers were killed in the Poznan food riots. In a particularly desperate move by the leadership, Wladyslaw Gomulka became premier and head of the PUWP. He had previously spent a few years in prison shortly after Stalin had him removed from office in 1948.

His reputation in the partisan movement and as a victim of one of Stalin's purges gained him a big following. He became a genuine national hero in Poland after he began opening up the jails and easing up on the censorship laws.

But none of his reforms challenged the basic power of the entrenched bureaucracy, and these reactionary forces began to reassert themselves. Favoritism, cronism, and special privileges for the apparatus ultimately required the reimposition of stern civil and political laws.

Nothing was solved by Gomulka. The bureaucracy grew along with the misery of the workers.

The 1970 demonstrations in Gdansk and elsewhere against price increases led to Gomulka's downfall after 200 had been killed. He was replaced by Edward Gierek.

Gierek criticized the "peasant mentality" of Gomulka which had led to the rather slow growth of 1.5 percent a year. He ridiculed the fact that the state had accumulated a surplus, which he said should have been invested in Polish industry. He blamed the poor economic plan for the crisis.

Gierek made incredible promises in an attempt to demobilize the growing and powerful workers' movement. For example, he assured every Pole they would have a home by 1985. Like most of his promises, this one failed miserably.

Only a couple of years ago, 235,000 newly-weds remained on waiting lists for apartments. With half the population under 30 years of age, housing remains in a deep crisis.

But Gierek did produce substantial wage increases of 40 percent during the 1970-75 period, compared with only 17 percent during the previous decade. However, his expansion plans did not rely on workers' democratic control in order to expand the economy. Instead, he relied on the capitalist banks, a policy which backfired at great cost to the Polish people.

Plan for rapid industrialization The plan was to achieve rapid industrialization by using foreign credits to produce export commodities. The income from these exports would be used to pay back the Poland's economy.

But the saturated capitalist world markets drastically reduced export potential. And neither could these excess export products be absorbed domestically because the purchasing power of the working class was being slashed to pay the heavy debt obligations.

The effects of the world capitalist recession of the 1970s compounded the bureaucratic planning errors described earlier. Demonstrating an amazing lack of foresight for those who claim to be Marxist, the Polish bureaucrats did not anticipate the 1970s' world capitalist recession.

Thus, Poland's aggressive campaign to build its export trade never materialized. But, true to form, the capitalist banks were still demanding their excessive interest payments.

By 1981, the total export earnings were consumed by the usurious interest on loans paid to capitalist banks and governments. The pressure to manufacture export products to pay the $25 billion debt had also created huge imbalances in the non-export sector, where little investment was made. This further crippled the economy.

The non-export domestic consumption industries like transportation and electricity were therefore not able to supply the export-oriented industries with enough spare parts or power. The whole economic plan began to break down.

Gierek tried to reverse the losses by doubling prices paid by Polish workers and peasants in 1976, but he had to retreat because of massive protests. Walesa was fired from the Gdansk shipyards during this period. He did not return until he climbed over the shipyard fence while the strike, which ended in the historic victory for Solidarnosc, was already in progress in August 1980.

The economic downslide accelerated in 1976. The regime stopped further investment and even halted many projects in progress. In addition, imports were drastically reduced by 50 percent from 1976 to 1981, causing severe shortages for the average Pole. Huge waiting lines for basic necessities grew.

Cutting imports has meant increased poverty for the working people. From 1978 to 1983 consumption of meat dropped 18 percent, eggs 10 percent, and rice 14 percent. Imports from countries demanding hard currency (capitalist countries) have dropped 50 percent since 1976, while the debt to capitalist banks and governments remains at $25 billion.

A movement, not a party The most important demand raised in the 1980 strike wave was for recognition of Solidarnosc as a union independent of the government and the PUWP. Through the Gomulka and Gierek experience, the workers had learned that the bureaucracy was incapable of self-reform and therefore unable to solve the MEDZYNARODOWA KORESPONDENCJA PRASOWA To Fral and marked "for Polish Inprekor'.

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Solidarnosc began organizing on a geographic basis, not submitting to government demands that it organize separate and isolated units confined to each individual enterprise. This form of organization permitted Solidarnose to address broader social and political concerns beyond the immediate factory conditions.

Solidarnosc was much more than a union, it was a social movement. As in any broad movement, its members expressed a variety of views. On the negative side, many Polish activists obviously do not understand the real role of the Catholic Church, capitalist countries like the United States, and leaders like Ronald Reagan.

The Stalinist rulers are mainly responsible for this miseducation. Their caricature of "socialist" and "communist" leadership has grossly distorted these principles in the minds of many Polish workers.

Therefore, Solidarnose should not be judged solely by the incorrect statements of some of its disoriented or mistaken members or leaders. It should not be judged with the same precision as if SOLIDARNOSE Z "SOLIDARNOSCIA I Dnr 1985 UKRAINA moskiewskim zaborem ruch oporu na Zakarpaciu JUGOSŁAWIA Lewicowa opozycja O demokracje robotnicza Montreuil, 12 dollars, Viewpoint it were a revolutionary party with a definite program.

Though it retained its trade union form, Solidarnosc was developing toward a democratic form of working class political rule-the ultimate expression of which would be a Paris Commune or Soviet-type workers' council government.

As the struggle recovers and begins to rethink the past and consider the future, many different ideological currents will develop. A revolutionary-Marxist current is participating in the struggles and regularly publishes and distributes its magazine, Polish Inprecor.

Certainly the overwhelming majority of Solidarnose members and leaders have shown no desire to return Poland to the landlords and capitalists.

Workers' democracy

Though driven underground, Solidarnose supporters are still able to publicize their views. An efficient and amazingly effective printing network has kept 500 to 800 publications in circulation to millions of Poles. These include factory newsletters, periodicals, and even books.

Solidarnose's program calls for the democratic election of workers councils to manage the economy. It calls for management to be directly responsible to the working class. The workers would decide through their elected deputies the division of income, preparation of economic plans, the monitoring of the plan, the supervision of management, and the hiring and recall of the workplace director.

This full-scale transformation of Polish society is actually a revolution. One that would replace the dictatorship of the bureaucrats with the democratic control by the working class.

Solidarnose began this fight. It has been interrupted but not ended. The conditions remain ripe for the Polish working people to renew their claim to be the masters of their own destiny.

Solidarnoso's experience thus far will prove to be the dress rehearsal of the coming workers' political revolution that will be joined by the workers of Eastern Europe. This political revolution will ultimately mesh with the unfolding world socialist revolution in the neo-colonies and the imperialist centers themselves.

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Ebraheem is a veteran of the Iran-Iraq war. He was drafted into the Iranian Army, captured by the Iraqi forces, and held captive for more than a year before being released.

He is from the city of Mashad, near the borders of the Soviet Union and Afghanistan. This interview was arranged through a group of Iranians in the San Francisco Bay Area who are active in the support of Iranian refugees and against the role of U.S. intervention in the Iran-Iraq war. The interview was conducted in August 1985 by Don Mahoney and Mark Harris. size of an apartment. space to sleep.

Since we were refugees, several of us tried to talk to the Red Cross about our conditions, but Iraq wouldn't let us. We even tried to escape, but we were caught. Some of the people caught were killed, including the soldier who was with me when we were first captured.

The Red Cross was somehow alerted to our plight after this, and they came to see our camp. We told them that the Iraqis had told us that since we were refugees, we had the right to go to another country. After some time, they finally many people. The chemical weapons they used go through the skin, so there is no protection. Iran doesn't have the facilities to treat people exposed to poison gas, so they have to send them to Europe.

S.A.: Is there much opposition to the war in Iran?

Ebraheem: There is opposition, but no organized opposition. I think maybe 50 percent to 70 percent of the people don't like the war, especially since Iraq started bombing civilian targets. And the hardships of war, rationing food, etc., are of course unpopular. It's really affecting people's lives.

It seems like everything is on hold because of the terror in Iran and, of course, because of the war. Everything that is bad in Iran, from food shortages and unemployment to the repression, is blamed on the war. The government says, "Wait till the war is over." If Khomeini ends the war, then he will have to deliver on his promises.

Even in the army there is a lot of dissatisfaction with the prolongation of the war. Many within the army actually believe that the army could win the war if they could do the fighting. Instead the fighting is done by the Pasdaran and the Baseej.

S.A.: Why is there such a division between the army and the Pasdaran and Baseej?

Ebraheem: The government wants to give credit for any victories to the "heroes" of the revolution, the Pasdaran and Baseej. These are volunteer groups that support Khomeini.

S.A.: Is there much fighting in Kurdistan? What is left of the Kurdish struggle?

Ebraheem: The fighting has been going on since the revolution. All of the fighting against the Kurds is being done by the Baseej and the Pasdaran. Since the Baseej are so young and only get 15 days training, there was a lot of confusion. Many of the Baseej didn't even know who they were fighting. Now most of the fighting is done by the Pasdaran. They go in and destroy the villages and families of those who are fighting.

There are several groups fighting in Kurdistan: the Kurdish Democratic Party, the Kumeleh, and the Mojahedeen.

S.A.: Why do you think the Khomeini government wants to continue the war? Are they using the war to divert attention and stifle criticism toward their failure to carry out social and economic policies that can develop the country?

Ebraheem: Yes, I think that is true. They know that if the war ends, a lot of opposition to the regime will appear, and the Islamic Republic Party might be overthrown.

----- pull-quotes -----

"The bureaucracy grew along with the misery of the workers."

«Solidarnosc is anti-capitalist as well as anti-bureaucratic."