Socialist Action (US)

The monthly paper of Socialist Action, San Francisco, 1983–2010

Free Zbigniew Bujak!

Socialist Action, Vol. 4, No. 7, July 1986 · scan pp. 11–12 · Shirley Pasholk · about 1,306 words

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Zoigniew Bujak, the main underground Solidarity leader, was arrested in Warsaw on May 31. Three of Bujak's close asso -ciates—Konrad Bielinski, Ewa Kulik, and Henryk Wujec-were arrested on the same day.

Two weeks later, 30 more Solidarity activists, including Anna Walentynowicz, were rounded up and imprisoned.

The Polish secret police have been mobilized for over four years to try to track Bujak down. The police captured nine other leaders of the Provisional Underground Leadership of Solidarity, known as TKK, between mid-1982 and this year, but Bujak consistently eluded them.

The other TKK leaders currently in prison include Wladyslaw Frasyniuk from Wroclaw, Bogdan Lis from Gdansk, and Tadeusz Jedynak from Silesia.

Bujak, who was a factory worker at the Ursus tractor factory in Warsaw, had led the first strike in his plant against the government's food-price increases in July 1980. Elected chairperson of Solidarity in the Warsaw region, he soon became an important person in the union's national leadership.

When martial law was decreed in December 1981, Bujak narrowly managed to escape arrest. He was sheltered by the railworkers in Gdansk and was on the run ever since, living in dozens of apartments with false identity cards and various disguises.

In Warsaw, Wroclaw and Gdansk, the news of Bujak's arrest provoked spon -taneous demonstrations of thousands of workers. In Wroclaw alone, 2000 youths gathered to demand Bujak's immediate release.

Soon after Bujak's arrest, the TKK put out a national leaflet signed by Jan Andrzej Gorny and Marek Muszynski which stated that the underground structures of Solidarity had not been destroyed. On June 5, Tygodnik Mazowsze, the main underground Solidarity journal in the Warsaw region, appeared as usual.

Despite increasing repression, massive resistance to the Polish bureaucracy is continuing. Today more than ever, the Polish workers need the solidarity of working people around the world. Zbigniew Bujak must be freed!—A.B.

Scan page 12

100,000 in New York" ¿blast apartheid Saying, "We denounced apartheid then ment of South Africa for their guidance as New York Anti-Apartheid Coordinating S. African unionists resist NEW YORK-On June 14, about 100,000 people gathered here in Central Park to express their opposition to apartheid. It was the largest anti-apartheid demonstration in U.S. history. Sixteen buses came from Philadelphia and several buses came from as far away as Atlanta to join the event.

Two large spirited feeder marches—one from the United Nations building, the other from Harlem-were joined by smaller marches from the Latino community and by thousands who only attended the rally.

Signs and chants denounced apartheid as murder, expressed opposition to racism at home and abroad, supported the Shell Oil boycott, and demanded total divestment of all U.S. holdings in South Africa.

The rally was called by the New York Anti-Apartheid Coordinating Council, which is headquartered in the United Auto Workers District 65 offices. In addition to District 65, other trade unions with sizable contingents included the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Workers (AFSCME); International Union of Electronic Workers; Professional Employees Federation; and Hospital Workers Local 1199.

Student activists participated from numerous colleges and high schools in New York and New Jersey. Many Black community churches helped publicize the demonstration and organized participation by their congregations. A Central American contingent pointed out the relationship between U.S. foreign policy in Central America and South Africa.

The speakers' platform reflected the breadth of support for the march and rally. Thomas Van Arsdale, president of the 1.2 million-member New York Central Labor Council, pointed out that a resolution condemning apartheid was adopted at the 1955 AFL-CIO merger convention.

Saying, "We denounced apartheid then and we denounce it now," Van Arsdale added, "We look to the trade-union move -(continued from page 1: “S. African unionists resist attacks; demands for U.S. sanctions mount”) that country, international action can help to aid their struggle. In the United States, well over 100,000 people participated in demonstrations last month in solidarity with the people of South Africa.

These demonstrations have bolstered the campaign to force the U.S. government to order strong sanctions against the Pretoria regime. In face of the Reagan administra -tion's stance against sanctions, the slogan, "Embargo South Africa, Not Nicaragua" is increasingly being heard.

A vigorous policy of sanctions requires ment of South Africa for their guidance as to when and how we can help."

Cleveland Robinson, chairman contractors and other capitalists is clear enough. "None of us are anxious to see apartheid continue, but we must have open lanes to acquire these materials," explained T.S. Ary, an executive with the KerrMcKee Corp. and member of a congressional advisory committee on strategic materials.

Furthermore, the U.S. stockpile of chromium "is insufficient to tide us over for a conventional war," a congressional aide pointed out to The Wall Street Journal.

South Africa derives 75 percent of its foreign exchange earnings and 26 percent of IMPACT VISUALS/LInda Eber Council and secretary-treasurer of UAW District 65, said it's ironic that Reagan might deter people from participating.

Some forces in the movement, however, advocate that support to the policies of the African National Congress (ANC) become the axis of anti-apartheid work in this country. This was the line put forward, for example, at the Conference on Solidarity with the Struggling Peoples of Southern Africa, held June 27-29 in San Francisco.

This perspective is limiting and exclu -sionary. It ignores the question: What is the best way to mobilize masses of people in the United States into action against apartheid?

Most people in this country will readily solidarize with the struggle in South Africa but not necessarily with the goals of one particular organization within that struggle. talks about the plight of people in Poland and Afghanistan but has nothing to say about the millions of Blacks who constitute the majority in South Africa.

Amon Masane-a leader of the Com -mercial, Catering, and Allied Workers Union in Johannesburg-delivered a message on behalf of the Congress of South African Trade Unions. Alfred Nzo, secretary general of the African National Congress, updated the current situation in South Africa. Theo Ben Gurirab, a representative of SWAPO (the South West African Peoples Organization), described the freedom struggle in Namibia.

A message was read from Winnie Mandela vividly describing the murderous assault on protesters in Soweto on June 16, 1976, and the continuing repression in her country.

Mpho Tutu, daughter of Bishop Desmond Tutu, delivered a stirring message from her father. The letter declared: "We are waiting for the international community to act now and act decisively. It's our last chance. Are you on the side of justice or injustice? Good or evil?

"We shall be free and live as Black and white members of one family—the human family. I ask for your continued support not only today, but Monday and every other day."

Other speakers included NAACP Execu -tive Director Benjamin Hooks; the Rev. Jesse Jackson; Manhattan Borough Pres -ident David Dinkins; Victor Gottbaum, executive director of AFSCME District Council 37; and Barry Feinstein, president of Teamsters Local 237. Several musical groups participated in the program—which concluded with a performance. of "Sun City."

Other marches and rallies commemo -rating the anniversary of the Soweto rebellion took place in Chicago; Los Angeles; Toronto; Oakland, Calif.; and other cities. Meanwhile, activists in London were preparing for "the biggest anti-apartheid demonstration ever in Britain" to take place on June 28.

campaigns of "pro-sanctions" or "antiReagan" candidates is nothing new. During the Vietnam War, many activists were sucked into pushing doorbells for so-called peace candidates of the Democratic Party.

The electoral campaigns served to periodically sidetrack large sectors of the antiwar movement from building mass actions and thus let up the pressure that the movement had placed on the U.S. government.

The anti-apartheid movement will only gather strength if it remains independent of Republican and Democratic Party politics. The New York June 14 demonstration provides an example of what can be done.•

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SOW HASTA EL B MUR

← Contents of Vol. 4, No. 7, July 1986

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