ANDinisu cp Gets iT WRONG

The revolt of the Polish wérkers _paises important questions for socialists everywhere, In a coun— « try which claims to be socialist the overwhelming majority of workers rose in a wave of discontent, How could this happen? More importantly, how is the conflict to be resolved? The explanations offered by the sup-— porters of the Polish government can easily be discounted. The Irish Socialist, published by the Communist Party of Ireland, offers the view that the conflict is of "an economic nature!! which "anti-socialist elements! are trying to turn to political advantage. ient work'!, hold political power, he endorses, ty, Me Rakowski, is quoted: 'Many of these negative phenomena!!, he says ''stem from the fact that quite ‘a sizable number of production workers do not link their dreams of a better life with better, more effic-— What else does this mean except that a "sizable number'!! of workers are lazy and selfish? And is this just an "economic"! problem? Of course not. Unwittingly , the Irish Socialist spells out the implications when it admits that: "In political terms this often means that there is a passive attitude towards Government economic drives from important segments of the population'', Exactly. The truth is that the Polish workers are alienated from the government. The "economic! problem is precisely a tension between the workers and those who time.

This tension can only be resolved _by political measures. Either the Bureaucracy is overthrown or the -workers are reformed, Tne latter option might seem to be a bit of a joke. M. Rakowski, however, obviously lacks a sense of humour, because this is exactly the option "Those who work honestly", he says, "are demanding stern sanctions against the loafers, introduction of rigid discipline for creating a situation in which the whole of soclety would respect The language used by the Polish bureaucracy, "lazy", "loafers", to draw attention away from the priveleges and corruption of their position is similar to that used by the ruling class in capitalist countries in the face of their own crisis, While socialists should recognise’ the gains for workers made under a nationalized economy, none of the workers! states in existence can be deseribed as ‘socialist because they lack the essential feature of socialism, genuine democracy.

Proletarian democracy means democracy of the revolutionary party and democracy in society: workers!

councils, community representative organisations, freedom of discuss-— ion — all delegates and public representatives paid the workers!

wage and subject to recall at any No party which aspires toa socialist society can be revolutionary until it recognises the importance of socialist democracy and puts this into practice, We say to__ the Irish Communist Party not to let their support for a workers! state blind them to the political realities of that state; the corrup= tion and priveleges of the bureaucracy and the alienation of the Polish working class, AIDEEN O'HALLORAN Gdansk shipyard workers -carry strike leader Lech Walesa on their shoulders after winning 20. An increase in the commuter'!s allowance to 100 zlotys from 40, with a supplemental benefit on sep— 21. A day of rest on Saturday. Workers In the brigade system or round-the-clock jobs are to be compensated for the loss of free Saturdays with increased leave or other pald time off,