Polish Workers Resist Stalinist Regime

Poland’s free trade union movement and a crane driver at the Lenin shipyard in Gdansk.

Many times the management had victimised Anna for her union activities. On 31 January 1980 a hundred workmates led a four hour strike for her reinstatement after she had been moved from the yard.

In August later that same year the management moved to sack her bic, oan again, and opened the door to the mighty strike movement that rocked ‘J ne the whole of the country. “The emancipation of the work- reached their peak in August when 100,000 workers in the Baltic Sea ing class is the task of the workers cities of Gdansk, Gydnia and Sopot themselves.” had stopped working. By this time the workers were demanding freeSince August 1980 when they created dom of expression and the abolition of of censorship, release of all political the free trade union SOLIDARNOSC, _ prisoners, recognition of the right thé workers of Poland have been putto strike and free unions, abolition ting this old slogan into practice. They of privileges for police and Communist have been fighting for the right to orga- Party officials, and full discussion of nise independent trade unions, for an the economic problems of the country. end to censorship, for a minimum After the government was forced to wage, adequate food and decent health accept most of these demands the care and housing.

way was open for the organisation The fight began in July 1980 when of the nationwide trade union federathere was a series of strikes against tion, SOLIDARNOSC. More than 12 increased meat prices. These strikes million Polish workers joined. This LECH WALESA SHOWED HIS SUPPORT FOR BOBBY SANDS DURING THE HUNGER STRIKE. NOW IS THE TIME TO SHOW SUPPORT FOR THE IMPRISONED WALESA AND ALL THE OTHER JAILED TRADE UNIONISTS AND POLITICAL PRISON— ERS INPOLAND. SOLIDARITY WITH SOLIDARNOSC!

The supreme aim of the independent trade union Solidarity is to create dignified conditions of life in an economically and politically sovereign Poland, a life freed of poverty, of exploitation, of fear and deceit, in a society organised democratically and on the basis of law. Today the nation expects:

1 The improvement of food supplies by the establishment of control over production, distribution, and pricing, in collaboration with the Solidarity union of individual farmers.

2A reform of the economy, through the creation of authentic selfmanagement councils in the factories and through the liquidation of the party ‘Nomenklatura’ (Ed note: the system of party appointments to key jobs).

3 The truth through social control of the mass media and the suppression of falsehoods in education and Polish culture.

4 Democracy through the introduction of free elections to the Sejm (parliament) and the people's councils.

5 Justice through the assurance to each of equality before the law, the freedom of prisoners of opinion, and the defence of persons charged for their political, editorial or trade union activities.

6 The protection of the nation’s health, through the protection of the environment, an increase int the funds channelled into medical services, and a guarantee 10 the handicapped of the rights which are due to them in society.

7 Coal for the population and industry, through giving a guarantee to the miners of decent living and working conditions.

We will achieve these aims through the unity of the trade union and the solidari£8 of its members. The activities of a variety of forces creating a feeling of exterior danger will not remove from us the desire to struggle for the ideals of August 1980, for the implementation of the Gdansk, Szczecin and Jastrzebie accords, measures of martial law and despite the attempt to paralyse us, with fear, hundreds of thousands of workers and Polish patriots are on strike and demand the lifting of the state of siege, the freeing of all those arrested, the restoration of all trade union and democratic rights won by our people since August 1980.

Support us in our struggle with massive protests and by your moral support. Don’t stand aside with folded arms and watch the attempts to crush the beginnings of a democracy in the heart of Europe.

Be with us in these difficult moments! Solidarity with Solidarnosc! Poland still lives!

(Strike Committee of the Warski Naval Shipyard, Szczecin)

rs comprised the great majority of the was followed by other sections of the. Polish working class. population. Students organised their own student SOLIDARNOSC while small farmers and peasants in the In the months following, SOL:DAR- countryside organised a Rural SOLINOSC mobilised millions of Polish DARNOSC. The hopes and determiworkers to safeguard newly won rights nation of the whole of Polish society and reforms and to win new ones. were raised by these struggles. One of the most important victories WORKERS RESIST MILITARY for the union was winning a shorter working week, a 5 day week. It also The imposition of martial law in won the right to publish its own newsDecember 1981 dashed these hopes paper and have access to the state as brutal military repression was radio and television. It even forced launched throughout the country. The the government to build a monument initial response was a stunned disto those workers gunned down during belief strengthened by the lack of a previous revolt in 1970.

information due to rigid censorship.

The example set by the Polish workers But this soon gave way to strikes in In the Baltic regions of Gdansk and Szczecin, the Silesian region and Katowice, Lublin, Lodz, Poznan, Wroclaw, Legnice and Warsaw there were massive shutdowns. The city of Radom, the centre of military equipment and ammunition factories was totally sealed off by the army. The resistance and repression set into a pattern. The workers occupied the big plants like the Katowice steelworks, the Ursus tractor plant near Warsaw and the Gdansk shipyards. Tanks were used to smash a way in and the elite ZOMO riot police were sent in to break resistance and arrest “ringleaders”, But by the next shift workers had re-occupied only for the army to start breaking them up again.

Despite the arrest of key leaders and tens of thousands of SOLIDARNOSC members, the union has continued to function as an organiser of resistance. Resistance is generally passive sabotage of production and is widespread. In the first week of the repression only one tractor was produced by the 14,000 workers at the Ursus plant. At the FSO car factory the workers changed the tolerance levels of the machine settings and the cars produced disintegrated.

THE FAILURE OF BUREAUCRATIC PLANNING’

The Polish workers will battle on because these events are a reflection of deep-going social problems that can only be resolved by fundamental changes. The main social problem is that political power is exercised by a small number of bureaucrats in senior government positions and in the top layers of the Polish Communist Party. This layer is incapable of planning society in the interests of the great majority because it is primarily interested only in its own privileges — its own special shops, the better access to consumer goods, decent housing and education and above all political privileges in decision making. As a result, serious economic problems have occurred.

Poland owes more than 21 billion dollars...to-European and US banks due to falling markets for their products in these countries and increases in the cost of imports. These are the familiar signs of the economic crisis in the capitalist world where prices keep going up, markets keep shrinking and more workers lose their jobs. Although the economic problems of Poland are in the main caused by the economic Crisis of the capitalist world, Poland is not a capitalist country. It doesnit:suffer the ups and downs of business that cause unemployment, inflation and wage cuts. Polish industry isn’t owned by wealthy businessmen and decisions on what a factory produces, how many workers it employs -and so forth are not made according Union is broken. The Soviet bureauto the greed for profits. cracy are terrified of the Polish example spreading to other Eastern European BEHIND MARTIAL LAW states, including the Soviet Union itself. They are terrified for the same Poland has a “‘socialised’”’ economy reason that the Polish bureaucracy where industry is owned by the society is terrified: because they too would as a whole but where decision making Close their enormous privileges. is in the hands of a small elite group. It still has to trade with the capitalists who are forcing the Poles to tighten RESPONSE IN THE WEST their belts in order to pay back the Nor do the imperialist politicians loans they owe. want to see SOLIDARNOSC triumph. In fact Polish workers are suffering The forms of struggle chosen by the from the same kind of cutbacks that Polish workers — strikes and factory people in Ireland are suffering from occupations — are under attack by under the Thatcher and Fitzgerald the Tory government in Britain and governments. But in Poland the fight the 6 Counties. The Coalition Governis not against local capitalists but ment proposes to make such actions against the bureaucracy which runs illegal and has already thrown the the country and has allowed this situ- Talbot workers into prison. And one of the first actions of Ronald ‘Cowboy’ ation to develop.

Reagan’s administration in the United That’s why the bureaucracy introduced States was to shackle in chains the martial law. Through SOLIDARNOSC trade union leaders of the Air Traffic the Polish working class had begun to Controllers. The only reason Thatcher fight for a real socialist democracy, and Reagan pretend to support a society in which the workers them- SOLIDARNOSC is that it is a pretext selves will decide how industry and to continue their cold war against the the economy is organised. Since Soviet Union. Similarly the rightwing August 1980 a political revolution leaders of the trade union movement has been unfolding in Poland aimed in the West will make plenty of pious at changing society from top to speeches but refuse to lift one finger bottom. This revolution will never be to provide real material and financial successful until the power and privi- support to Polish workers. It is vital lege of the bureaucracy in the Soviet that the anti-imperialist movement in Ireland act in support of the Polish working class. If we fail to do so we allow the imperialists to pose as “defenders of democracy” and get off the hook for crushing it elsewhere. We need to be in the forefront of the fight within the trade unions, the community organisations, the student movement and women’s movement to win solidarity with SOLIDARNOSC: And within our own organisations we need to put every pressure on the leadership to start building this solidarity.

WHAT YOU CAN DO 1. Put a resolution of support for the Polish workers on the agenda of your trade union branch, tenants association, etc.

2. Ask your trade union branch, tenants association etc to invite a speaker from the ‘Solidarity with SOLIDARNOSC” to address your meeting. (Contact Alex White, Trinity College Students Union). 3. Organise a petition demanding the release of all imprisoned trade unionists and political activists in Poland and send it to General J aruzalski. 4. Collect money for the Polish resistance.

JOHN MAGEE ' be | & 1 Acceptance of free trade unions independent of the Communist Party and of enterprises, in accordance with convention No 87 of the International Labour Organisation concerning the right to form free trade unions, which was ratified by the Communist Government of Poland. 2 Guarantee of the right to strike and of the security of strikers and those aiding them. 3 Compliance with the constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech, the press and publication, including freedom for independent publishers, and the availability of the mass media to representatives of all faiths. 4 (a) Return of former rights to:

— People dismissed from work after the 1970 and 1976 strikes, — Students expelled from school because of their views.

(b) Release of all political prisoners, among them Edmund Zadrozynski, Jan Kozlowski and Marek Kozlowski.

(c) Halt in repression of the individual because of personal conviction. 5 Availability to the mass media of information about the formation of the Interfactory Strike Committee and publication of its demands. 6 Undertaking of actions aimed at bringing the country out of its crisis situation by the following means:

(a) Making public complete information about the social-economic situation.

(b) Enabling all sectors and social classes {0 take part in discussion of the reform programme. me 7 Compensation of all workers taking part in the strike for the period of the strike, with vacation pay from the Central Council of Trade Unions. 8 An increase in the base pay of each worker by 2,000 zlotys (app.£30) a month as compensation for the recent rise in prices. 9 Guaranteed automatic increases in pay on the basis of increases in prices and the decline in real income. 10 Full supply of food products for the domestic market, with exports limited to surpluses. 11 Abolition of ‘commercial’ prices and of other sales for hard currency in special shops. 12 Selection of management personnel on the basis of qualifications, not party membership. Privileges of the secret police, regular police and party apparatus are to be eliminated by equalising family subsidies, abolishing special stores, etc. 13 Introduction of food coupons for meat and meat products (during the period in which control of the market situation is regained). 14 Reduction in the age for retirement for women to 50 and for men to 55, or after 30 years’ employment in Poland for women and 35 years for men, regardless of age. 15 Conformity of old-age pensions and annuities with what has actually been paid in. 16 Improvements in the working conditions of the health service to insure full medical care for workers. ; 17 Assurances of a reasonable. number of places in day-care centres and kindergartens for the children of working mothers. 18 Paid maternity leave for three years. 19 Decrease in the waiting period for apartments. 20 Increase in the commuter’s allowance to 100 zlotys from 40, with-a supplemental benefit on separation. 21 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 paid time off.

The Communist Party of Ireland The CPI’s second accusation against justifies military dictatorship in Solidarity is not so much ludicrous Poland on the grounds that Soli- as pathetic. There is no doubt that darity is a reactionary movement a major confrontation between

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

Declaration of Solidarity Congress, 10 September 1987

factory strike committee at the Gdansk shipyard

lrish CP Get Facts Wrong