Solidarity's Proposals for Reforming Poland's Economy
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Foreign Labor Developments Solidarity's proposals Solidarity lent form, structure, and articulateness to for reforming Poland's economy worker protest. By force of circumstance, it evolved into an opposition party, breaking the monopoly of the Pol- ish United Workers Party.' (Solidarity explicitly recog- HORST BRAND nized that party's "leading role," although this recog- nition came increasingly under attack from groups Worker opposition in Eastern Europe is not a new phe- within the organization .) Among the tasks Solidarity nomenon. Recall East Germany in 1953, Hungary in faced was to formulate alternatives to the government 1956, Poland in 1956 and subsequent years, and policies and institutions that had led Poland to the Czechoslovakia in 1968. Industrial unrest of more limit- brink of economic ruin . Here, another development ed scope has occurred in Rumania and, according to which had gathered momentum since the mid-1970's Roy Medvedev,' in the Soviet Union. But in all of these became pertinent: some dissident Polish intellectuals, countries, the revolts were short-lived, being quickly among them noted scholars and experts in economics, suppressed by the armed forces; thus, the political ten- history, and other social sciences, either supported Soli- dencies they might have spawned given time could not darity or generated a climate in which ideas for reform- bear fruit . In Poland, by contrast, the broad-based ing the Polish polity could flourish. Examples of this workers' movement had the opportunity to mature to a support included KOR (Committee for Worker Defense), much more advanced stage, characterized by Solidarity, established in 1976 to free workers from jail; the Expe- an autonomous movement which superseded the estab- rience and Future group, more inclined than KOR to re- lished state-sponsored trade unions. form the system "from within"; and the Flying With the emergence of Solidarity, the workers left be- University . Some members of these groups became key hind the more limited strike and protest actions of the advisers to Solidarity during the crucial Gdansk nego- early and mid-1970's which had had some favorable ef- tiations in 1980. fects on the government's price, wage, and production Following is a discussion of some of Solidarity's goals policies, but made little lasting impact . Solidarity and policies formulated and issued at its October 1981 emerged from the inter-enterprise strike committee convention. The discussion is based essentially on two formed in August 1980 at Gdansk and Szczecin . Some documents which contain the basic thinking of Solidari- of the committee's demands were unprecedented and ty: Position on Social and Economic Reform of the Coun- audacious. It wanted free unions, in accordance with try, issued by the Network of Solidarity Organizations the 87th convention of the International Labour Orga- in Leading Factories, and Programs of the Independent nization, which had been ratified by Poland; the right to Self-Governing Trade Union Solidarity Adopted by the strike, and safety for strike participants and their help- First National Congress of Delegations, the Solidarity ers; freedom of speech, as guaranteed by the Polish con- Congress' program resolution .4 Solidarity's proposals stitution; restoration of jobs to employees dismissed for can be divided into those involving (1) civil liberties and participating in earlier strike actions; liberation of all the rule of law; (2) the self-managed enterprise and its political prisoners; full publicity for Solidarity ; the ap- relation to the economy; and (3) the improvement of pointment of managers on the basis of competence ; the current economic conditions . Only the proposals deal- abolition of privileges for the party apparatus, the po- ing with self-managed enterprises are discussed in detail lice, and the internal security police; and a number of in this report. improvements in economic and social services.' Autonomous enterprise favored Solidarity favors the creation of several types of en- terprise-"social," state, cooperative, private, and Horst Brand is an economist in the Office of Productivity and Tech- nology, Bureau of Labor Statistics . The author alone is responsible for mixed. The social enterprise was to be "the basic ele- the content of this report . ment of the national economy [with] full independence, 43 MONTHLY LABOR REVIEW May 1982 . Foreign Labor Developments autonomy of its workforce, and . self-financing ." In Decentralization- a major concern contrast, state enterprises were to be created "only in exceptional cases, inspired by national interest . veri- If there is one notion that pervades Solidarity's think- fied by Parliament ." Like the social enterprise, the state ing as reflected in its program, it is decentralization : enterprise was to be controlled by means of "economic "The basic principle underlying economic reform is to instruments" and had to be self-financing .' provide safeguards for independence, self-management, Self-financing was conceived to be a condition sine and self-financing of enterprises, which implies the abol- qua non of the self-managed enterprise . Self-financing ishment of the directive-allocative system and the struc- would free enterprises from control of the government ; tures associated with it."6 The dismantling of the it would be an incentive for efficiency, penalizing the in- "directive-allocative system" would mean the demise of efficient enterprise. To encourage long-term investment, a vast state bureaucracy, as well as of the patronage certain modifications to monetary policy would be nec- base of the ruling party. There would still be a Council essary, for instance, low-interest loans and compulsory of Ministers, whose responsibilities would include for- reserve funds. But, the principle of self-finance should mulating economic policies, and to which a staff of eco- be "unconditionally observed," and accordingly, the nomic planners would report. But the state would no granting of bank credit should no longer be automatic. longer have ultimate authority; that authority would be The self-managed enterprise, as conceived by Solidari- transferred to the Sejm-the Polish parliament-which ty, does not resemble in either form or structure the en- would have its own economic planning staff to avoid a trepreneurial firm in Western countries. There are "central planning monopoly ." Furthermore, the plan- fundamental differences in legal status . The self-man- ning authority of the Council of Ministers would not be aged enterprise would be run by its employees and their inherent but delegated by the Sejm, for according to elected representatives, or an employees' council. The Solidarity's thinking, "socialized planning should be op- enterprise managers would be appointed by the employ- erated on the principle that the final decision belongs to ees' council, be "subservient" to it, and would be representative, not executive bodies."' obliged to carry out the council's resolutions. Such sub- The importance of central planning would be drasti- servience was intended not merely to ensure the demo- cally reduced under Solidarity's proposals. Its scope cratic control of the enterprise, but also to sever the would be restricted to the "indispensable, leaving the link between enterprise management, on the one hand, remainder to the self-controlling mechanisms" because and the central administration and party hierarchy, on experience has taught "that planning covering all the other. spheres of social and economic life becomes the way The function of an employees' council is not compa- and method for developing a totalitarian system that at- rable to that of a board of directors in Western tempts to predict and control everything ."' The central countries. The directors' authority is usually nominal plan "is merely a plan for the government"' and it must and they often have interests in firms other than the one not impose decisions on enterprises and regional enti- on whose board they sit. The employees' council would ties, whose planning is to be "autonomous." Underlying determine the direction of the enterprises' development the conception of autonomous planning is the assump- and operation, labor and training policies, the division tion that the enterprise, being subject to various market of profits, and the extent of cooperation with other en- and social forces, will always plan so as to improve its terprises and of foreign trade, for example. Profits operations . Yet, such efforts must surely give rise to im- would indeed "become the main stimulus of economic balances, and it is the task of central planning to deal activity of an enterprise," and the amount of wages with these imbalances, that is, "to determine basic dy- above a certain fixed floor would be determined by prof- namics and structural proportions," including the allo- its. However, profits could not be derived from monopo- cation of new capital investment. ly practices, and enterprises would be monitored by a Solidarity viewed the central administrative system state agency to prevent such practices-to be specified that dominates the Polish economy as shackling the by law-and sanctions would be imposed on violators. natural energies and competence of the Polish work Solidarity did not define "profits," and it is not clear force. It declared that the "essential matter" is to elimi- whether profits can be generated under the proposed nate "the dictative and distributional mechanism of conditions, which include the regulation