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Stalinists/Solidarnosc/IMF Attack Workers Polish Powderkeg On August 19, the Polish Stalinist regime handed zowiecki, as prime minister of a Solidarnosc-led coali- over governmental responsibility to its avowed enemies tion government. in Solidarnosc, inaugurating the first non-Stalinist gov- Today Jacek Kuron, Adam Michnik, and other prom- ernment in the Soviet bloc since the beginning of the inent Solidarnosc figures, imprisoned when the PUWP Cold War. The event was hailed in all the imperialist imposed martial law in 1981, sit beside their former capitals as the beginning of the end of ‘‘Communism’’ in jailers in parliament, while PUWP ministers sit in Soli- Eastern Europe. In an August 22 interview with the darnosc’s cabinet. But the Stalinist-Solidarnosc rap- Italian paper Il Messaggero, Lech Walesa candidly de- prochement is profoundly unstable, and is already exac- scribed the new government’s main task as taking the erbating the tensions within and among every stratum country: ‘‘from a Communist system of ownership to of Polish society. In the PUWP, divisions between the capitalism. Nobody has previously taken the road that leading Jaruzelski-Kiszczak-Rakowski ‘‘reform’’ wing leads from socialism to capitalism. And we are setting and the more conservative or ‘‘hardline’’ elements of the out to do just that, to return to the prewar situation when bureaucracy are deepening. The conservatives, concen- Poland was a capitalist country’’ (New York Times, 24 trated in the middle and lower echelons of the party August). bureaucracy, have their base in the tens of thousands of But the road to capitalist restoration will not be a managers who hold patronage jobs in the smokestack smooth one. Polish workers got a taste of market ‘‘ration- industries slated to be shut down. They also enjoy con- alization’’ in August when the Jaruzelski regime, in its siderable support within the state security apparatus. last significant act before abdicating, lifted price controls Market ‘‘reforms’’ will necessarily pit workers in Soli- on food. The cost of milk, meat and cheese immediately darnosc against their erstwhile peasant allies in Rural soared by as much as 500 percent. From Gdansk in the Solidarnosc, who stand to gain at the workers’ expense north to Krakow in the south, workers replied with from the decontrol of agricultural prices. Most impor- warning strikes and strike alerts. Only the restraining tantly, the price-hikes, unemployment, speed-up and hand of the Solidarnosc leadership, which still enjoys cuts in social services which must accompany the intro- immense authority among the Polish workers, has so far duction of a market-oriented economy, will drive a prevented a social explosion. But the authority of an wedge between the Solidarnosc bigwigs around Lech organization dedicated to imposing capitalist austerity Walesa and the organization’s proletarian base. Despite cannot long endure. their illusions about the Catholic Church and Western Solidarnosc’s advocacy of restoring capitalism in Po- ‘‘democracy,’’ Polish workers will soon discover that land is not new. At its national congress in 1981, it they are the main targets of the economic restructuring adopted a program which openly declared: ‘‘It is neces- being advocated by the unholy trinity of the PUWP, sary to sweep away the bureaucratic barriers which Solidarnosc and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). make it impossible for the market to operate.’’ What has changed in the Polish equation since 1981 is the Stalinist For the Rebirth of Polish Marxism! bureaucracy’s embrace of the ‘‘free market’’ as the solu- Ten years of Solidarnosc’s clerical-nationalist mis- tion to Poland’s seemingly intractable economic crisis. lead-ership has left the Polish working class politically The Polish economy today is a disaster. The $39 billion disarmed in the face of this attack. As the chaos deepens, foreign debt is five times as great as total annual hard- and formerly fixed points on the Polish political map currency earnings. In the past decade, real income per begin to dissolve, it will become increasingly clear to capita has fallen by a quarter, and today inflation is sections of the Polish proletariat that no organized force edging up to 1000 percent. in the coun-try today represents its class interests. This The Soviet bureaucracy, which put the Polish United presents an opening for revolutionaries to point out that Workers Party (PUWP) in power in the first place and there is a tradition in Polish history other than that of the stands as its ultimate guarantor, is itself enamored of venal and corrupt Stalinist bureaucracy, whose claim to ‘‘market miracles.’’ Less willing than ever to underwrite the mantle of communism Polish workers now take at the Polish economy, the Kremlin gave Jaruzelski the face value; or that of the fascistic interwar dictator, Josef green light to privatize the means of production and Pilsudski, whose legacy workers embrace as the only abandon centralized economic planning. Yet everyone alternative to the ‘‘communism’’ they have come to knows that Solidarnosc is far better situated to lead know and hate. The Polish revolutionary socialist tradi- Po-land in a capitalist direction than the thoroughly tion is represented by the heroic figures of Rosa Luxem- discredited Stalinist regime. When Polish voters mas- burg and Leo Jogiches, who founded the Social Demo- sively repudiated the PUWP in favor of Solidarnosc in cratic Party of the King-dom of Poland and Lithuania the elections last June, the stage was set for a round of (SDKPiL), and fought at the side of the Polish workers parliamentary jockeying, which concluded with the ap- against Czarism during the revolution of 1905. The pointment of a long-time Catholic activist, Tadeusz Ma- SDKPiL actively supported the Bolshevik workers revo- 2

lution of 1917, and formed the core of the original Polish horts demonstrated their ability to curb the PUWP section of the Communist International when Lenin and hardliners who tried to sabotage the proposed parley. Trotsky stood at the helm of the Soviet state. When the talks concluded last April, Solidarnosc had A party founded on the revolutionary tradition of the regained legal status and had also won the right to run Polish proletariat would be prepared to repudiate the for parliament as the first bona fide opposition in the debt to the Western bankers, while unconditionally de- recent history of the Soviet bloc. In the Sejm (parlia- fending the collectivization of the means of production. ment), it was allowed to contest 161 of 460 seats. The It would stand for the abolition of the ‘‘right’’ to exploit remaining seats were reserved for PUWP and its sup- labor in town or country. It would strive to link the pos-ed allies. The regime also agreed to revive the long- struggles of Polish workers to those of their class broth- defunct Senate and permit Soli-darnosc to field candi- ers and sisters in the USSR, who recently shut down dates for all of its 100 seats. The Senate has the right to mines in western Siberia and the Ukraine to protest their veto legislation initiated in the Sejm. When the votes own government’s attempts to impose market disci- were counted after the June elections, Solidarnosc won pline. an overwhelming mandate, tak-ing all the seats it con- A Marxist organization in Poland would aggressively tested in the Sejm and all but one in the Senate. promote the struggle for women’s liberation and con- demn all attempts by the clerical hierarchy to restrict or Solidarnosc Forms a Government prohibit abortion. It would also advocate crushing the Events have since unfolded with a rapidity that sur- fascistic anti-Semitic nationalists of the Confederation prised the winners as well as the losers. Until the gov- for an Independent Poland (KPN) and denounce the ern-mental crisis of mid-August, Solidarnosc’s leaders viciously anti-Semitic provocations of Cardinal Glemp. were pursuing a gradualist strategy. The round-table Such a party would necessarily adopt the name and the agreements of April were designed to allow Solidarnosc program of Leon Trotsky, who sought to rescue the only a limited legislative role, while ensuring that a revolutionary traditions of Bolshevism from their Stalin- parlia-mentary majority, the government, and the presi- ist falsifiers. The present plight of the Polish working dency remained in the hands of the PUWP. Solidarnosc class demon-strates that there can be no substitute for a was not supposed to be able to win a parliamentary Bolshevik-Leninist party. majority and form a government until the elections 1988 Strike Wave: Turning Point scheduled for 1993. This go-slow approach, however, was out of sync The current chapter in the Polish drama began with with the political mood that swept the country following two waves of strikes in the spring and summer of 1988. the elections. The vote was widely viewed as a resound- The summer eruption began in Poland’s southern min- ing repudiation of Jaruzelski and the PUWP. With ing region of Upper Silesia and soon spread to the Baltic lengthening bread lines and a rash of strikes against port cities of Szczecin and Gdansk, both major Solidar- price hikes, it soon became apparent that only a thor- nosc strongholds. Government-decreed increases in re- oughgoing gov-ernmental change could prevent a po- tail prices provided the immediate spark for the walk- litical upheaval. At that point the United Peasants’ Party outs; but it soon became clear that the leadership of and the Democratic Party (traditionally PUWP ‘‘allies’’) Solidarnosc, with the support of a majority of the strik- switched sides, giv-ing Solidarnosc a majority in the ing workers, intended to use the outbreak of discontent Sejm. As part of the deal, Solidarnosc agreed to leave the for political rather than simply economic aims. Walesa’s coercive apparatus of the state (army and police) in the strategy, which he announced from the outset of the hands of the PUWP, and to permit General Jaruzelski to strikes, was to pressure the Jaruzelski government into retain the office of president, with the power to veto legalizing Solidarnosc, outlawed since 1981. legislation and dissolve parliament. After a two-week standoff, the strategy produced Several considerations figured in this ‘‘historic com- re-sults. A series of indirect contacts between Solidar- promise’’ between the former antagonists. The exper- nosc leaders and Communist Party chiefs, brokered by ience of martial law had cooled Walesa’s ardor for direct the Catholic Church, quickly led to a meeting between confrontation with the regime. This reluctance was Lech Walesa and General Czeslaw Kiszczak, Poland’s shared by most Solidarnosc supporters who were old interior minister and chief gendarme, who had person- enough to remember the defeat of 1981. The 1988 strikes ally signed the order for Walesa’s arrest in 1981. Walesa failed to attain the breadth of the struggles that led to obtained from Kiszczak a pledge to initiate a series of Solidarnosc’s birth eight years earlier because active ‘‘round table’’ discussions between the regime and ‘‘all participation was largely confined to workers in their major social forces’’ (i.e., Solidarnosc) with a view to late teens and early twenties who were unbruised by the resolving Poland’s political and economic crisis. earlier debacle. With this victory in his pocket, Walesa rushed to the But the 1988 strikes, conducted under the banner of docks and coalfields to persuade the strikers to return to ‘‘No Freedom Without Solidarnosc,’’ demonstrated the work. He encountered bitter opposition from the more workers’ continued allegiance to Walesa, as well as their intransigent workers, who thought it foolish to call off ability to disrupt the ailing economy. Solidarnosc was the strikes in return for mere promises. But the Solidar- not strong enough to contest state power, but the PUWP nosc chairman prevailed. In exchange for Walesa’s co- could not make the economy work. This stalemate operation in ending the strikes, Jaruzelski and his co- forced both sides toward an accommodation, as Jaruzel- 3

ski re-luctantly concluded that the country could no within the Russian military orbit, so long as the eco- longer be effectively governed without the participation nomic and political ‘‘reforms’’ proceed apace. Walesa of the opposition. has joined Bush, Kohl and Thatcher in assuring Gor- bachev that he has no intention of exploiting the present Solidarnosc and the Kremlin crisis for mili-tary advantage. Gorbachev, whose credu- lity concerning imperialism’s good intentions seems The Stalinist-Solidarnosc accord was also shaped by boundless, appears to accept these assurances at face the political changes in the Soviet Union since the rise of value. With the question of Poland’s military allegiance Gorbachev. The PUWP regime was imposed upon Po- temporarily on the back burner, the political differences land by Stalin after the Second World War in response between the Stalin-ists and Solidarnosc have become to the U.S.-initiated Cold War. And it was as antagonists more and more difficult to discern in recent years. in the Cold War----with Solidarnosc as the champion of Solidarnosc was inspired in part by the elevation of ‘‘democracy,’’ ‘‘free trade unions’’ and Catholic anti- Krakow’s own Cardinal Karol Wojtyla to the papacy, Communism, versus Jaruzelski as the defender of the and has always worked closely with this itinerate apos- political and economic status quo----that the two forces tle of reaction. But Jaruzelski and the Polish Stalinists confronted each other in December 1981. have proven almost as anxious to ingratiate themselves But today, the Kremlin is ruled by a proponent of class with the Holy See. In October of last year, the Polish peace who has unilaterally declared that the Cold War government offered the Vatican full freedom to operate is over, and has given proof of his sincerity by withdraw- in Po-land if the Pope would agree to make Warsaw the ing support to third-world liberation struggles, pulling first regime in Eastern Europe officially recognized by troops and missiles out of Eastern Europe, and promis- the Church. ing to exempt the Russian-ruled Baltic republics from Since 1981, Solidarnosc has advocated joining the economic planning and the monopoly of foreign trade. International Monetary Fund, the principal financial Walesa was not entirely without justification in observ- agency of world imperialism. In 1986, Poland, on ing that the great misfortune of Solidarnosc was that Jaruzelski’s initiative, did exactly that. Today both Soli- ‘‘Brezhnev died two years too late.’’ darnosc and the Stalinists agree that the only way out of U.S. imperialism and its allies have not foresworn the country’s current economic crisis is to borrow even their ambition of recovering Eastern Europe; but neither more money from the West. are they unwilling to take advantage of Gorbachev’s The PUWP has also joined Solidarnosc in promoting outstretched hand. After some hesitation and internal a wider role for rural capitalists. Poland’s private peas- wrangling, the Western powers, including the United ant farmers, who control 75 percent of the arable land, States, now appear to be de-emphasizing the Reagan have always been the bane of Stalinist economic plan- posture of maximum military pressure on the Soviet ners. While the regime never seriously attempted to Union and Eastern Europe in favor of the West German collectivize agriculture, it was able, in the early years, to strategy of ostpolitik----the reconquest of the lands east of shield the working class from the harsher effects of rural the Elbe through gradual economic penetration. And it ‘‘free enterprise’’ by exercising state control over trade is not difficult to see why Poland, which has historically between the countryside and the cities. The state at- been the weakest link in Moscow’s chain of Warsaw Pact tempted to ensure that basic foodstuffs remained afford- buffer states, should recommend itself as a vulnerable able by fixing the prices it would pay private farmers. entry point for this mark- and dollar led ‘‘drive to the But low prices provided no incentive for increased pro- east.’’ duction. In an attempt to increase agricultural output Stalin once quipped that imposing his brand of ‘‘com- without sparking resistance in the working class munism’’ on Poland was like putting a saddle on a cow. through price hikes, the Stalinist rulers began providing Poland is the only country in the Soviet bloc where hefty subsidies to the peasants, paying farmers more for agriculture was never extensively collectivized. More- agricultural products than it charged consumers. The over, the stridently anti-Communist Catholic Church price subsidies were, in turn, financed by borrowing retained a special status, with chaplains in the army and from Western banks. the right to conduct reli-gious instruction in the schools. This short-sighted accommodation to the require- For almost twenty years the PUWP attempted to ments of the anti-socialist smallholders contributed sig- avoid the consequences of repeated economic failures by nificantly to the present economic impasse of the Polish mortgaging the country to the loansharks of Wall Street economy. While rural living standards increased more and the Frankfurt borse. It is therefore hardly surprising rapidly than those of any other sector in Polish society, that the Polish Stalinists today find themselves in the the peasants never accepted the Stalinist regime. Resent- ‘‘vanguard’’ of Warsaw Pact rulers descending into free- ing their dependence on the state for supplies of seed, market chaos. fertilizer and machinery, they showed their discontent PUWP: Courting Clerics, Kulaks and IMF by restricting production and refusing to invest in capi- tal improvements. Notwithstanding the rapprochement between Polish The PUWP’s attempts to reduce the food subsidies, Stalinism and Solidarnosc, the PUWP is still indispensa- by bringing prices into line with costs, was a major cause ble to the Kremlin as a guarantor of Poland’s adherence of the strike wave that brought Solidarnosc into being in to the Warsaw Pact. At least for the time being, the 1980. In its 1981 program, Solidarnosc proposed to solve capitalist powers appear content to let Poland remain this problem by eliminating price controls altogether, 4

leaving the workers completely at the mercy of the rich monopolies and the planners in the central ministries peasants. In August of this year, the Jaruzelski regime remained strong enough to marginalize the new private adopted this plank from Solidarnosc’s platform, lifting companies (which accounted for less than five percent controls on food prices and allowing the farmers to of the economy). Jaruzelski’s version of perestroika charge whatever the traffic would bear. proved to be a colossal failure. The creation of a handful There remains the question of Poland’s industrial of private enterprises in a bureaucratically regulated infrastructure: the coal mines, shipyards and factories econ-omy, with a sullen and uncooperative proletariat, which are still in the hands of the state. To make Poland only contributed to the decline. a ‘‘going concern’’ for the international bourgeoisie, col- There are now about 100 private joint-stock enter- lectivized property must be put into private hands, prises with foreign capitalists in Poland, most of them something which Solidarnosc has long advocated. To- fairly small-scale. Yet under the PUWP, it has been day, the leading Stalinist faction appears to be prepared almost impossible for foreigners to do business in Po- to countenance such a step. land without running into a mass of government restric- Less than two weeks after the legalization of Solidar- tions. An account in the Autumn 1988 East European nosc, George Bush unveiled an economic aid package Reporter explains how some of the supposed guardians specifically designed to encourage private foreign in- of state property used their positions to become fledg- vestment in the Polish economy. Almost immediately, ling entre-preneurs: Barbara Piasecka Johnson, Polish-born heiress to the ‘‘A Polonian firm is subject to blackmail from the moment Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical fortune, signed a it is founded. It only receives permission if the security letter of intent to purchase a 55 percent interest in the service has no objections against the foreign owners or Lenin Shipyard for $100 million. She is currently in their Polish plenipotentiaries....Thus foreign owners often prefer to give the post of plenipotentiary or some other Poland with a legion of corporate lackeys to consum- highly paid office to someone who is recommended by mate the deal. This proposal for the outright sale of a the police. In other words they employ people who have major item of state property to a U.S. capitalist is being contacts in those institutions on which these firms are presented as the only hope for preventing the govern- dependent.’’ ment from going ahead with plans to shut down the yard Many retired members of the security apparatus, on on 1 January 1990. This closure is in line with the PUWP’s full state pensions, initiated small businesses: ‘‘These policy of phasing out heavy industry in favor of light, people somehow do not have any problems with getting consumer-oriented enterprises such as electronics, concessions on the use of premises and other affairs banking services, food processing and tourism. which for a normal Polish private businessman would A story in the July 31 New York Times provides an take up more than half his energy and time.’’ indication of what form of ownership the Stalinists con- The ‘‘enfranchisement’’ process acquired momentum template for these industries. It reports that Mieczyslaw in February 1989, as the round-table discussions with Rakowski, the new PUWP chief: Solidarnosc began. The Stalinist-controlled Sejm passed ‘‘appears to have persuaded General Jaruzelski, and through him Moscow, that to remain a viable force, the the National Consolidation Plan permitting enterprise party must forge a fresh constituency among the man- managements to ‘‘experiment’’ with private ownership. agers and workers of industries with a promising future.... Typically, managers of state-owned companies, who ‘‘Mr. Rakowski has been at the forefront of a movement often ended up as major shareholders of the new private within the party to transfer ownership of state companies in firms, pass along lucrative orders from the ‘‘people’s these sectors to their party-nominated managers, in what ap- enterprise.’’ In other cases, the new company ‘‘shares’’ pears to be an effort to compensate them for a loss of space, tools and even personnel with the state enterprise. security and perquisites and retain their loyalty in the A variant is that the state company itself is privatized by coming struggle with Solidarity.’’ (emphasis added) offering shares, many of which are picked up by the The ‘Enfranchisement of the Nomenklatura’ existing management at a substantial discount. This policy of converting state enterprises into the PUWP: A Self-Liquidating Bureaucracy? private property of sections of the party elite, known as In the December 1981 showdown between Solidar- the ‘‘enfranchisement of the nomenklatura,’’ did not nosc and the Polish state, we sided militarily with the be-gin on the morrow of Solidarnosc’s electoral triumph; Jaruzelski regime against the explicitly capitalist restora- it has been pursued by the Polish Stalinists for the past tionist Solidarnosc leadership (see our pamphlet, ‘‘Soli- several years, and is closely linked to the regime’s at- darnosc: Acid Test for Trotskyists’’). In this confronta- tempts to create a wider role for ‘‘free enterprise.’’ In tion Jaruzelski acted as a defender of a status quo which 1986, Jaruzelski attempted to introduce his own version included state ownership of the means of production. But the of perestroika under the label of ‘‘national renewal.’’ trajectory of the Polish Stalinists in the intervening eight Today, as a result, private companies in Poland are years poses new and unavoidable questions: can a re- legally entitled to equal treatment with state enterprises. gime that has led the country into the IMF, allowed Restrictions on joint-stock ventures with foreign capital private farmers free reign in setting the prices of food, have been eliminated and individual entrepreneurs and which now proposes to sell whole sectors of state have the legal right to hire as much labor as they can use. industry piecemeal to foreign capitalists while turning But despite these sweeping juridical changes, little other enterprises into the private property of its own changed in practice. The managers of the powerful state members, still be considered a defender of proletarian 5

property forms? Is it possible for a Stalinist bureaucracy, nosc’s program implemented. Indeed, many individual which has up to now based itself upon state ownership PUWP members have already defected to Walesa. Other of the means of production, to gradually transform itself elements in the party and state apparatus, who stand to into a ‘‘new bourgeoisie,’’ ruling in combination with lose everything if the PUWP’s political and economic elements of native and foreign capital? These questions mono-poly is broken, will, out of a desire to preserve are profoundly significant not only for Poland, but for their own privileges, at some point attempt to offer the crisis now engulfing the entire non-capitalist world. resistance to the proposed ‘‘reforms.’’ In addressing these questions, it is necessary first to The task of defending proletarian property forms consider the internal composition of the bureaucracy. cannot be left to any wing of the corrupt and discredited Although the prospect of privatization may indeed be PUWP bureaucracy. As Trotsky noted 50 years ago, the attractive to many factory managers and directors of the material interests of a parasite do not constitute a suffi- more successful state enterprises, this managerial layer cient basis for the defense of the host (i.e., collectivized does not comprise the top-most echelon of the bureau- property). The Polish Stalinists are thoroughly demoral- cracy. The core of the ruling Stalinist caste consists of a ized and bereft of even the faintest spark of moral, stratum of party apparatchiks who possess the power to political or social purpose. In the campaign leading up direct the economy as a whole, including the appoint- to the June elections, the traditional Communist red was ment and dismissal of enterprise managers and lower- re-placed on PUWP campaign posters by a pale and level bureaucrats. This control over economic decision an-aemic blue; PUWP candidates did not run under making and personnel constitutes the principal source their own party’s name, but chose instead the more of the Stalinists’ privileges, and hence their very identity neutral-sounding designation of ‘‘National List.’’ Even as a ruling group. They cannot turn the economy over to the hammer and sickle was replaced by a symbol more private owners without relinquishing their ability to suited to the party’s softer line: toilet paper----the scarce dispense patronage jobs and to (dis)organize produc- commodity with which candidates sought to bribe vot- tion. It is highly unlikely that the Polish Stalinists, as a ers at the hustings. caste, will prove to be the first ruling group in history to In appeasing their foes, the Stalinist bureaucrats have willingly preside over its own liquidation. become almost indistinguishable from them in terms of The Stalinists have given ground to Solidarnosc as a their social and economic agenda. This has undermined defensive adaptation to mounting internal and external their own capacity for effective opposition in the future. pressures. According to the Economist (12 August), ‘‘Mr. Any resistance that elements of the PUWP may eventu- Rakowski, Poland’s prime minister, told his party re- ally offer to Solidarnosc will be motivated by fear of cently that it must give up 40% of its power in order to losing their bureaucratic privileges. But the capacity of hold on to the other 60%.’’ The PUWP leadership may the PUWP to influence events is shrinking as the demor- imagine that by agreeing to power-sharing with Walesa alized apparatus disintegrates. and pri-vatizing the more viable state industries, it can somehow consolidate its position against both its own Solidarnosc: Enemy of Polish Workers hardliners and Solidarnosc. But the attempt to maintain Yet in Poland today the Stalinists are not the only ones the PUWP’s increasingly tenuous grip on power by in trouble. As long as the PUWP monopolized political beating Solidarnosc at its own restorationist game is power, it was forced to shoulder the blame for the coun- doomed to fail. try’s economic condition. In the eyes of the masses, cannot Solidarnosc simply take over the existing state Solidarnosc will henceforth share responsibility for the apparatus----particularly the ‘‘armed bodies of men’’ disastrous economic situation. Walesa and the rest of which remain under Jaruzelski’s control----and use them Solidarnosc’s leadership know this and they also know to defend a system of private property in the means of that the new government’s program for capitalist resto- production. To consolidate the social counterrevolution ration is not going to be popular with the workers. which they propose, Walesa et al must ensure that their During the election campaign last May, Solidarnosc can- own trusted people hold all the key levers of power, didates deliberately dodged all questions of economic must particularly in the army and police. Solidarnosc policy. break the power of the PUWP: ‘‘Solidarity has said a major legislative goal will be the To avoid personal responsibility for the anti-working dismantling of the so-called system of nomenklatura, class measures that lie along the road of capitalist resto- under which the Communist Party has retained the right ration, Walesa turned away the coronet of office with the to fill virtually all of the nation’s political, economic and back of his hand. He knows that to have any chance of social positions, from local government heads through selling IMF-imposed austerity in the future, he must army commanders to hospital and school directors. remain ‘‘clean’’ in the eyes of the workers. In refusing to ‘‘Mr. Geremek [Solidarity’s parliamentary leader] said: assume direct responsibility for Solidarnosc in power, ‘The main problem is one of principles, and if there is to Walesa is wiser than the proponents of the various theo- be the formation of an open government, there must be ries of ‘‘state capitalism’’ who hold that there is no essen- the end of the Communist monopoly.’’’ ----New York Times, 18 August tial difference between the societies west and east of the Elbe. The Lenin Shipyard electrician is well aware of the The Stalinists cannot simply negotiate away their difference. power in the economy and state apparatus. There is no Despite his renown among pontiffs and presidents, question that a large section of the bureaucracy, includ- and despite his Nobel Prize, Walesa knows that his ing most of the ‘‘enfranchisees,’’ wish to see Solidar- 6 authority derives in the final analysis from the workers to a market economy. France has pledged a similar he led against the regime in 1980, who still comprise the amount and West Germany has promised $1 billion. But core of Solidarnosc’s social base. He also knows that the the aid proffered so far falls far short of the $10 billion IMF-prescribed shock treatment which Mazowiecki’s that Solidarnosc has been requesting. government proposes cannot be successfully imposed The queasiness of Poland’s prospective buyers is not upon the working class solely through papal incanta- unjustified. The international bourgeoisie know that a tions or the bromides of ‘‘democratic’’ rhetoric. It means capitalist Poland is in their long-term interests, but they an assault on the workers’ standard of living far more are not philanthropists. They have enough business massive than anything they have suffered thus far at the sense to realize that any government which must take hands of the bankrupt Stalinist regime, and this will on the job of breaking up the Stalinist state apparatus require large-scale repression which could reach the and subduing the inevitable resistance of millions of level of white terror. workers is a risky short-term investment. In the words Michael Mandelbaum, of the U.S. Council on Foreign of an unnamed senior State Department official quoted Relations, bluntly summed up the new prime minister’s in the 14 September New York Times: ‘‘The economic dilemma, ‘‘First, he is going to have to stab his adversar- situation is still a swamp over there. Government unions ies and then he is going to have to stab his supporters’’ are trying to be more militant than Solidarity, striking (New York Times, 25 August). As well as going after the for large wage increases. It’s still not clear that hardliners Stalinist nomenklatura, ‘‘he is going to have to shut down in the Communist Party are reconciled to the new gov- inefficient, overmanned state enterprises, such as the ernment and want it to succeed.’’ Gdansk shipyards, where Solidarity was born, or some The Polish proletariat is giving the imperialists good mines and steel mills, and that is going to hurt his core reason to be nervous. Strike activity has increased since constituency.’’ If Solidarnosc successfully carries out the the June elections and a mood of skepticism is growing social counterrevolution it advocates, Polish workers in the working class toward their Solidarnosc leaders. will learn that collectivized property represents real While Walesa appeals for a six-month moratorium on gains----the right to full employment, education, low-cost strikes and the government tries to sell Polish workers housing and free medical care. on the need to work more and get paid less, the Stalinist Walesa estimated that: ‘‘For half of Polish companies, unions, initially created by Jaruzelski to compete with nothing needs to be done. Just change the organization Solidarnosc, have been taking a more militant line and you can make money instantly. One-fourth need the against government austerity measures and have thus addition of some capital, and one-fourth have to be gained some credibility. At the same time, ‘‘Fighting disbanded’’ (New York Times, 7 July). Everyone expects Solidarity,’’ the rightist split from Solidarnosc which that those workers presently employed in the enter- includes members of the fascistic KPN, is also growing. prises Walesa proposes to disband, as well as other In the final analysis, the only force capable of defend- working people whose living standards will plummet as ing collectivized property against Solidarnosc, the West- they watch a handful of pirates get rich, are likely to ern bankers and a Stalinist bureaucracy intent on giving explode in anger. After meeting with Bush in July, away the store, is the Polish proletariat, led by a con- Walesa fretted: ‘‘‘I am sitting on a powder keg, and I have scious Bolshevik vanguard. Only by advocating a clear doubts we will be able to do it.’ Civil war could result, and decisive break with the reactionary clericalist ideol- he said, if reforms demanded of Poland brought unem- ogy and leadership of Solidarnosc can Polish Marxists ployment and reduc-ed incomes’’ (New York Times, 12 begin the necessary political reorientation of the work- July). In any such future conflict, revolutionaries must ing class. To coordinate the struggles against the IMF militarily bloc with any combination of forces----includ- dictated assaults, Polish workers need to form councils ing sections of the Stalinist apparatus----which resist the of democratically-elected representatives from every assault on the working class and the dismantling of the factory, linked in a national network. Within such bodies system of collectivized pro-perty. revolutionists would seek to mobilize the proletariat for Solidarnosc’s imperialist well-wishers and pay-mas- revolutionary struggle to defeat both the capitalist ters are quite conscious of the pitfalls which await any restorationists of Solidarnosc and the discredited Stalin- government seeking to reimpose capitalism upon the ist parasites. Only on this basis can the enthusiasm nec- Polish working class. Since Solidarnosc obtained its gov- essary to rejuvenate the centrally-planned economy un- ernmental majority, there has been much talk in bour- der democratic workers control be generated. geois political circles about massive Western economic But a revolutionary leadership committed to such a aid, even a ‘‘new Marshall Plan,’’ for Poland. George perspective cannot be constructed by the spineless Bush started by offering a paltry $161 million----a mere pseudo-leftists who have spent most of the last ten years drop in the bucket. Under pressure from Congressional adapting to, apologizing for and tailing behind the Democrats, he is now talking about increasing U.S. as- openly pro-capitalists of Solidarnosc. Only those who sistance as well as funneling larger amounts of money stand for a clear and decisive break with the leadership to Poland through the International Monetary Fund. The and program of imperialism’s favorite ‘‘union’’ have the European Economic Community has pledged an addi- political capacity to lead the workers in the struggle to tional $660 million for Poland and Hungary, with the ensure that the system of capitalist wage-slavery does possibility of more in the future to soften the transition not return to Poland. ■