Outlawed by Jaruzelski
Solidarnosc prepares its answer
Jacqueline Allio/Claude Sevrac
The clandestine leadership of Solidarnose has just clarified the call it made following the outlawing of Solidarnosc, hardening the tone. The national strike called for November 10 will be for eight, not four, hours. The following throughout the country to mark the anniversary of Polish independence. Further street demonstrations will take place between December 13 and 17.
This statement is important because the strike in the Gdansk shipyards had brought to light the lack of national coordination, (See IV 16). The regional leadership of Solidarnosc supported the action of the shipyard workers, which began on the morning of October 11. But the TKK, Temporary Co-ordinating Commission - underground leadership of Solidarnosc - stayed silent while solidarity strikes broke out in several regions of the country, and the workers in the biggest enterprise in the country, the Nowa Huta steelworks in Cracow, decided to organise a support demonstration on October 13. The working class waited for a sign from the TKK on what to do: extend the strike movement? Organise other forms of solidarity action?
The belated appeal by Zbigniew Bujak calling on the workers to go into occupation-strike like those at Gdansk was ineffective because it only began to circulate as the shipyard workers went back to work, thinking that their struggle was isolated.The cut in communications and the decision of the junta to militarise the enterprises were impelled by the workers' determination.
In most of the regions the workers have expressed their disarray, and often their anger, with the lack of co-ordination in the underground union. They have their doubts about the possibility of success of an action of the scope of November 10 if the leadership shows itself as timorous and inconsistent as its directives.
COMBATIVITY MAINTAINED
It is not the combativity of the working class which is in question. The angry explosions which took place throughout the country, the massive attendance, about 30,000 people, at the funeral of a young worker killed by the ZOMO on
October 13 at Nowa Huta, have, on the contrary, shown the determination of the working population, their refusal to bend, and, very often, their wish to do battle with the security forces.
There was a qualitative leap in the of the workers after the delegalisation of Solidarnosc. Even the idea of 'national understanding' was put into question by more than one who had believed in it the very day before. How could one believe in 'understandwith this minority of bureaucrats in uniform who only keep themselves in by increasing repression and
The breadth of the boycott of the new trade unions during the first two weeks following the adoption of the law has also shown definitively that the workers will not allow themselves to be intimidated. The 'tricks' of the authorities emphasising that in certain cases, like Nowa Huta, former members of Solidarnosc are at the head of the new unions have not impressed many A poor type who has been got by the SB (secret police)' was the type of comments that came out spontaneously on the television announce this 'great news. Gales of laughter greeted the news that a woman activist of Solidarnose, asked by a colleague to join the new union, had replied, beside herself, 'Get lost, you should rather be buying me new winter shoes.'
Everything indicates that the boycott will be massive, at least for the first few months, and that we are indeed seeing the national referendum' called by the where 'the government will not be able to falsify the results'. Moreover, the with the first results. Side by side with vaunting by the column the new unions, so 'democratic' and so independent', some editorials, such as that of Zycie Warszawy October 15, 1982, allowed their concern about the editorial attempts to make believe that just as before, throughout the country, spontaneously, massively, and enthusiastically, founding committees for the new unions are being set up' Such reports, often false, awake distrust, and can only iritate public opi-
However, the massive rejection, which the editorial of Zycie Warszawy implicitly recognised, and the combativity of the workers are not sufficient to banish the scepticism of many of them about the ability of the underground union to really lead immediately, broad co-ordinated national actions.
### LACK OF CO-ORDINATION
'One of our greatest weaknesses is the lack of links not only at regional, but at local or even enterprise level,' stated one activist of Solidarnosc the day after the delegalisation. This particularly explains why the number of activists sending regular dues to the union has fallen markedly since the beginning of the year. generously for specific aims, such as for the families of the internees, or the ill, or for the payment of fines resulting from strikes or demonstrations, the percentage of those who understand the need to regularly finance the activities of the underground apparatus is hardly ten per cent in an area like Warsaw, and five per cent in Silesia.
'One of the big problems we face, continued the same activist. In Warsaw they are once again arresting about fifteen people a week who play a decisive role in the clandestine press and the inter-enterprise links. Everyone distrusts their neighbour because the SB has proved for months that it is doing systematic infiltration work and is able to weave a net and proceed to collective arrests when it thinks it has a network. Many of us will only work with people we have known since December 13.
the innumerable which have taken place in the last while, this has much reduced the field of actico-ordination.'
Without falling into the defeatist attitude of certain articles in the Western press, which give a more than sombre picture of the state of the resistance,
"police obsession, it must be recognised that distrust is growing in certain circles of workers and implications for the ability of the movement to take action as a whole.
Thus, the initiative of the workers in the big enterprises to form an Interregional commission for the defence of Solidarnosc' (MKO), to set up organisational structures which would allow circulation of information and bring into line of the condition of struggle, appeared all the more important to try
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to overcome the gap that until now has existed between the different regions. This commission, composed of activists elected at different regional or national occasions of Solidarnosc in 1981, explains that it does not want to substitute for the elected leadership of the union, but emphasises that it is necessary to change the methods of work, and to work out a programme of action which will take forward the struggle for the satisfaction of the workers' demands.
The declarations of the MKO have received some response in the underground regional press which has published them quite systematically. The setting up of this body, side by side with the TKK, which has received much criticism, answers an obvious desire of the workers for better co-ordination of their initiatives, convinced that they cannot win through dispersed struggles.
'If we go on strike just to be militarised the next day with no reaction from other workers it's just not worth it, said one worker from the south. The majority of workers who express themselves in this way show that they understand that it is even more dangerous to take one-off actions, as the repression which follows costs dearly. Too dearly. Every strike results in tens or hundreds of sackings, as in Gdansk after the strike of October 10-11. Every demonstration leads to tens or hundreds of arrests, as in Cracow in the week October 11-17. Many of them are released after 48 hours. But with fines of ten to forty thousand zlotys.
How can such a fine be paid when the lowest wages are still this side of 6,000 zlotys?It has to come from the union funds, or the money sent from abroad to help the underground movement. But this means so much less for the daily functioning of the union, which is very costly. All the necessities; paper, ink, stencils... have to be bought on the black market.
And then, how many will not be released? Will they be tried and get several years in prison, swelling the ranks of those who have already been - more than two thousand at the end of August, perhaps twice that today. The conditions of detention are frightful. An incredible number of internees released this summer are ill - often gravely after nine months 'only' of detention and undernourishment. Reports of cruelty and even torture are more and more numerous in the underground press.
Thus, one cannot treat lightly the consequences of the spontaneous actions which bear witness to the courage of the Polish working class and its absolute opposition to the present regime, but which has not yet led to a victory, even partial.
There has been no lack of workers arguing in the underground press that it is necessary to move to a higher stage of the struggle. The patience of the people is at an end. The pressure of poverty is
Solidarnosc demonstration (DR). increasing, and giving rise to hope that we can finish with the regime. The events of the last few months show that passive resistance is becoming active resistance,' said one (1). "The aim of the Solidarnosc trade union is written in the programme adopted at Gdansk: a self-managed republic. Only self-management will allow those who are not allowed to speak today, and who are not at their homes, to feel themselves masters in their own country, and begin to live in dignity,' said another (2). 'It is not by chance that the self-managed Republic is an object of attack for the Communists. It is about a struggle for power in the country, for power for society and not for a small group of ideologues. Such an objective immediately poses the problem of confrontation. When will society arrive at a sufficient stage of maturity? When will the enemy be weak enough? It is difficult to tell today. To judge the maturity of our people you have to ask this question: What is the weak link of this system, the point at which it should be attacked so that it finally collapses? Without a doubt, this point is the regime itself. The main threat for the Communists in the whole period since August is that power would escape their control, and the active strike represented open defiance defend their power that they use force. And the second point about the enemy, is exactly that they have force on the economic as much as the military level.'(3)
PREPARE THE CONFRONTATION
These activists understand that it is necessary to prepare such a test of strength. Just as the worker quoted further above affirmed his scepticism on the effectiveness of fragmented strikes and demonstrations, and who added, 'But if we succeed in co-ordinating our actions, if the November 10 strike is not limited to a few places here and there, if we can show that we can bring the country to a standstill for several hours, then we must go on without hesitation. This would be a first step in creating a relationship of forces that would force the regime to concede what it refuses today?
The recent appeal of the underground leadership, proposing a calendar of initiatives to prepare a general st next spring will meet their expectati inasmuch as it is coupled with directin and initiatives which give a real co-ord nation to the struggle. Many workers an no longer satisfied with written declam tions, and even the most radical often have a much more cautious appreciation of the rhythm of events than the TKK has in putting forward a general strike for the spring.
They are considering how far there is to go to establish, in a clandestine way. with all the problems that brings, regular union structures at the level of the enterprise; means of liaison between enterprises, towns, and regions. All things which are indispensable for the most important tasks just now; circulation of information, successful actions which give the least possibility to the military of arresting the leaders', the preparation of self-defence of the factories, work towards the army to win soldiers to the workers' cause, etc. Things on which there have been many questions in the underground press in the last ten months, but which have still not been very generalised.
These workers explain that, on the other hand, they are aware that economic conditions, already so bad for the working class, can only worsen during moods of desperation. But for the bulk of the working population the worsening in the standard of living is likely to have the contrary effect. The increase in understanding — that it is indeed the question of power which is at stake -brings even more cautiousness. To know that a strike 'is worth' a sacking, or some years in prison, cannot be disregarded by a father or mother of a family who earns six to eight thousand zlotys a month, and pays 25 zlotys for an egg, 300-400 zlotys for a kilo of meat, or three thousand zlotys for a pair of shoes on the official market (on condition that they have the necessary coupons, which is not the case most of the time or six to seven thousand on the black (1). Druk, October 6, 1982. Clandestine bulletin in Warsaw. (2). Kierunki, No. 21, September 22, 1982 Clandestine bulletin in Warsaw. (3). Op. cit.