Workers' Spring Begins in Poland by Cyril SMUGA
May Day in Poland was marked by the first massive demonstrations against the bureaucratic dictatorship since December, when the rulers launched an attack to beat the population back to its knees. Tens of thousands marched in both Warsaw and Gdansk.
These demonstrations showed in a dramatic way the revival of the mass movement. The marchers appealed in particular to the soldiers: "The army is with us, "they chanted.
The following article, written before the demonstrations, describes the failure of the crackdown.
Almost six months after the military crackdown in Poland, led by General Jaruzelski, the bureaucracy is still far from claiming victory:
"The situation is extremely complicated. We are still very far from celebrating victory. We could still find ourselves faced with things, with events, phenomenona that we can't even imagine just
Comrades, anything possible?
'Comrades, what you say is terrifyThis extract is from a recording of a meeting between the military commissar for Polish radio and television and the party members who work there. It is a better testimony than any long explanation to the disarray of the military junta which took power on December 13. The same commissar continued: "The state of war will continue in Poland until the Party is renewed. I am not talking about the Party bureaucracy, which can come back quite fast, but the situation at the base in the big enterprises?
The Party, the essential instrument for controlling the society, has been disastrously weakened. Since August 1980, it has lost more than two-thirds of its members. In the plants, it is more and more limited to managerial personnel and paid officials. Today, its mass base is increasingly concentrated in the state apparatus.
The attempt to rebuild social organisations under the boot of the bureaucracy have gotten nowhere. The "Social Commissions'. , established in the enterprises to fulfill what the bureaucracy considers are the functions of a trade unionto distribute potatoes in winter and organise holiday camps-have been unani-
Attempts to get the activists elected to the workers councils before the crackdown to explain to workers that although their standard of living has gone down, they are now going to get a voice in the management, a very limited one, have al
The bureaucracy cannot get anyone to do this.
There are more goods in the shops now. After a 300% price rise, the workers cannot afford to buy much. But production has fallen to catastrophic levels. The Central Statistics Office reports that the big enterprises have only reached 40 to 45% of the projected targets. partly owing to the passive resistance of the workers. For example, in Silesia, 50% of the workers have followed the union instructions to sabotage production. But this drop in production is also a result of the disorganization created by the state of siege restrictions. Many enterprises are closed two out of every three days because they lack the necessary parts and
This inability to 'normalise' the situation has increased differences within the bureaucracy.
These differences stem from the contradiction which has existed since December between the old and the new
All State structures have been paralleled by military struc-
There have been conflicts between the old State and Party apparatus, anxious to hold on to their privileges; and the military apparatus who see the opportunity to get new privileges in their new
The old Party apparatus has succeeded in establishing armed groups under the name 'Political Self DefencePUP' which are independent from the repressive apparatus of the military re-
RESISTANCE IS GROWING The army, put at the forefront of the political scene, is becoming demora-
Desertions are growing among soldiers who are in their third year of service and for whom the end is not yet in sight. At Elblag a deserter opened fire on pollice. It took two hours for a battalion of police to overcome him. Solidarnose has embarked on work among the Their leaflets are widely distributed, calling on the soldiers to refuse to carry out orders that they disagree with. significant, bulletins of the union report the formation of informal groups within
Solidarnosc, which was badly disorganised by the first wave of repression, is within the enterprises the local neighbourhoods. Resistance Circles (KOS), formed by five people who develop others in a pyramid structure, are growing. More than 1,700 clandestine journals Strikes and work stoppages are growing in
Every month between the 13th anniversary of the coup and the loth (anniversary of the killing of miners at Wujek last December) demonstrations take place throughout the country. The roads, factory walls, workrooms gularly 'decorated' with slogans hostile to the junta. The militia has formed special The collective boycott of the television news, started in Swidnik, has been extended to the other towns nearby. where Solidarnosc has organised other forms of protest that cannot be repressed. For example, in the armaments factory, Walter, at Radom, the workers have de. cided to all leave by the same door, which contributes to developing a feeling of and solidarity In other ways Solidarnosc is reorganising. A National Commission of Resistance has been formed, so that pronow signed by leaders known in different regions. Provisional regional leaderships have been formed in
The results of this have not taken long to come. On April 13 the call to stop work for 15 minutes was widely followed in at least 10 regions.
Discussion on strategy and nisation for the movement have moved beyond the regional level, which has contributed much to the depth of the dis-
So, Solidarnose continues. more than ever, Polish workers need international solidarity from other workers. According to official reports 10% of the population only survive because of outproof to those struggling in Poland that their fight has caught the imagination of workers throughout the world.
Solidarity with Solidarnose is still an important task for militant workers revolutionaries,
SoliDARNOSE
Cf. Le Monde, April 15, 1982, 'Secrets of a Military Commissar'