For working in the to smother this process, under the pretext that it "weakens the union,"
"factional" activity, or "provocais tion,"
on the other hand, can only
Workers Councils undermine the movement, or in fact divide it, and they involve all the characteristics of provocation.
8. Self-determination.
Understanding the class character of social relations in Poland involves rejecting the nationalist imagery that reduces
THE FOLLOWING article from Front Robotniczy deals with the our fight to a struggle against the question of tactical use of the workers councils that are part of the
Soviet Union for independence. The official system of plant management by activists whose aim remains basic dividing line in our nation is to overthrow the bureaucratic regime.
not a schematic opposition between patriots and traitors but one of opposing interests among different social groups. This is why national independence, as an effect of the struggle of the working class for social liberation represents from the standpoint of the working class, the full achievement of the indispensable right to self-determination.
International workers solidar-
9.
ity. The Polish working class is not isolated in the struggle. It has friends and allies abroad. They are the workers of the entire world. The Polish and workers movement can must draw on the strength of international
24
On the Polish political map, we occupy a place that might be called extreme, that of the revolutionary left. However, our conception of the state, the social system, and the social relations is only one of those present. You can no longer count the number of programs and manifestos being published clandestinely. These are of course important questions, but in the immediate, what is important primarily is to say what actions are realizable today that correspond to the general aims set. And it would be good if all the authors of programs offered an answer to this question.
The maximalist "all-or-nothing" approach is simply the expression of a dreamer's attitude in polities, a refusal to take account of the reality. We think that it is possible today to act for the socialization of the Polish state as well as of others, and we support any activity that goes in International Viewpoint 23 December 19h
International Viewpoint 23 December 1985 direction. Activity in the Workers Councils fits into this framework. Of course, these councils are hobbled today, and action within them rapidly runs up against limits. But even in this situation, these bodies can fulfill a certain number of tasks that we think are important:
- They can help the workers gain a consciousness of who is the legitimate master of the means of production.
- They can prepare the workers for taking full power in the plants through comanagement.
- They can serve as a school of democracy, if there is good preparation for the election of these councils.
The activity of genuine worker militants in these Workers Councils can also have other effects, if only developing a sense of security among the workers. But these effects are difficult to measure and therefore hard to describe.
Where the election of the Workers Councils has not been boycotted but trade-union activists decided to use this opening, it has in general been workers with the confidence of their mates - most often former Solidarnose leaders — who have been elected to these councils. This is the case in the FSO auto factory in Warsaw [where the Fiat 125p and the Polonez are made]. In this plant, the new unions set up by the regime include only 10% of the workforce. And the great majority of their members 80% - are professional personnel. This can be seen as one of the positive effects of the Workers Council, whose activity has helped to reduce to a minimum the space that can be filled by the regime's house unions. In one of the departments of the FSO, where 1,400 people work, only fifty joined the new union.
The FSO Workers Council has taken advantage of all the openings for action and negotiation that the law allows. It has done this, moreover, from the outset, including in the democratic organization of the election to the council itself. The results are clear. In some departments of FSO, all the former leaders of Solidarnose have been elected to the council. By the way, we should note that in another Warsaw plant - the Huta Warszawa steelworks - the workers have managed to win the point that the ballots for the council elections must mention the organizational affiliation of the candidates, which will make the voters' choices easier.
The council can also influence the amount and division of the social fund, housing fund, and wage fund. In the FSO, it has kept watch to see that housing is allocated according to just criteria. Moreover, it has been able to modify the system of granting coupons
FRONT ROBOTNICZY
SPRAWA ROBOTNICZA
1. PISMO NA RZECT
SAMORZADNOŚCI
ROBOTNICZEJ
that make it possible to get cars without going through the public distribution network [and thus without having to wait several years to get the car after you have paid out the money for it]. This modification was also aimed at eliminating the glaring injustices. This is, moreover, an interesting example, because the council is not legally authorized to concern itself with the allotment of these coupons. But in negotiating with the manager, it managed to get him to understand that if he did not accept this proposal, the council might oppose him in another area where he needed its greenlight. Give and take.
Such diplomacy, thus, makes it possible for the council to make incursions into areas that are beyond its legal competence. In the FSO, the council has also been able to modify the system of assigning vacation allowances. Previously, only those who used vacation centers run by the Workers Vacation Fund (FWP) could claim such benefits. Now every FSO worker gets a bonus during the summer period that he or she can use as they like.
A certain skill is necessary sometimes to resolve questions in order to safeguard the interests of the workers. For example, while it is the council that determines the rules governing the granting of bonuses, it is the plant manager that grants them. So, in order to keep the management from using the bonuses to reward the more servile, the FSO Workers Council has set such strict rules that only workers who have genuinely contributed to increasing the production in the factory can get
In the case of the wage fund, the council has to use another method. This fund is determined by the management, but it has to be approved by the Workers Council. So, all it has to do is keep rejeeting the various proposals until the management gets
GrOSNO
WOLNY ROBITNIK
EOBOTNICZY
CEMAN 50AD tired and makes concessions. Since the text of the law governing the activity of the councils contains the word "conflict," the council can take on the management without exposing itself to the accusation of subversion or antistate activities.
Moreover, basing itself on certain paragraphs in the statute on the councils, you can protect the workers that the management wants to get rid of. It is sufficient to elect them members of the council. If the council has a two-tier structure (councils in the departments and a central council for the plant), as is the case in the FSO and in many big factories, it is possible to protect activists by electing them once to the department council and then to the central one, and to keep this up for years. This makes any attempt to fire people much more difficult. By the way, the FSO Workers Council is building links with other councils in other plants both in Warsaw and in the provinces by offering them help and experience.
In comparison with our revolutionary goals, the activities of the councils as described here seem limited. But since the councils genuinely represent the workers (if a minimum of democratic criteria are observed in the elections), they are a grain of sand in the gears of the bureaucratic machine. They make it possible to learn how to run the enterprise, to learn democracy, to get the workers to understand that the machinery, raw materials and products belong to them. If it is seriously taken up, work in the councils can be an excellent school for tomorrow. When the time comes for a national general strike, the worker cadres able to take over running production and distribution outside the bureaucratic will have come from these No 5-6, February 1985 25