A new challenge for Solidarnosc ON SEPTEMBER 11, General Czeslaw Kiszezak, minister of the interior and number two man in Jaruzelski's regime, announced a spectacular measure. It was the release of the so-called "noncriminal prisoners". They included Zbigniew Bujak and other jailed leaders of Solidarnosc, the Freedom and Peace Movement (indepennegotiations with four personalities close to the Catholic Intellectuals' Club (KIK). The latter included Andrzej Wielowieyski, who is supposed to have the backing of Lech Walesa. In early September in the Paris newspaper Le Matin, correspondent Krzysztof Wolicki, wrote:
"The government is holding out the possibility of a timid political detente, in particular in the trade-union field. The possibility of allowing the formation of several unions in certain enterprises is presently under discussion in the ruling team. But this detente has a price. The negotiators have already let it be known that a statement by Lech Walesa breaking with the dent peace activists), and the (right-wing nationalists). ARTHUR WILKINS ADMUTID WIT ITNIO
This measure was justified by the need to "strengthen the bases of national understanding," meaning the normalization of the bureaucratic dietatorship. Concretely, it was supposed to "influence broad sectors of society that are vacillating politically and unstable in their judgements of reality, those who suffer from a lack of confidence and keep to the sidelines." In other words, those who do not support the regime.
As regards the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, which is itself trying to establish a comfortable modus vivendi with the regime, Kiszezak said: "I hope that its reaction will be constructive and that, above all, the Church institutions will contribute genuinely and actively to stabilizing the situation that will arise after September 15, when there are no noncriminal prisoners in Poland." At the same time, he stressed. "Most of those coming out of detention and prison, in particular notorious activists in illegal struetures, have not been participants in the national understanding, and I doubt they will be in the future." (1)
On the same day, the political police "mounted a nationwide operation aimed at achieving the dissolution of the illegal groups and structures that are still pursuing activities against the state and publie order without resorting to penal sanctions." (2) To that end, three thousand people allegedly involved in such activity were summoned to police stations.
The editors of the influential official weekly Polityka maintained that this was a turn in the political situation in Poland: "Passing from g 6
Independent Poland Confederation the stage of trauma (and repression) to the stage of understanding." According to Polityka, this step was already foreseen in July 1984 in the general amnesty for "noncriminal prisoners." But the plan supposedly failed owing to the serious repercussions created at the time by a "criminal action." That referred to the murder of Father Jerzy Popieluszko by political police agents. Today, Polityka says the problem is to make up for the "two lost years" in the process of normalization. (3)
At the same time, the Jaruzelski team has taken an initiative aimed at "integrating", that is winning over, sections of the Catholic intelligentsia who are critical of the regime but not ready to oppose it openly and actively.
Jaruzelski has recognized publicly that the totally collaborationist and completely discredited formula of the so-called Patriotic Movement of National Renaissance (PRON) cannot serve this purpose.
Consequently, he is proposing the formation of a Social Consultative Council, under the Council of State (the collective executive of the republic), and "civil assemblies" under the provincial councils and outside the PRON. It is clear that these institutions would serve as a facade of a certain "pluralism of views," which would offer a cover for collaborating with the regime.
According to reports from sources close to the Democratic Opposition, some weeks before the release of the Solidarnose leaders the secretary of the Central Committee of the United Workers' Party of Poland (PZPR), Stanislaw Ciosek, opened underground opposition would be welcome and could move things along. While he does not have a lot of confidence in this, Ciosek hopes at least to sow division among his at least to sow division among his adversaries."
Ciosek, Jaruzelski's representative, is out for something much more important, according to Wolicki:
"If the government is prepared to tolerate some sort of illegal press for the intellectuals, it will not tolerate the agitation of the underground activists. The latter have once again demonstrated the power of their organization and their capacity to hold out against the police operations directed against them, after the arrest of their leader, Zbigniew
Bujak, in June." (4)
Solidarnosc forms Provisional
Council
The trade-union leaders' answer to the regime's maneuvers was to form the Provisional Council of
Solidarnosc on September 30 as an "open" trade-union leadership body.
This council includes almost all the former members of the underground leadership, the Provisional
Coordinating Committee (TKK).
Similar councils have begun to form in many regions.
The dissolution of the TKK is considered probable, if not imminent. But it is not expected that
Solidarnosc's underground factory
1. 'Polityka,' September 20, 1986.
2. Ibid
3. Ibid.
4. 'Le Matin,' September 2, 1986. Two days after Wolicki's revelations, this same paper reported: "The Polish government has asked us to point out that no meeting is presently envisaged between the secretary of the Central Committee of the PZPR, S. Ciosek, and four personalities close to the opposition. " They failed to deny that such meetings had already taken place.
International Viewpoint 10 November 1986
- Polish Inprekor - committees or the underground press networks will follow suit. They continue to flourish. Nor is it expected that their circulation will be limited to intellectual circles alone.
Is this a concession to the bureaucratic dictatorship? Or, on the contrary, is it a bold tactic by which the Solidarnose leaders are trying to wrest the political initiative from the dictatorship? That is the key question. In Lech Walesa's case, he has adopted a language of concessions. Announcing the formation of the Provisional Council, he said:
"There are obstacles on both sides to dialogue. Without abandoning what is necessary to achieve the ideals of Solidarnosc, we are ready to eliminate what the authorities see as a barrier erected by Solidarnosc. We want to demonstrate our good will." (5)
This sort of statement is nothing new from the chair of Solidarnosc. But two circumstances have to be taken into account. First, Walesa today does not exercise real leader-
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wydanie REKOR specjalne CZWARTA MIĘDZYNARODÓWKA WYBRANE ASPEKTY HISTORII, DOŚWIADCZEŃ, TEORII I PROGRAMU ship in Solidarnosc on any level, nor does he enjoy the same prestige among its activists that he did before December 13, 1981. Second, what counts today is not statements by Walesa but acts by leaders such as Zbigniew Bujak, Wladyslaw Frasyniuk, Bogdan Lis, Jozef Pinior and Bogdan Borusewicz — all of whom were in the underground and today are members of the Provisional Council.
It is to be hoped that these leaders will have sufficient political understanding not to fall into the trap the bureaucracy seeks to lay for them, and that they will have the political sense at this crucial time to intransigently defend the cause of Solidarnosc, basing themselves on the still extensive layers of activists.
The Polish government reacted to the formation of the Provisional Council in a way that showed a rapid loss of composure. It warned that its desire to see Poland become a country without political prisoners, where "a new step forward toward national understanding would be possible" could be thwarted by the "destructive activities" of "enemies of the state," of a "handful of extremists." Such elements, by taking advantage of the government's good will to "mobilize their organizational energies," could "impel the government to apply the rigors of the law against them." Such activities endangering the established order" , Kiszczak declared, "will be nipped in the bud."
It is quite significant that the govvernment's spokesperson responded to Walesa's assurances that the formation of the Provisional Council is not intended to put obstacles in the way of dialogue and participation in getting the country back in shape" by saying "there is not a single word that comes out of the mouths of Walesa, Bujak and others that is not crooked." (6)
On October 10, the authorities declared Solidarnose's Provisional Council and its regional councils illegal. At the same time, to show their desire for "liberalization," they gave legal authorization for the publication of the independent journal Res Publica. This magazine is published by a right-wing ideological group dedicated to defending neo-conservative "spiritual values," without any claim that it is engaged in politics. It is clear enough who the bureaucracy fears.
In other words, "all quiet on the Eastern front." There is no way of getting around the nature of the bureaucratic regimes. The jails will empty and national understanding will flourish, on the condition that the defenders of trade-union freedom, pluralism and democracy retire into their homes. In today's Poland, there is not much chance of that.
At present there are two organizations independent of Solidarnose in the strict sense. There is the Workers' Opposition Alliance (POR-S) and the Fighting Solidarnosc Organization (OSW). The first is presided over by Daniel Dziubelski and its supreme objective is the liberation of the working class. The second, led by Kornel Morawiecki, considers as its central aim winning national independence.
These two organizations have not only refused to dissolve their underground structures and "surface" their leaders, but have alsorejected any compromise with the bureaucratie regime and the very idea of a "national understanding." On the contrary, although they differ on important philosophical and political questions, these two organizations maintain a perspective of building up social forces to overthrow the regime.
The present tug of war between the chiefs of the bureaucracy and the leaders of the mass movement to gain the initiative is taking place on ground that is shaking with social tensions.
"The gap between present real incomes and those attained in 1980-1981 does not indicate a decrease in the pressure of demands. With the price increases foreseen, especially if they are extensive and affect many necessities, the intensity of social demands could mount considerably." (7)
It is precisely on this ground that the independent trade-union leaders should concentrate their activity today. To the extent that they can, with their modest but growing forces, the working-class left organized in the POR-S is showing the way forward.
5. 1e 'Le Monde,' October 2, 1986
Monde, October 5-6; and Liberation,' October 6, 1986.
'Zycie Gospodarcze,' April 20, 1986.
International Viewpoint 10 November 1986
HUNGARY