Ground still crumbling under the bureaucracy ONCE AGAIN Poles abstained en masse in the October 13 parliamentary elections. The government itself acknowledges that 21% of the voters abstained, as against 25% in 1984 and less than 2% in the spring of 1980 (four months before the strike wave that led
In the General Walter textile mill in Lodz, the workers forced the management to suspend the introduction of night and Saturday work until the decree in question was clarified.
The workers struggles remain scattered today because the underground union movement is proving incapable of advancing unifying perspectives. The call for a general strike on July 1 did not get a great response. Only a few dozen enterprises were affected by the strike, according to the most optimistic estimates.
The failure of the strategy of achieving structural reforms peacefully through the pressure of a powerful mass movement, which has been has been supported by most of the Solidarnose leadership, is today evident to all. But te tha rica of Solidarnose). to the rise of Solidarnosc).
The underground union itself, the polling stations, estimate that th CYRIL SMUGA
It was in the big industrial concentrations (Nowa Huta, Lodz, Gdansk) that the boycott was the most massive. It was less so in the countryside, with significant exceptions, and in cities that are more "service centers," such as Warsaw.
Thus, somewhere between five and a half million people (the government figures) and nearly ten million (the estimate of Solidarnosc) boycotted General Jaruzelski's plebiscite. Given the very strong pressure that has been brought to bear on citizens by a thousand and one means, this result is quite significant. Indeed, the general first secretary and prime minister had gone so far as to suggest that there could be an amnesty for the amnesty for the political prisoners if the boycott were not followed.
This result is also considerable after four years of blows against the gains of the working class (the more than 30% drop in real wages is only the best known example), and when it is generally accepted that the level of trade-union organization has declined in the factories over these past two years.
Since the December 1981 coup d'etat the regime has been trying to increase the exploitation of the working class in order to meet the demands of the Western banks and the pressure groups inside the bourgeoisie that are clamoring for new investments by reducing the level of domestic consumption.
The real incomes of workers are in a nose dive, the right to Saturdays off is being largely honored in the breach, piece-work wages are being generalized. 8 based on a statistical survey of e abstention rate was 34%.
In line with the flexible-hours schemes beloved of the Western bourgeoisies, the Polish cabinet last year issued a decree making the protection for workers contained in the Labor Code a dead letter.
The workers are resisting these attacks, and sometimes they win. For example, during the first half of 1985, wages increased faster than had been predicted by the plan (but more slowly than the cost of living), as a consequence of many strikes.
It has not yet been possible to apply the decree mentioned above in all of industry, and even the official press has taken note of the strong feelings of the workers against it.
no alternative strategy has yet won the no altarnativa stratoov has vet won the support of the movement.
At the same time, the Polish revolution has made a deep impact on the minds of the workers. Opposition to the regime is massive. And illusions about the ability of the bureaucracy to make the slightest improvement in the lives of the people have disappeared. These two factors mark the political situation today.
Moreover, there are indications that even in the absence of unifying perspectives, a spread of the struggles remains possible today. For example, in the spring of 1985, the regime had to face a series of strikes in factories employing mainly women workers.
It had to backtrack, offering substantial wage increases. It is significant that hardly had the first concession at the Rosa Luxemburg factory in Warsaw become known than a strike started for the same demands at the Stella factory in Zyrardow, which was followed in turn by another enterprise in Zyrardow.
A mobilisation of Solidarnose supporters (DR)
INTERNO
International Viewpoint 25 November 1985