Joint work by radical worker For working in Workers Coun THE FOLLOWING article from
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 realiactivists with a view toward forming a workers opposition to the bureaucracy is essential to draw up a program for the Polish workers movement and to gain support for the revolutionary struggle aimed at establishing a system of self-management, a self-managed republic in the full sense of the term. By establishing coordination among the organizations, or in the future by building revolutionary parties, we are not opposing ourselves to the workers movement in the broad sense. To the contrary, we want the revolutionary current, which is a component of this movement, to be consolidated within its own structures so that it can better contribute to building an independent mass workers movement. From that flows the basic significance of this platform. That is, the victory of the Polish workers depends in the first instance on adopting a strategy for revolutionary struggle against the bureaucracy. In practice, the advance to social self-management has to be based on a revolutionary political identification by the workers. It involves the workers becoming conscious of their social and economic interests, as well as the independence of the political-organizational institutions of the working class. This is why it is the responsibility of those who share the ideas expressed in this platform to unite their forces in the struggle for our common cause. • 'Wolny Robotnik', No. 30, June 1985 the cils Front Robotniczy deals with the zable 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 politics, 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 w support any activity that goes in International Viewpoint 23 December 19BE question of tactical use of the workers councils that are part of the official system of plant management by activists whose aim remains to overthrow the bureaucratic regime.
question of tactical use of the workers councils that are part of the official system of plant management by activists whose aim remains to overthrow the bureaucratic regime.
TURN 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 Solidarnosc 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 ofFSO, all the former leaders of Solidarnosc 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
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1. PISMO NA RZECZ SAMORZĄDNOŚCI ROBOTNICZEJ trapotre:t 114 L04 g° 1a a24 eu Le that make it possible to get cars without going through the public distri. bution 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 most effectively 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 ESO Workers Council has set such strict rules that only workers who have genuinely contributed to increasing the production in the factory can get them.
In the case of the wage fund, the council has to use another method. This fund is determined by the man. agement, but it has to be approved by the Workers Council. So, all it has to do is keep rejecting the various proposals until the management gets
International Viewpoint 23 December 1985
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PISMO NA RZECZ SAMORZADOSCI ROBOTNICZEI 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 tracks will have come from these councils.