POLAND EXPERIENCED a drop in GNP of 17% in 1990 - the second highest in Eastern Europe. Under the leadership of Lech Walesa and the Finance Minister Balcerowicz, it has become one of the leading advocates of rapid marketisation. As in East Germany, the results have been dramatic - the pauperisation of working people.
The growth of the far- right has been another striking development. By contrast, the forces of the left are divided and dominated by rightist social- democratic currents.
PATRICK BAKER of Socialist Outlook spoke to JAN SYLWESTROWICZ, a leading member of the Polish revolutionary organisation, The Mole, who have recently launched Poland's first revolutionary newspaper Dalej! SO: The Polish government has portrayed the country as the flagship for marketisation in Eastern Europe. This was expressed in the BalPlan, which envisaged rapid privatisation of the economy. On 16 April a new Stock Exchange was launched. But what has marketisation really meant?
JS: You have to look at the process from two angles: First, the general aim of structural reform of the economy, the privatisation of enterprises. Second, the atomisation of the working class, the smashing of its capacity for selfIn terms of structural reform, the government has encountered enormous difficulties. Considerable effort and funds have been put into the establishment of the Stock Exchange and the Ministry for Ownership Reform. But their success has been very limited -there is no-one to buy the firms. Stocks have been sold in five factories so far, bought by Wester investors. But even this took much longer than expected.
Western firms have been discouraged from investing in a serious way by the political instability - the working class has not yet been crushed. In addition, the economic infrastructure is very weak. Wester capital is more interested in speculative trading than buying into production.
But the government is on the offensive, preparing for marketisation. Companies are being 'privatised", but all the stock is owned by the Treasury - so they are still state-owned. But they are now totally controlled by a committee of directors -the workers council no longer has any veto.
An example is the FSO car plant in Warsaw, prior to a visit by Walesa. Redundancies were declared and now General Motors have expressed interest in the company. SO: When Walesa came to power he was a popular figure. But now things seem to have changed. Is there any sign of a struggle - perhaps through a wing of Solidarnosc - against Walesa's marketisation offensive?
JS: Dillusionment in Walesa is increasing, and there is a growing number of strikes. But there is no organised national force that is leading a counter-offensive. It is a fragmented struggle, led by factory committees.
The exception to this is among farmers. They have been very active, regularly organising demonstrations. They have established a strike committee opposing the Balcerowicz Plan and supporting state subsidy to agriculture.
Walesa is conscious of this disillusionment. He knows that he hasn't fulfilled his election promises. Thus inflation has risen. He has not challenged the power of the nomenklatura, who are gainings a niche in business. This is why Walesa wanted to call elections quickly, before his popularity decreased further.
But these moves were blocked in parliament, and the elections were postponed until autumn.
But the basic problem remains - the workers have no national organisation No. 1 which can represent their interests. One response to this has been the establishment of horizontal union structures, such as in Warsaw and Wroclaw. These were formed on the basis of opposition to the Balcerowicz Plan, to privatisation, and the Payroll Tax (a tax on wages). SO: What has happened to the remnants of the Polish Socialist Party (PPS)? Haven't they played any role in the opposition to Walesa?
JS: Since the expulsion of the left from the PPS, the various currents of social democrats have only been active on a parliamentary level. A group has recently been formed called Labour Solidarity. It has two deputies who were self- management activists in the early So on paper social democracy has potential, but it does nothing to organise at the workplace level. SO: What about The Mole? Whatare its main activities?
We are very active in the trade unions - Solidarity and Solidarity '80. In the Warsaw FSO car plant, for example, our comrades lead Solidarity '80. We have launched an Independent Workers Platform, sponsored by the plant union.
The axis of our propaganda is around workers control, linking up privatisation and This has resonance, given the experience of the self- management movement in the early '80s.
Another campaign has been around womens rights, linking up with the womens movement. The campaign is focussed on the govemment threat to outlaw abortion and some forms of contraception. This is part of an ideological campaign to get women 'back in the home'.
Finally, we have a campaign for the continuation of the anti- stalinist revolution, purging the power of the nomenklatura. They are now setting up private companies, and maintain control of the repressive forces. There has been no parliamentary inquiry, as else where in Eastern Europe, into the past • activities of the secret police, the army.
May 1, 1991
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