Steve Griffiths Richard Rozanski in Poland THE removal of Edvard Gierek as leader of the Polish Communist Party started as rumour on Friday night. we knew there was something •in it. Warsaw closed down at 9pm. No cinemas, restaurants stayed ryone was off the streets. No-one knew what the change would mean.
On Saturday the papers published Long queues built up until they finally appeared at noon. 'De also wanted to read about the OSCUSS OIS in the Sejm (parliament) on the agreement signed with the strike leadership in Gdansk.
The Stanislaw Kania to replace Gierek as first secretary of the Polish • United Workers Party (PUWP the Communist Party) came as a surprise. had little claim to being a retormer or "liberal'. and 1 September.
settlement was announced the Wroclaw solidarity committee simply became a committee for the in spentar come tree has similar committee But been set up in Mazawsze hear Warsaw through the initiative workers at the Ursus tractor factory. has been established which is a hive of activity sorts of advice and usual. support to ine union.
PeoArrest The latest workers to join trom ine of museum in Warsaw.
continuing precariousness the situation was revealed when the Secretary of this Committee was arrestea snoruy arter givHe ing us an interview.
However, the level of consciousness and organisation in Gdansk was something-special. Bach factorv committee after full discussions mass meetings. members were delegated to attend the central strike committee (MKS), and every day one of them would renort back to their strike committee held worksnop meelngs.
Things were even
democratic than in the Russian revolution, because negotiations were taped and played back to the workers. All the discussions were relayed by loudspeakers.
Frank Chapple & Co. adopt such methods!
When the A small office as delegates bringing independent control over events came in the discussions on the final agreement. In the morning a mass time.
agreed to a clause the 'leading role of the PUWP'. But by the afternoon there was a revolt.
tions surrounding population. early morning until late at night there would be 10-15,000 peogathered the The MKS clearly began to take on the functions that the soviets played in Russia Silesia the level of organisation was not so high. But their demands went in the particular the highly-paid were mine supervisors.
It has also been reported Silesia the and won - not merely the recognition of the independent union but the liquidation of the official one. If it means that the workers have already learned lessons from Gdansk.
Silesia the authorities firmly than They closed down the shops, for example. But the impact of was shown when to peasants began to bring food directly to the strikers.
of the LOSI strikers have now returned to work, no-one thinks that the over. Everyone it as a truce. The militants see the key task as the of • ine independent union in all sectors. This is something the students are alsc discussing. What they want is No-one is any illusion that the official unions are finished. And a host of practical and queshave to be resolved. Should PUWP members be allowed to join, for instance.?
AlIer discussion was agreed that they could so long as they didn't hold any post in the party or state apparatus. One estimate is that 30-40 per cent of PUWP workers support the independent union Militants see the independent union as an instrument for taking up all economic questions. They think it should in. tervene at all levels of economic decision-making by the govern ment. But the far-reaching implications in a society where mediately political are perhaps not fully grasped as yet.
Democratic The intention is to call a conference of the independent union in one month's time te elect a leadership. The feeling is continue the methods of democratic control begun in the strikes - of mandating and automatic recall — so as to pre vent the development of bureaucracy.
Many workers are of course Catholic. Mass was celebrated every day in the shipyards, and