Stalinists back Gierek

Scan page 2

The British Communist Party, itself a Stalinist party, has lined up cautiously with the Polish Stalinist bureaucracy against the independent struggles of the working class.

The caution is the result of the CPGB's ostensibly "independent" Eurocommunist positions, and its desire to keep well in with the liberal petty bourgeois friends in Britain who oppose the cruder dictatorial measure of the Stalinist regime.

This is why the Communist Party daily Morning Star presented a position that while appearing to support the strikes in practice led workers back towards the Gierek bureaucracy.

Back to Work

. At each turn by the bureaucracy aimed at getting the strikers back to work with only limited gains, the Morning Star supported the steps taken by Gierek.

On August 20, an editorial declared support for Gierek's call for a solution 1 hrough "discussion and dialogu compromise and agreement' declaring that:

"Any other course would only make worse an already difficult [!] situation."

No Support The Star also-forgetting about the huge new bank loans on the way-complained that the "Polish authorities and people" had received no support from the British establishment.

The next day the Star printed Gierek's speech-in which he confined his offers to a few economic concessions and a call to the official unions to change. He also attacked the alleged role of "anti-socialist groups.

But a week later Gierek was forced to make much more substantial concessions. The Morning Star obediently followed him-describing his Augúst 24 speech as "momentous"

But Gierek was still offering only new elections in the official unions; as well as economic concessions.

The Star had no complaints with this. Indeed August 29 saw a half page article by CP Industrial organiser Mick Costello extolling the role of "Trade Unions Under Socialism" Costello welcomed. "the tone of Comrade Gierek's speech", and clearly declared his support both for the official unions in Poland, and for those in the Soviet Union:

"We must express our confidence in the ability of the Polish working class, its union [!] government and P.U.W.P. [Polish CP] to overcome the difficulties that have arisen in this context."

"It is against this background that it is imperative for our trade union movement to strengthen its relations with the unions in the Socialist countries.

General Strike Costello's statements were written well before the Polish government had conceded independent trade unions: indeed they come at a time when there was a developing General Strike movement in Poland based on just such a demand.

Confidence

If the British CP had had their way, Polish workers would have simply gone back to work without the Gdansk deal, welcoming "the tone of Comrade Gierek's speech" and expressing "confidence" in their Stalinist bureaucratic rulers.

In this context the British CP gave its full support to the planned TUC visit to the "official" Polish unions. • Polish workers have shown in practice their contempt for such bureaucratic monstrosities posing as unions: in supporting their struggles, British workers should draw the appropriate political conclusions about self-styled "Communists" who preferred the status quo under Gierek. denying existence At the same time it never uses the world "socialism" claiming that "the people are not ready yet".

Finally its major weakness remains its determination to act as an underground organisation.

It does not see the need to operate openly in order to reach the organised labour movement in Corsica and in France itself.

It does not see the need to give a political structure and political education to its cadres in order to build a revolutionary Without these basic requirements, the National Front for the Liberation of Corsica cannot create conditions for liberation from French domination.

Making a break from dead-end guerillaist tendencies, and armed with a fuli, political programme of transitional demands, it should take the struggle into the French labour movement.

Only in this way can Cor-.

sican militants bring to an end 200 years of exploitation and oppression.