excerpts from opposition documents letter of the 59
We believe that the constitution must guarantee the following freedoms:
*Freedom of conscience and religious practice. This does not exist when those who acknowledge being believers or who have a world view that differs from the official one are no longer allowed into leadership positions in public institutions. ...
*Freedom of labor. This does not exist when the state is the sole employer and the unions are subordinated to the
29
POLAND bodies of the party, which are state organs de facto. Under these conditions, as was shown by the experiences of 1956 and 1970, attempts to defend the interests of the workers can lead to bloody confrontations and very serious upheavals. Thus, the workers must be guaranteed the possibility of freely electing their representatives, independent of the organs of the party or the state. The right to strike must also be guaranteed.
*Freedom of speech and information. When there is no freedom of speech there is no free development of national culture. When all publications are subjected to state censorship before they appear and the publishing houses and mass :..We consider it indispensable to allow society to decide on the key questions of economic and social life. This necessarily requires an improvement of society's system of information, and above all the publication and broadest possible distribution of several variants of economic programs and plans, formulated in a language understandable to all and submitted to public discussion. ... We consider it crucial that the workers councils and unions be guaranteed the possibility of fulfilling their real functions, which are workers self-management in the case of the former and defense of the workers in the case of the latter. The "conference of workers councils" created during the period of liquidation of the reforms of 1956 now serves to subject these bodies (the workers councils and the unions) to the party organs... • media are controlled by the state, it is not possible for citizens to correctly judge the decisions of the regime; on the other hand the regime has no way of knowing society's opinion of its policy. ...
* Freedom of science. This does not exist when the criteria for selection of scientific researchers and of fields of research are defined by the regime and have a political character... All citizens must be guaranteed realization of the right to elect their representatives in free, equitable, secret, direct, and proportional elections. ... letter of the 7 We demand a new press law in accordance with the document worked out during the Helsinki conference. ...We are convinced that it is in the interest of socialism to make sure that the mass media become real means of transmission of honest and truthful information.... The policy of selection of the cadres of the state apparatus must be cleansed through respect for criteria of competence and honesty. Today it is not possible (except in certain rare cases) for someone who is not a member of the party to hold a post of responsibility, even in the lowest levels of the administration or in scientific institutions.... For real control of science and in order to improve the effectiveness of scientific research it is indispensable to grant genuine independence to the universities and research bodies.
program of the 44: draft constitutional reforms
...A new system of organization of the regime must be created. It must be based on a division into four major domains which function in an independent manner: legislative power, executive power, judiciary power, and economic power. A developed network of self-management must complete this system. A Council of State, independent of these four components of the regime and elected in direct, secret, equitable, and general elections must represent Poland vis-a-vis foreign countries. ... 30
The Supreme Economic Council manages the whole of the national economy. It establishes detailed economic projects on the basis of the overall lines worked out by the Sejm (the parliament - INPRECOR). The regional economic organizations, the WOGs (large industrial complexes including several enterprises in a given branch - INPRECOR), and the isolated enterprises have the right to considerable inde pendence in determining the type and volume of products, supplies, sales, etc.
The WOGs and the regional central bodies are directed by one directed ke the Supreme Economic Council in agreement with the workers councils. One-third of the seats in the leaderships are reserved for representatives of workers councils and one-third for specialists recruited through public competition. • . All enterprises must have a workers council (or council of toilers) elected through direct, equitable, and secret elections by all the toilers. Each worker can propose candidates for the workers council. The workers councils of the regional central bodies and the WOGs are elected by workers councils at a lower level and the number of representatives in the workers council of a higher body must be proportional to the number of employees. The workers councils periodically analyze the activity of the enterprises of the regional organizations or the WOG and put forward their proposals or criticisms. ... The family is the basic unit of society; the birth and education of children is more important for the future of the nation than professional labor. :.. The present law permitting voluntary interruption of pregnancy must be replaced by a law that combines all the elements of aid to mothers and children with the questions of voluntary maternity (contraception). ... The Catholic church has accompanied the Polish nation for a thousand years and constitutes an important element in our social life. The role of the church must be fully recognized, which must be expressed particularly by ... the admission of the church into the mass media; the recognition of the right of the church to express its opinions on the problems of the nation and society... • statement of the ppn ...From the historical standpoint, the Polish nation and state belong to the family of countries of eastern and central Europe, the heirs of Greco-Latin and Christian civilization. This tradition must be continued by strengthening the links with the countries that are close to us spiritually.... In our view, power in the state must be exercised by the entire nation through the intermediary of its representatives elected in free, equitable, secret, direct, and proportional elections. At all levels and in all domains of administrative and economic activity the elected representatives of society, as well as the individual citizens, must have the right and possibility to control the functioning of the state apparatus and ensure respect for the laws. In the meantime, the possibility of controlling the activity of the unions must be used. ... The Catholic church, which strengthened its important moral authority through its opposition to the German occupation and then through its resistance to persecution of the church by communists, must enjoy freedom of action and the possibility of fulfilling all its tasks. The primordial role of this important institution must have its politico-juridical expression.. • •
A new elaboration of principles of the social division of labor is necessary. The evaluation of economic progress by tons of steel produced is a sad anachronism. The use of official schemas of definition of social classes, which perpetvates the unjust division, lacking all meaning, between the
"workers" and the other categories of toilers, is also anachronistic....
The toilers must participate in the management of their enterprises. ...The workers councils must acquire genuine independence and the right to oppose decisions made from above. The toilers must also participate more openly and directly in the division of profits. Being co-managers, and co-producers, they will be able to feel that they are genuinely coresponsible for their enterprises. They must also be given the possibility of becoming stockholders of the enterprises in which they are employed.... Vitalization of the national economy also requires abolition of the limitations imposed by an ideological dogmatism with respect to the existence of non-statized enterprises, especially cooperatives and private corporations. The state will maintain control of key branches of industry, above all the energy industry. The use of private money to found corporations, on the other hand, can aid in a more rapid and diversified development of construction and production of consumer goods. . . . The state enterprises must be limited to the development of large-scale commerce in the form of supermarkets and department stores; all the rest of the network of commerce will function more effectively if it is in the hands of private owners or small cooperatives..• • New projects for society must be elaborated. This is primarily the task of the Polish intelligentsia, which history has accorded overwhelming responsibility for the spiritual destiny of the Nation. But this is also the responsibility of the toilers in industry, the numerically largest social layer, who also have very significant strength and, as has been shown by the events of the past thirty years, are an invincible force. jacek kuron: reflections on the action program •.. Parliamentary democracy allows individuals to realize their aspirations outside their labor, but it does not permit assuring the realization of their aspirations linked to their labor. I am convinced that this is a basic problem of humanity today. I thus declare that in a system of parliamentary democracy I would participate in a movement for direct democracy, But without representative democracy (of the parliamentary
31
32 Directeur de publicarion: Jean-François Godchau Imprimerie Rotographie, Montreuil No. de commission paritaire: 59117
POLAND type), direct democracy is completely disarmed in face of the state power. . . • In official propaganda — that is, in all the sources of information available in our country - parliamentary democracy is defined as "bourgeois democracy"; those who support it are accused of wanting the reprivatization of the means of production. We do not know whether this is a deliberate falsification or simply reflects ignorance, but in any case the accusation is completely false: a) Private property in the means of production in no way flows from the parliamentary system. The only thing that flows from the parliamentary system is the realization of the aspirations of the majority of citizens. Under our system, thr reprivatization of heavy industry, for example, would have to become the objective of the majority of citizens. Although there are people in Poland who would like to become owners of factories or mines, there is no chance of their winning the support of society for these aspirations. b) In the industrialized countries, called "capitalist countries" by some, private property in the means of production plays no role today. The economy of these countries is dominated by the large centralized organizations in which property, which is collective in any case, is separated from management.. The social movements in Poland are limited on the one hand by the will of society to mobilize and on the other hand by the will of the Soviet Union to intervene in Poland by force. This latter limit is difficult to establish exactly, and it is better to stop much too soon than a little too late. But is abstention from any oppositional activity perhaps a guarantee against intervention? 1 am convinced that a threat of interThe regime and society must each take steps toward one another on realistic bases. For the regime, this requires the elimination of obstacles on the road to reconciliation with the nation and a thought-out democratization permitting a genuine dialogue and entente with all social milieus. For society a moderation in demands and a sense of responsibility, expressed in acceptance of the major realities of the system, is necessary. I want to be understood properly. If it is a matter of ideological options, then 1 am among the advocates of political pluralism. Nevertheless, I think that in the present situation of our country these ideals have no chance of becoming a reality, and the attempt to realize them would only aggravate the crisis and make it more difficult to seek a solution.
vention can become real not because of the activity of the opposition but on the contrary because of its weakness. The most serious threat weighing on Polish society is the state of anarchy caused by: a total paralysis of the state power, which is linked to the danger of a social explosion, the most serious of the past thirty years. . . • During the October 1956 movement a program was worked out calling for decentralization of the economy, workers councils, independent trade unions, a parliamentary system; as is generally the case in social movements, the elaboration of the program was also its realization. . . . "Totalitarianism with a human face" is based on the lie that the regime will give society something in exchange for obedience. But in reality the regime always gives only what society manages to extract from it through disobedience. This sort of bluff cannot be repeated several times. The present crisis reflects itself in a paralysis of power, but at bottom this represents the exhaustion of the methods by which the regime has been able to maintain itself in power since 1957.... The KOR undoubtedly represents a first step toward cooperation between the workers and the intelligentsia. But to move forward small groups of workers self-organization must be created in the work places. Agreement must be reached and demands must be advanced, but, and we want to stress this, solidarity is more important than demands. If the regime gives in and later lays off the most active workers, it will quickly renege on its agreements and action for demands will later run up against much greater difficulties. On the other hand, even if the regime does not give in and a workers organization remains in place, sooner or later it will manage to win the achievement of the workers demands through struggle. . .. karol modzelewski: letter to gierek Under the present state of affairs the higher values of the existence of the nation require the subordination of maximalist demands to the exigencies of political realism. No demand today is merely an act of ideological expression and persuasion, but is above all an act of practical politics flowing from the present situation. For this reason, the thread that runs through this letter, and through its sections which criticize and present proposals, is based on the present society and is not directed against it. It is a realistic and nonideological perspective. The aim is to find solutions enabling the crisis to be resolved and the contradictions which provoked it to be overcome; the aim is to lastingly introduce into our public life mechanisms of dialogue and social integration in such a way that the leading role of the Polish United Workers party and the one-party character of the system is not challenged.