Eye Witness Report on

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ment, with a movement by the technicians and bility of power or.control arising from the so-called engineers.

The 'network' was based ories. In addition to this, Centre: Jurczyk, runner up to Walesa for president of Solidarnosc • What did you lear om visiting the Soldal nose congress?

We saw how much the movement is more than just a trade union: it is a sort of framework for all parts of society with the exception of the bureaucracy.

You could see that at the Congress from several examples, For instance, there has been a strike among the militia - not the police, but the militia who were the one that shot down workers in 1970. • The strikers demanded that the militia become incorporated into the police force, and no longer be linked to the secret service - and that they should not be called to act against the working class.

The strike took place in certain layers of the militia - and 50 people who were at the core of this movement were sacked.

At the Congress delegates were asked if they wanted speakers from this movement, and with loud applause they agreed.

Another example of the scope of Solidarnosc as a social movement was the agreement that has been reached between Solidarnose and the new unions or Journalists and writer: on now they should worl together and support each other.

fact nobody has any confidence in the official information from the Party and the State. The Congress itself set up loudspeakers outside so that its proceedings could be heard in the street - and thousands of people stood listening and clapping outside right through the weekend.

Delegates from different areas brought with them local Solidarnosc papers: and people queued in their hundreds in the front of the hall to buy copies and read about struggles in other parts of the country.

These are just some indicatin is of how broad Solidarnosc is as a movement. JETTE JORGENSON from the Danish Trotskyist Workers' League [TAF] attended a part of the second session of the Solidarnosc Congress in Gdansk.

The TAF • delegation announced themselves at the door as representing ineir paper, 'Trotskyist Viewpoint' - and to their surprise wete immediately welcomed into the hali, •• What did you learn from the debates on workers' control?

I think it's only over the last three or four months that the movement has been orientated towards ways of dealing with the the economic chaos.

Control At hrst, as a spontaneous movement, they moved only from their own experience.

But the issue of workers' control has a long history: it goes back to 1956 when they formed workers' councils. When the movement failed to go forward then, these councils became organs for control over the workers by the Stalinist Isolated Mainly because of this experience, Solidarnosc didn't want anything to do with workers' councils or workers' control. There were some isolated instanceds, but they didn't get off the ground until three or four months ago, when Solidarnosc had. become consolidated with ten million members, while the economic chaos became more obvious and deep.

There arose a growing interest in self-manageissued with credentials, and offered interpreting facilities. As they left the Congress two days later, they were told that if they had wished they could have organised a fringe meeting to explain their politics to interested delegates.

The TAF comrades together with a lone wandering reporter fro the American magazine 'network' - a grouping led Intercontinental Press -were the only Trotskyist journalists present at the second part of the congress They came to Britain last week to attend the Rally of the Workers' Socialist League, which, like the TAF, is affiliated to the Trotskyist International Liaison Committee.

Before the Rally, Jette spoke to Socialist OrgOD one key industry factory in each area, formanoad pinla of 18 workplaces in mining, shipbuilding, steel, transport, and so on.

Maybe I shoula say something about these technicians: they are different from the same layer in the capitalist countries. They have no possibility of having influence or control over their own work, or changing production techniques - because of the bureaucratic stranglehold on industrial management.

Rigid The rigid Stalinist control offers technicians no possiinside or outside the factthe education system in Poland as distinct from that in the capitalist countries means that quite a large proportion of technicians come from the industrial working class.

Consultants

The network leaders began to act as consultants to the Solidarnosc leadership on the question of self-management, and circles of self-management were formed in towns around the country, with the perspective of a national organisation.

The growth of this movement has made the government prepare some legislation on the issue. To put Solidarnose's line clearly before this legislation was carried, there was a resolution at the first part of the Congress on workers' management.

Then came a dramatic development. For the first time in 35 years the Polsh government was in a minority on a question in Parliament.

Rumours

This crisis came in the two weeks between the two parts of the Solidarnosc congress. From the Presidium of Solidarnosc -which is composed of 11 people - a minority of four went and started negotiations with Parliamentary leaders on this Bill. They made a compromise with the majority in Parliament, and two laws were passed before the second part of the Congress.

That meant that the Congress met without at first knowing what was going on. Rumours were floating around. and there was confusion and anger among the delegates.

Of the two new laws, one is to keep absolute power in the hands of the Stalinist party with regard to any industry of social and economic significance. The idea was to ensure that the Party remains in complete control of the system.

It also seeks to perpetuate the 'nomenklatura' system, offering a ladder of advancement to those well in with the bureaucracy through a list of key posts. This is the symbol of Party control of industry.

Appointed

The second laws says something about workers' councils for the rest of industry. But these would participate in bodies composed mostly of Party-dominated institutions: only through such bodies would managers be appointed.

When this arose on the agenda, there were immediately 49 speakers - most of them wanting to criticise what had happened. The debate was postponed until tapes and documents of the meetings were available to establish how the compromise agreement had been arrived at.

Most speakers were angry at the lack of democracy in the process, and wanted an explanation from each of the 11 Presidium members But one of those who had been in the negotiations -Rulewski from Bydgoszcz - came out hard against the whole thing.