Yes, We Need a

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strike is", and then wrong- feating the working class 1926: were they ready then? Or should they have waited? ABUSES THE REPORT printed in Socialist Organiser no.57 about the arrest of Nigel Lee was unfortunately out of date by the time it appeared. To brief you on events over the past two weeks:

Nigel was released on October 9 after his appeal against sentence was accepted.

But his case, along with material compiled by local National Council for Civil Liberties activists about other police abuses and frameups, has laid open the possibility of a serious campaign in defence of others arrested.

Nottingham NCCL has accumulated considerable evidence on people arrested being denied legal representation and intimidated to make false oleas of guiltv Flats have been broken into by police, residents have been arrested and then released, and on returning they have found their flats smashed up.

Hard-line magistrates TEN million workers in Poland are engaged in the struggle to wrest political power and control of the country's nationalised economy from their parasitic Stalinist rulers.

To understand the task they face we must first examine the nature and origins of the Polish state.

The most obvious comparison to explain the present set-up in Poland is with the Soviet Union.

In both countries the major factories, industrial concerns and banks are owned not as in Britain by capitalists, but by the state: there is a state monopoly of foreign trade: and on this basis thore is an attempt, often grotesque, at a planned economy.

Power has been, in each case, in the hands of a Communist Party, for decades upheld by dictatorial repression of all political opposition, rigid press censorship, and (until the emergence of Solidarnosc) the total state control of the official 'unions' Concea!

But these similarities conceal a difference. For the Soviet Union emerged as a workers' state from a victorious revolution in October 1917, in which independent organisations of the working class and the poor peasantry were mobilised under the leadership of the Bolshevik Party to overthrow capitalist rule and establish the power of the 'soviets' (workers' councils).

Only after this triumphant revolution - which sent shock waves of struggle throughout the international workers' movement - did conditions arise which led to the emergence of a firmly entrenched Soviet state burWriteback to Socialist Organiser 28 Middle Lane: London N8 have volunteered to do the dirty work in helping the police to send down innocent youth.

The NCCL report provides useful material for those in Nottingham fighting both on behalt of those unjustly imprisoned and to alert the labour movement on what the 'independence of the police' really means.

PETE RADCLIFF, Nottingham.

Long and agonising years of civil war against reactionary forces (which were fuelled and militarily assisted by the imperialist countries) combined with the initia economic backwardness of the Russian economy and the failure of proletarian revolutions in Europe, to create chronic shortages, dislocation and demoralisation.

Richer In these conditions the richer layers of Russian peasants, together with technocrats and senior administrators, increasingly formed a reactionary base for a conservative, bureaucratic layer in the leadership of the Bot shevik party.

In the wake of Lenin's death in 1924, this layer, headed by Joseph Stalin, increasingly consolidated its grip on the state machinery, began to repress its opponents, and to solidify as a privileged caste, feeding off the nationalised economy, and drawing strength from its disarry and from the weakening of revolutionary forces.

The Soviet Union increasingly degenerated into a bureaucratised workers' state. And the conservative, nationalist preoccupations of the Stalinist clique and their base within the Soviet Union increasingly took shape in AT EVERY demonstration we go on now, we hear the chants of 'Maggie Out' The obvious question to this is, how?

I would argue that the way it is done is by uniting workers involved in a political struggle against the Tories, i.e. against the four per cent limit, for a general strike, and for the generalisation of a partial strike or Comrade V. O'Brien presented us with an opportunity to open the necessary the politics of seeking to build 'socialism in one country'.

This rejection of internationalism accompanied the establishment of opportunist alliances with reformist trade union leaders (like the British TUC) and capitalist (and even, later, fascist) leaders -all of whom in practice bitterly opposed revolutionary struggles.

But Poland has not degenerated in this way. It has never been a healthy workers state. An attempt by the Red Army in 1920 to lend military assistance to a wave of revolutionary struggles by the Polish working class proved unsuccessful.

Exploited

The 1920s and 193Us saw the country ruled by reactionary regimes and heavily exploited by international capital.

Stalin's infamous "pact' with Hitler in 1939 was in many ways a 'pact on how to carve up Poland between Germany and the USSR -until Hitler judged the time was right to mount an invasion of the USSR itself.

It wasn't until five long and traumatic years later that the Red Army was able to drive back the Nazi occupation forces from Poland and other East European debate with his letter in last week's Socialist Organiser, «We're not ready for a general strike"

Ready

It seems to me the question that the comrade is really asking is not whether the working class is ready for a general strike, but whether we need one.

He says correctly that "we must firstly understand what the general countries.

This could have been the start of a genuine revolution. As the Red Army advanced, the Polish workers, despite years of brutal repression, seized factories, set up workers' councils, and took steps towards workers' control.

Yet the very last thing that Stalin wanted to see was 1917-style revolutionary struggles on his borders in Eastern Europe.

in some instances, therefore, the Red Army held back to allow the vindictive Nazis to włeak mass slaughter on the Polish workers: in other cases the Red Army itself moved in to defuse or repress workers' struggles.

After the withdrawal of German imperialism, under the dominance of the Red Army the power was given not to the militant working class but to a capitalist coalition government, which in fact rebuilt much of the old state apparatus that had been destroyed during the Nazi occupation.

Because of the disappearance of many of the old owners, extensive nationalisaions were carried out by this coalition government -but carried out in such a way as to exclude the control of the working class by explicitly confirming the 'authority of the director' Within a year ly says that the general strike means dual power or nothing, backing that up apparently with our editorial comment that it poses the question of power.

But Trotsky argued, for instance, that it was possible in France in the "30s to have a general strike against the repressive decree-laws introduced in 1934 under fascist pressure and conscription. The ruling class might back down, to prepare for deJohn Liste begins a series of articles on ing out of the Nazis, 90 per cent of Polish industry had been nationalised - yet, as CP leader Beirut admitted, the system was far from "In the state of People's Democracy there still exist classes which live by exploiting the work of others; these are the capitalists, various entrepreneurs, well-to-do merchants, factory owners employing a certain number of workers, rich peasants, speculators and other nonworkers"

The first steps towards eliminating the capitalist parties from the coalition government in Poland - as in most of the other East European countries - arose not from the revolutionary action of the working class but from the calculated actions of the bureaucratic leaders of the Communist Party, following instructions from the Kremlin.

Buffer Stalin had hoped to mobilise the East European coun tries as a military 'buffer' against a further imperialist attack on the USSR.

The imperialists were too weak to hope militarily to reconquer Eastern Europe -but • they still cherished hopes of economic pentralater - but in any case the working class would gain immensely in' self-confidence and consciousness from the general strike, whether it led directly to the struggle for power or was only the stage before it.

The working class will never become 'ripe' for the revolutionary struggle EAST London Women Against Prison (ELWAP) is a group which aims to support and give advice to women who are facing prison sentences, are already in prison, or may need help on their release.

We also wish to stress that we need more help. If any one is interested and has time to spare, please contact Cathi on 555 0289.

There are also regular ELWAP meetings every Friday, 7pm, at 56 Danes Road, Forest Gate, London E7.

DEBBIE PRENDIVILLE tion and control.

The onset of the Cold War was coupled with the launching of the US Marshall Plan, offering huge loans for reconstruction of Europe. This carrot was dangled in front of the East European regimes.

At first the Czech government accepted - only to be whipped into line by the Kremlin: it was plain that the aspirations of capitalist elements within the coalitions were incompatible with the economic system in the Soviet Union. Stable Soviet control over Eastern Europe required that the conflict be eliminated.

Stalin therefore gave the go-ahead for moves to purge the pro-capitalist parties and leaders from the coalitions; to broaden the base of the Stalinist parties; to consolidate their grip on the police, military and State apparatuses; and, in short, to stamp out the remnants of capitalist control and structurally transform thé Eastern European countries after the bureaucratic model of the USSR.

Merger

By 1952, Poland had adopted a constitution modelled on Stalin's in the USSR: the Polish CP had purged any potential dissidets from its ranks, conducted a forced merger with the social democratic party, consolidated a monolithic party and state apparatus, and adopted its first five year plan. While never having been a healthy workers' state, it had become a buxeaucratic workers' state.

It had not degenerated, like the USSR: it had been deformed from its very birth. by waiting for the perfect moment, but only by militant struggle.

The preconditions that the comrade puts on the general strike call - "prerevolutionary situation', 'working class everywhere challenging the authority of capitalism' - lead us to wonder just when he would raise the demand at all. He has the same explanation of the present situation as many trade union bureaucrats have, that the working class 'is in retreat'.

This argument was devastated by the BL decision. At last week's demonstration in Blackpool, a buzz went through the nearly 10,000 workers and youth; and, talking to the Robb Caledon workers about the BL decision, it didn't need us to tell them the need for a general strike. They said it themselves.

It is not lack of confidence in the masses, or lack of a 'pre-revolutionary situation? (which must first be created) that will stop a general strike. The obstacle to general strike action is shown at the moment by Joe Gormley putting off the miners' discussions with management until November 11th, hoping that BL will be back by then. It was shown last year through the steel strike, and the top union leaders' sabotage of the possibility of BL strike action together with the steelworkers. And it was shown between 1934 and 1938 in France, where the bureaucrats tried to stop a general strike and then called it off as quickly. as possible when it exploded despite them.

The prerequisites for a general strike do exist now. Capitalism has outlived its usefulness and is hanging on in deep crisis, the working class has been politically educated through the developments in the Labour Party, and there are widespread struggles beginning on the four per cent.

We take the •demand from our dialogue with the masses - that is what we mean by agitation - while the bureaucrats start from the point of avoiding confrontation and encouraging collaboration.

Yes, the general strike is a sharp struggle, one of the sharpest before insurrection. We are prepared to take up that fight. By arguing against it, you're running into the hands of the bureaucrats.

MICK LIGGINS Pomphlet plus postage ¡ Socialist Organiser, iddle Lane; L'ondon

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cialist Organiser , Thursday22nd October, 1981 Page 13

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Wo men inst aga priso

Labour democracy WORKERS Orgoniser

GOVERNMENNT CAR