From Gomulka to Gierek: The Moral Decay of the Polish Bureaucracy
Maneli, Mieczyslaw
WLADYSLAW GOMLJLKA'S SON told me in 1957: "Only fools can believe that there are differences in theory or ideology in the Party. The only differences are purely personal; it is merely a...
...During the short period of "democratization" and free elections, for example, it was discovered that Party candidates were being defeated and reports flooded the Politburo that "socialism was losing ground...
...He is fond of the technical intelligentsia, but has a Stalinist's contempt for humanistic intellectuals...
...This pessimistic realism expressed by Ryszard Strzelecki has been confirmed by recent events in Poland...
...At the end of 1970, Gomulka and his regime were compelled to raise sharply the prices of food and other commodities...
...The drama will repeat itself...
...He prodded and schemed to place his people in high Party offices all over the country...
...The policies following the purge didn't work either...
...I have full confidence in you...
...Every month the security police became more numerous, more powerful and oppressive...
...Edward Gierek, the new party leader, and his associates are no different from their predecessors...
...but the nation wanted to believe in him...
...In the 1960s they found, as it was described in Warsaw jokes, that they were like a man who wanted to find shelter behind a car but the car moved...
...He dismissed the Jews from his apparatus (all...
...Gomulka and his gifted minister of foreign affairs, Adam Rapacki, tried to ease the tension in Europe by a plan to de-atomize Central Europe...
...He is the best read apparatchik and security officer I've ever met...
...In 1956 Polish diplomats had asked the Western powers officially to recognize Poland's Western frontiers and to give the Poles guarantees against German revisionist demands...
...From the day it seized power, the regime began to prepare its bitter end...
...When this plan was rejected, Gomulka unconditionally surrendered to the Kremlin as the sole guarantor of Polish sovereignty...
...He became security chief and chairman of Zbovid, an organization that united former Polish combatants of all political ideologies...
...After October 1956, he returned to Warsaw as one of Gomulka's closest collaborators...
...They followed Gomulka in the 1950s because they believed in his patriotism...
...perhaps there remained some Ehrenjuden...
...Thus, his province, Silesia, usually had adequate supplies of meat, flour, and milk...
...I had spoken with him during that summer, regarding the dissatisfaction of the people which was the result of mistakes committed bythose in power...
...The waiting period for emigration for security functionaries is usually two to five years...
...The Poles found everything they desired in the speech of the "patriot," who had resisted Soviet efforts to force him to "disclose his counterrevolutionary activities...
...I tried to argue my case, but Kliszko remained unconvinced...
...He fits into the new group...
...Gomulka never even asked this question...
...When the Communist Central Committee convened on October 19, 1956, the old Stalinist functionaries were aware of an atmosphere of hatred...
...They knew that a substantial part of their production was exported to the Soviet Union and the accounts of payments were kept top secret...
...Gomulka looked toward Russia as the protector, not only of his regime, but of the Polish frontiers...
...But the Russians paid only the official price when it bought the equipment from the Poles...
...11, 1957) of the October events as a popular uprising was not correct and that it was the Party which had been instrumental in returning Gomulka to power, not the will of the people...
...NTERNAL EVENTS soon persuaded GomulkaI to turn away from his "national road to socialism...
...The distance between the standard MIECZYSLAW MANELI of living in Poland and the West was increasing...
...It was a malevolent historical accident that Wladyslaw Gomulka became a national hero, symbol of Communist patriotism and liberalization...
...His apparatus will be effective but not cruel...
...Why all the mystery...
...The secret lay in the exchange value of currency...
...In 1966-67 they decided to finish with "disorganization and permissive liberalism...
...They knew that nobody in Poland saw these accounts, because the bookkeeping was done in Moscow...
...I met him several times during the last 20 years, and each time I got the impression that he had become more cultured and more reasonable...
...Since when...
...Nor did he really understand that the people wanted significant changes...
...As he lost his popular base, he became more dependent on Moscow...
...Thus one draws the attention of the superficial public away...
...In this struggle the role of Security Minister Franciszek Szlachcic may be decisive...
...Even the Polish censors announced publicly that they would no longer suppress the healthy criticism of the people...
...he did not understand that the political and social system he had helped to create after 1945 was the cause of the upheaval...
...Gomulka could resist Moscow for a short time, because he had the backing of the nation...
...Three days after the first demonstration at Warsaw University the government officially declared that the Zionists and "revisionists" were the organizers of the demonstrations...
...There were demands for change among the people, not only among peasants and workers, but also in the government and the Party hierarchy...
...A vicious cycle...
...The language of Edward Gierek is a repetition of Gomulka's promises, but less radical in essence, more abstruse, and obviously fraudulent...
...He had been officially branded an anti-Soviet nationalist by Moscow, and this was the first time Moscow's official propaganda was believed without reservation...
...He succeeded in convincing many people that he was antiSoviet...
...Gierek does not even have the advantage of coming to power as a result of popularity, as did Gomulka in 1956...
...So was dependence on the Soviet Union...
...There he operated almost as a sovereign prince, a talented organizer with a gift for finding efficient and loyal henchmen...
...When Gomulka first fell in 1948, Moczar was in disgrace, and so was sent to Olsztyn as head of the provincial government...
...The new regime acknowledged that it owed everything to Moscow, and the Moscow rulers were pleased...
...He was like the hero of a satirical comedy that played in a Warsaw theater in 1956, The Feast of Winkelried, written by Jerzy Andrzejewski, now in disgrace...
...They were made to realize that the loosening of Soviet control was crucial not only for the fulfillment of national aspirations, but to the solution of economic and political problems...
...He issued instructions at the end of the 1950s that the Jews are unreliable and should be closely observed, and their organizations infiltrated...
...it is merely a struggle to have one's hand in the till...
...In the vocabulary of Gomulka in 1956 there were some elements of decent conviction and truth...
...They all believe in Hobbes's philosophy: the government must be strong and absolute, otherwise anarchists will gain the upper hand...
...General Moczar is the first Communist leader who understands that Marxism-Leninism has no propaganda value, that it is bankrupt and must be replaced by something which in Poland always appeals: nationalist slogans...
...But Gomulka did not understand the movement he had come to symbolize...
...Neither Edward Gierek nor the new Prime Minister Piotr Jaroszewicz have discussed the most important reasons for the Polish troubles: lack of democracy and lack of organized responsibility...
...Gierek's explanation for the Polish collapse is what Leszek Kolakowski once sarcastically described as platonic: a good idea, although poorly realized, is still good...
...The results were well known from previous periods: economic exploitation, demands to silence liberals and "revisionists," the support of all Soviet initiative and aid in the struggle against all of Moscow's enemies, in the West and the East...
...It is characteristic of false liberalism, that— being compelled to make concessions—it sacrifices men, and instruments, in order to preserve the essence, the institution...
...Everybody, and especially the United States whose diplomacy was controlled by John Foster Dulles, refused...
...Gomulka and Zenon Kliszko, number two in the Party, continued the old system...
...The system of nationalized industry can work only under continuous and profound criticism...
...Under these pressures the Central Committee decided upon substantial changes...
...Later there were new cars and houses, all secured at the expense of other parts of Poland...
...Political liberties will not be restored even to the degree of 1958...
...In 1955-56, Poland had undergone an acute crisis...
...The son of a poor peasant becomes one of the most important figures not only in Poland but in the entire Communist camp...
...The main source of the economic troubles in Poland and other Communist countries is the bureaucratic system...
...His close associates are well-educated alumni of the law schools, including some brilliant graduates of Warsaw University...
...One day there will be an open struggle between him and the First Secretary...
...he is an anti-Semite, but lets all the Jews leave Poland and at the same time publicly drinks Polish vodka with an eminent Jewish writer...
...The new regime's lack of popular support is the main reason for its dependence on the Soviet Union, and this dependence has bad effects on internal politics...
...Szlachcic studied the writings of Machiavelli and understands his recommendation that a government should be feared but should avoid being hated...
...The next round of the crisis is inevitable and the same powerful internal forces that toppled the former leaders will confront the new regime...
...As an old Communist he has some sentimental links to the Soviet Union, but for him the Kremlin is a temple without a god...
...And what will the masses be able to do when he fails to consult them...
...They have no plans for changing the structure of the Polish government, which will surely lead to the same problems that caused Gomulka's fall...
...The brutal suppression of Pro Prostu, the most liberal weekly, was a warning that the new regime had decided to finish with dissidents, "naive intellectuals," and other unreliable elements...
...Although the students were sincerely fighting the regime, the demonstrations were actually organized by security agents, supervised by General Moczar, with the acquiescence of Gomulka...
...They were bankrupt, and the people balked...
...T T HE NEW RULING GROUP has even less to offer the nation than Gomulka...
...The cancellation of the alleged Polish debt in Moscow was one of the reasons for the first economic successes of Wladyslaw Gomulka in 1956...
...In this situation Gomulka and his associates took their final step to reinstate a stronghanded government in Poland...
...Unpopularity, constantly aggravated by a falling standard of living, eventually turned into hatred...
...Brought up in the Stalinist school, Gomulka's reasoning was primitive, his conclusion simplistic...
...We did not consult the masses, and therefore we committed some errors," says Gierek...
...In his book he takes a hard line: intellectuals should be "servants of the people," which means that the Party must be their only source of inspiration...
...Zenon Kliszko began to make speeches about the new version of "socialist realism...
...But without democracy and freedom to criticize everyone, criticism can only be a mockery...
...In the 1950s the Poles didn't have much to eat, but they had relative liberty and were proud of it...
...I am sure you would be unable to betray any secrets to the CIA...
...The workers in the shipyards realized that Poland was losing a sum equal to the average worker's monthly salary for every 10 dollars' worth of goods re-exported to the Soviet Union...
...Gomulka had seized power as a national hero, and whatever he now did became highly unpopular...
...They concluded that the liberal experiment had been unsuccessful...
...He has no taste for autonomous workers' councils that would impinge on the prerogatives of the Party apparatus...
...In the early 1960s Poland's economic and political crisis entered a new phase: administrative and economic disorganization, low labor productivity, unqualified individuals in high posts, lack of ideology and perspective...
...He believes in the leading role that history has conferred upon Communist parties, and he lives by the maxim that a government must be strong...
...Its only aim is to gain time and to mobilize the police forces...
...The workers in the shipbuilding industry understood that the main reasons for the economic disasters of Poland lay in its politics, in bureaucratic centralism, disorganization, and irresponsibility...
...Never again...
...As an old partisan he is connected with Moczar...
...In the 1960s they had even less to eat, but they didn't have freedom either...
...One of the most powerful members of the Politburo, General Mieczyslaw Moczar, has proved to be a master of political intrigues...
...But in order actually to receive that amount in hard currency, Poland is forced to ex port goods worth about 200 zlotys...
...he mistrusts intellectuals, but he has written a book and to my best knowledge is the only member of the Politburo who is also a member of the Association of Writers...
...B B Y CONTRAST with the periods of Stalinism and Gomulkaism, Gierek will represent some kind of enlightened absolutism—but absolutism nonetheless...
...He played the role of a patriot and nationalist, and mouthed slogans once considered heretical— about the spiritual unity of all the Polish underground fighters...
...WLADYSLAW GOMLJLKA'S SON told me in 1957: "Only fools can believe that there are differences in theory or ideology in the Party...
...They could not even count on the support of the lower-echelon security officers...
...They will never fool me again...
...The strikes in the ports in December 1970 were political as well as economic...
...All professions were represented in his court: engineers, economists, professors, writers, Party apparatchiks, and security agents...
...Encumbered by few dogmas, his Marxism is almost pragmatic...
...Chancellor Adenauer and the West German government demanded the restoration of the old prewar frontiers, and the Poles couldn't bear these demands...
...The new leadership is ideologically unified because it has no ideology...
...as an old Silesian, with Edward Gierek...
...Though he will try to reorganize Polish industry, Gierek has never believed in farreaching liberal reforms...
...But why should an old Communist like Edward Gierek care about the opinion of a young liberal neo-Hegelian, who was not even a "Marxist...
...In his first speech at the meeting of the Eighth Plenary Session of the Central Committee on October 20, 1956, he made all the necessary promises...
...The official exchange rate is 24 zlotys for each United States dollar...
...They began to strengthen the "leading role of the Party...
...Poland had to buy some of its equipment for the construction of Soviet ships in the West, and was forced to pay this high price...
...Thus began the purge of all liberal, enlightened, and patriotic elements from the Party, government, industry, army, universities, and social institutions...
...Edward Gierek is an old Communist, but without fanaticism...
...The loudly proclaimed freedom of the press withered...
...He graduated from a technical institute, but has read humanistic and philosophic books...
...It was by no means of its own free will that the Committee carried out the popular program of 1956: democratization, estab lishment of workers' councils, final rejection of forced collectivization, the introduction of a new and reasonable economic system, and the purge of the Stalinists and roughnecks who held the highest positions...
...And for how long...
...When Winkelried is by chance proclaimed the new FROM GOMULKA TO GIEREK leader and the people enthusiastically welcome him, he asks his followers: "please explain to me the ideology of the movement I have kindly agreed to head...
...Meanwhile, his relations with Moscow improved...
...He is uneducated, but surrounded by scholars...
...Nor have the new leaders analyzed relations with the Soviet Union...
...Gierek's Party nickname was "Tshombe," and Silesia was called the "Polish Katanga...
...He overcame resistance from Warsaw to the found ing of a Silesian university...
...In a talk I had with Kliszko in 1957, he tried to convince me that my interpretation ("The Ideas of October," in State and Law, no...
...And to satisfy the people, the hero of nationalism, Wladyslaw Gomulka, would be returned to power...
...The bureaucratic centralization (even if decentralized a little) is wasteful and inefficient...
...Even Western journalists believed it and some experts at the United States Embassy in Warsaw were inclined to believe that there was a struggle between Moscovite Gomulka and nationalist Moczar...
...The student demonstrations that occurred in March 1968 were described by the world press as the revolt of democratic and patriotic Polish youths...
...One might recall the remarks of the youthful Karl Marx, in his first published essay, "Concerning the New Prussian Instructions About Censorship": FROM GOMULKA TO GIEREK Maybe one tries to make persons guilty of shortcomings of the institutions, in order to create false appearances of improvement without improving the nature of things...
...But when an ousted Jewish officer approached him, and asked when he would be allowed to leave Poland to visit an uncle in the United States, Moczar shook his hand and smilingly answered: "Immediately...
...His speech was less liberal and less profound than the hundreds of articles that had appeared in Poland in the preceding months...
...The only differences are purely personal...
...Gomulka fell into panic and returned to the old, discredited police methods...
...His materialism is exemplified by Bacon's observation that the worst rebellions are belly rebellions...
...His ambitions are unlimited...
...He isofficially inferior to them, but in practice he could be a most powerful partner...
...To secure Polish sovereignty, and put an end to economic exploitation, the battalions of Russian supervisors had to be sent back to Russia...
...This was our Polish October...
...But this explanation, although true, is insincere...
...Gierek took his recent accusations against Gomulka's regime from Khrushchev's repertoire of expressions: Gomulka did not care about collective leadership, underestimated the role of the Central Committee, did not listen to the masses, and became arbitrary...
...The Poles also were annoyed by Soviet representatives supervising the quality of their work: they were very demanding of Polish workmanship but extremely tolerant of the quality of the goods exported to Poland from Russia...
...If Machiavelli had written his Prince in this century, he would have included a chap MIECZYSLAW MANELI ter about Moczar...
...wishful thinking had its triumph...
...Edward Gierek promises that he will avoid these faults...
Vol. 18 • June 1971 • No. 3
