Did Solidarnosc Stop Being a Contradictory Movement?
Introductory Note: The document linked on this page was written by Dave Winter, a founding member of HRS, during 1987, as part of an internal struggle within the Bolshevik Tendency (BT). The BT supported Jaruselski’s move to crush Solidarnosc (Solidarity), the Polish workers’ movement led by Lech Walesa. Winter wrote this document as a critique of the BT’s position, which Winter believed stemmed from the BT’s origins in the Spartacist League (SL). We have posted this previously unpublished document here because it represents the earliest extant example of the application of our dialectical method to the analysis of a complex historical situation.
This article was originally produced in 1987 using a primitive software program that no longer exists. Until now, the document has only been available in a paper copy reprinted in 1991, which had to be scanned in order to make it possible for us to put it on this website. In order to break up the scanned files into manageable segments, the document is presented here in four sections. The original document is reproduced here in full; however, due to the limitations of the software program that was originally used to create it, some of the pages are partly empty, and there are gaps in the page numbering.
Click here to view text of part 1 in a new window: Poland Document, Part 1
Click here to view text of part 2 in a new window: Poland Document, Part 2
Click here to view text of part 3 in a new window: Poland Document, Part 3
Click here to view text of part 4 in a new window: Poland Document, Part 4
Clicking on the links above will open each section of the document as a PDF file, which you can read online or print. To open the files, you will need a PDF reader, such as Adobe Reader® (available as a free download from Adobe’s Website).