As we were saying: Anti-Semitism In Poland in 1968

Submitted by dalcassian on 13 October, 2015 - 8:13 Author: Sean Matgamna

The Czech liberalisation has produced
strong reactions in all her neighbours.
In Poland the impulse from Prague comb-
ined with local issues to produce a
sharp bureaucratic backlash. Regarded
for long as amongst the more 'liberal',
the Gomulka regime is hardening into one
of the most vicious in East Europe.

'Liberalising' itself in 1956 to contain
a workers' revolt (The Poznan uprising,
the formation of workers' councils) the
Polish bureaucracy has gradually slid
downhill back to square one. Gomulka
was 'progressive' in '56 compared with
the past. Today his regime is backward
and repressive by any standards, and
particularly by the standards of
Czechoslovakia's bright new reformed
regime. Students shouting pro-Czech
slogans have clashed with police,
and since then there has been a purge of
the universities, Within the bureaucracy
itself, the Czech events triggered into
being a faction ("The Partisans") of
nationalist-Stalinist hardliners around
the Minister of the Interior, General
Moczar.

Struggling for control, in a situation
where all the bureaucrats feel the
need for a clamp-down, this grouping
necessarily sets the pace. Moczar recently
became an alternate Politbureau member.

One of the worst signs of the regression
in Poland in recent months has been a
very thinly disguised eruption of anti-semitism
- in this country which saw its millions of
Jews leave few survivors as they vanished
into Auschwitz only a generation ago.
Under the banner of anti-Zionism the
Partisans play the anti-Jew tune blatantly,
playing also the Polish nationalist
tune. Advocating a hard Stalinist
solution to unrest and particularly stu-
dent unrest, they blame it all on that
section of the bureaucracy which is of
Jewish origin.

Their theoreticians even write learned
articles blaming all the 'errors' of the .
past, Stalinist as well as 'Luxembourgist'
on the "ethnic composition" of the
CPP. In June, Werblan (head of the Cult-
ural section of the C. C.) published an
article examining the role of the Par-
ty's Jews. The conclusions he reached
included those: "No society can tolerate
the excessive participation of a nation-
al minority in the elite of power, particularly
in the organs of National Defence,
Security, propaganda and representation
abroad." But happily "the correction of
the irregular ethnic composition
in the central institutions will go
a long way towards removing this prob-
lem." In other words, Jews watch out,
particularly Jewish Party members.

Indirectly the campaign is also aimed to
put the heat on the Gomulka leadership,
which is mostly ex-emigre, unlike the
Partisans' who, as the name implies, stayed
behind. Apparently the emigres also con-
stitute a 'dangerous national minority'.
They are even alleged to have contact
with foreign centres organised by ….
Trotskyists. Deja vu! There has been,
a genuine upsurge of revolutionary
socialist activity, which the Gom-
ulka regime has met with repression.

The politics of racism is the politics
of the scapegoat. Where it appears it
denotes extreme underlying tensions in
the structure of society. The widespread
use of the 'poisonous vapours' of anti-
Semitism by the Stalinists was one
indication of the repressive nature of the
societies over which they presided.
Trotsky explained its appearance
in Russia as an attempt by the leading
sections of the bureaucracy to deflect
the hatred of the masses from the
bureaucracy as a whole on to certain sec-
tions of the bureaucracy, those of Jewish extr-
action: it is a sort of stalinist version of
'Jewish capitalism'.

In 1938 the CPP was declared incurably
infested with Trotskyists, Luxembourg-
ists and.... fascists - and dissolved
by Moscow: some of the members were
betrayed to the Polish police; many in Mos-
cow were shot.

After '56 newly available information on
the repression of Jews in Russia led to an
outcry in the western Communist Parties.
The more blatant forms of discrimination
were curbed, though Jewish cultural activities
in Russia remained under strict control.

Anti-Semitism is still endemic in
Russia and East Europe.

Among other things this vicious racism
helps to generate real illusions in
Zionism amongst Russian and East
European Jews; It even helped endear
Zionism and Wall Street's pet, Israel,
to many other opponents of racism in
these countries. Thus anti-Semitism
and Zionism are, as always, inseparable
sides of the same coin.

It is doubtful if "The Partisans" can
benefit a great deal from this racism:
there is after all only a handful of
Jews left in Poland (about 30,000 -
before the War there were 31/2 million).
And there is a strong possibility that att-
empts by the regime or a faction of it
to move sharply backwards - as sharply
as the Moczarites want - will generate
more serious opposition than the bureau-
cracy has ever faced before.

Poland is a living example of how unst-
able is the liberalism of even the most
'libera' of bureaucratic regimes. The
point is that only workers' socialist
democracy offers a qualitative change
and a real solution.

Polish Backlash
Workers Fight 8, August1968

This website uses cookies, you can find out more and set your preferences here.
By continuing to use this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.