World

mess. Nor is there any question that
these countries require proper yardsticks
to measure the value of production and
glasnost, or “transparency,” so people
can see how the economy functions.

Without question, the market will be
used for the distribution of goods, and a
“mixed economy” will exist for a long
period of transition. But the real issue is
the general direction and purpose of the
transformation.

Will the market, with its inevitable
furtherance of social inequities,
determine the allocation of resources?
Will unemployment drive people to
work? Or will the “associate
producers” — to borrow Marx’s
term — seek new forms of democracy
that offer them the an incentive to work
in their factories and offices but also give
them the means to gain collective
mastery over their fate until the distant
day when they abolish commodity
production altogether?

In his inaugural parliamentary speech
as Poland’s prime minister, Tadeusz
Mazowiecki maintained that his country
must opt for the well-tried ways of
capitalism because “it cannot afford to
experiment.” But, one might argue, on
the contrary, that Eastern Europe cannot
today indulge in the luxury of not
experimenting.

hese questions
_ will increasingly
divide both
Eastern Europe’s
ruling parties and
its opposition
movements and
oo lead to new
alignments. At the moment, (This article
was written in December — Ed.) it is
East Germany, the newcomer to the
process of change, that offers the best
hope of working out a system that
distances itself from both the neo-
Stalinist and capitalist models.

Critical members of the Communist
Party and oppositionists from New
Forum seem especially interested in this
debate. In the Soviet Union a similar
discussion, revolving mainly around the
degree of private property to be allowed
and the influence that it will wield, has
begun to divide the pro-perestroika
forces that were previously united behind
Gorbachev.

In Hungary the struggle will intensify
when growing social unrest finally finds
expression in a movement from below.
And in Poland divisions will appear

when the rank and file of yesterday’s
Solidarnosc clashes with a government
that it now considers to be its own.

“mr: e must bear
in mind that
it is less
than five
years since
Gorbachev
took power;

eS Ee the whole
process is still in its infancy. The main
social actors — the workers and
peasants, the apparatchiks and
managers, the professional intelligentisa
and would-be property owners — are
only partially aware of their interests and
are still groping for channels to express
them. The common fronts and coalitions
are shifting. As the pace of change
quickens, we cannot remain indifferent
to what is happening.

As long as the struggle was against
oppression, the problem for the Western
left was simple. Since freedom is, above
all else, “‘the freedom for those who
think differently,” we were obliged to
fight for the right of everyone to
speak — even Alexandr Solzhenitsyn,
the prophet of reaction.

But now matters are different.
Tomorrow there may be no need to
defend dissidents, even in
Czechoslovakia. Elsewhere, yesterday’s
victims are either already in office or
close to the corridors of power, and their
ideological outlook has often altered
with the change in their political status.

Yesterday’s friends are not necessarily
today’s political allies, a familiar but
bitter truth. No one exemplifies this need
for re-evaluation better than Lech
Walesa, the famous leader of Solidarity.

In August 1980, when Lech scaled the
fence at the Lenin shipyards, he stood
for the workers’ right to strike. Today,
when Solidarity declares a regional
strike, he advises those same workers not
to join in so as not to antagonize the
bountiful Polish-American investor,
Barbara Piasecka-Johnson.

When Solidarity was founded, Walesa
stood for the right of workers to have an
autonomous organization to defend
themselves against exploitation. Now he
is ready to sell that birthright, if
admittedly for more than a fistful of
dollars. Indeed, he is willing to sell the
whole of Polish industry twice over. (In
his zeal, he has offered 20 per cent to the
Germans, as much again to the French
and 10 per cent to the Kuwaitis. Add
this to the Canadians, the British, the
Americans and other potential buyers
and the figures rapidly add up to some
200 per cent.)

As a bold strike leader, the effective
head of a huge labour union, a brave
and cunning resister during the years of
martial law, Walesa the electrician
symbolized the revival of the labour
movement in Eastern Europe. As such,
whatever his foibles, our tribute to him
was legitimate. Today, as he dons the
mantle of a latter-day Marshal Pilsudski,
the pre-war dictator who saw himself
standing above all classes and parties,
Walesa neither needs nor deserves the
sympathy or support of the left. The
blessing of George Bush is much more
precious to him.

As the drama gathers pace, it is
necessary to scan the quickly shifting
scene of Eastern Europe to find those
who refuse to identify socialism with the
now shattered neo-Stalinist model and
still hope to forge a society different
from theirs and from ours. Though the
ideological climate is not very propitious
for such people at this stage, they do
have a future and we should stand by
them.

Reprinted by permission of The Nation
magazine. Subscriptions $36 (U.S.) for
one year (47 issues), The Nation, Box P.4.,
72 Fifth Ave., New York, N.Y. 10011.

——

Canadian corporation
embroiled in scandal

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados — A
Montreal corporation has found itself
under fire here for apparently trying to
hoodwink the government out of a bun-
dle of cash under the guise of helping set
up a cotton growing and spinning pro-
Ject.

It was about two years ago that Sco-
thalls Ltd. was given the green light by
the Democratic Labour Party adminis-
tration of Prime Minister Erskine Sandi-
ford to help finance and organize the
Caribbean Sea Island Cotton Company
(Cariscot). Scothalls had roped in several
other island governments, but held a
majority of shares. The (U.S.) $5-million

‘debt. “Thousands of dollars in actual

~ ton because of unsatisfactory terms.

FROMTHE

project would havea spinning and weav-
ing factory on this 166-square mile
former British colony.

The Sandiford government, strapped
for funds and unable to bring down a 20
per cent jobless rate, welcomed the
scheme, noting it would fit in with the
diversification of Barbados’ agricultural
sector which traditionally centres on
sugar cane cultivation.

Things, however, didn’t work out as
planned.

Both opposition parties have called
the Cariscot project a farce, charging that
Scothalls has fleeced the Barbadian tax-
payers of hundreds of thousands of dol-
lars. The firm had obtained a (US.)

CARIBBEAN

- document are missing.

$2.5-million overdraft from the state-run
Barbados National Bank, as well as
another (U.S.) $5-million line of credit
from the Canadian Export Development
Agency.

Scothalls, charged one opposition
party leader, has not contributed “one
red cent” in equity, nor guaranteed the

Barbados cash has been collected from
the company, sent out of Barbados and
changed into Canadian dollars.”
Meanwhile, a check by this corres-
pondent at the Spencer’s plantation here
shows that no new cotton grounds have
been prepared on a scale which would
make the plant economically feasible.
Farmers have bluntly stated they are
unwilling to supply the project with cot-

Cariscot had apparently tried to get
around this by importing raw cotton
from California, but the bales were
seized by customs officials at the airport.

Opposition forces have called for the
firing of Agriculture Minister Warwick
Franklin for his role in the debacle, and
the government has appointed a top
economist to work alongside the minis-
ter.

Adding to the confusion, the Barba-
dos Advocate reports that Cariscot offi-
ces have been burgled and important

Analysts here suggest the ongoing
developments with Cariscot under Sco-
thalls’ control is a typical example of how
unscrupulous North American business
people attempt to dupe Third World
nations of valuable foreign exchange
without really contributing to building
up the countries’ economies through
meaningful joint venture projects.

Also highlighted: the need for Ottawa
to be more careful when it dispenses
Canadian taxpayers’ money to firms
planning to set up shop in the developing
world, in this case the Caribbean.

Budapest-Pretoria ties
criticized by ANC envoy

By TOM FOLEY

UNITED NATIONS — Hungary’s
recent move to work toward diplomatic ties
with South Africa is “very serious” and
raises “grave concern,” Tebogo Mafole, the
permanent observer of the African National
Congres to the United Nations told the
People’s Daily World Jan. 12..

“At this point in time, when we are mak-
ing important gains in the struggle aginst
apartheid, the last thing we need is for an
old friend (Hungary) to join the enemy,”
Mafole said.

He was commenting on the Jan. 3 visit of
South African Foreign Minister Roelof
Botha to Hungary — the first such visit
ever to any Warsaw Treaty country. The
Hungarian foreign ministry said diplomatic
ties would not immediately follow, but it
was Widely reported that both countries had
agreed to work in that direction.

Afred Nzo, ANC secretary general, in a
staement issued Jan. 4 in Lusaka, Zambia,
said: “The ANC unequivocally condemns”
the action by Hungary and feels “this act
demonstrates both bad faith and a cynical
disregard for international agreements.

“Only 10 days ago, representatives of the
Hungarian government assured the ANC
that they have no contact with the apartheid
regime,” the ANC statement said. “A mere
three weeks ago, Hungary voted with the

rest of the world at the UN to continue to
take effective action against apartheid
South Africa.

“It is now clear that, in the meantime, the
true intention of the Hungarian leaders was
to betray the majority of the people of
South Africa by forming a racist partner-
ship with apartheid. Hungary cannot expect
to maintain normal relations with the peo-
ples of Africa while it befriends the enemy of
our continent and the rest of freedom-
loving humanity,” the ANC statement con-
cluded.

Mafole was asked about the fact-that
right after the Hungarian-South African
meeting, Hungarian Foreign Minister
Gyula Horn flew to Israel to hold talks on
trade and other matters. The UN General
Assembly on Dec. 14 specifically con-
demned Israel for its military collaboration
with the apartheid regime.

“The connection with Israel is intrigu-
ing,” Mafole said. “It makes one wonder
what is going on, considering the well-
known ties of Israel with South Africa in the
fields of nuclear technology and arms. The
role Hungary might be playing is not clear,
but it does raise grave concern.”

Noting that public opinion made Britain
decide last week to upgrade its ties with the

ANC, Mafole said that “Hungary is moving

in the opposite direction.”

Pacific Tribune, February 5, 1990 e 7