5 - The political consequences of industrial integration and concentration: class, Party and management

Summary

The main thrust of the argument so far has been to stress the importance of organisational factors in Polish industrial growth strategy. That there tends to be an overemphasis upon the industrial enterprise to the neglect of the role of intermediate levels of economic administration has also been elaborated upon. Yet in tracing the emergence of ‘socialist corporations’ we have still to assess whether this has been accompanied by the development of technocratic patterns of authority. The problems that these ‘socialist corporations’ present for the organisation and recruitment into a Marxist–Leninist party such as the PZPR are manifold and extend far beyond the matter of control over the appointment of managerial personnel. It is in the name of working-class interests that economic policy is made in Poland, but, although the PZPR claims a monopoly of legitimate policy-making, the representation of workers' interests is also entrusted to trade unions and the mechanism of workers' self-management. The response of these bodies to workforce interests must be investigated: do they act as an open channel for the articulation of grievances and suggestions, or do they seek to contain and restrain such initiatives, redirecting their force away from wider issues of management to the safer area of material consumption? The manner in which such institutions have responded to the need for economic integration in industry will be left to the next chapter.