Statement on the banning of communist symbols in Poland

5 June 2010

The new Polish law banning the display of communist symbols is an extraordinary attempt to rewrite Polish history. Even though the capitalist system is in its greatest crisis since the Second World War, it is not allowed to propose the only way out of the crisis, which is to take the road towards socialism. It is not allowed to acknowledge the achievements of socialism in Poland: the reconstruction after the war, which had left hardly one brick on top of another in the country, this depending entirely on its own resources, without the benefit of the Marshall Plan, which aided the recovery of Western Europe; the achievement of full employment; the provision of health and education services, free to all. It is not allowed to say that the living standards of working people are worse now than in 1989. 
     The restoration of capitalism in Poland has been a dismal failure. Millions of Polish workers have lost their jobs and are forced to emigrate. Successive governments have failed to tackle the economic and social problems that confront working people. Just as their political bankruptcy is becoming clearer, the politicians seek to obscure their own incompetence, putting all the blame for Poland’s problems on the attempt to build socialism. No doubt their actions are well supervised by the European Union, which has usurped the democracy of the Polish people. 
     The problems and difficulties involved in building socialism should not be denied, nor the mistakes involved; but the Polish Communists and their allies who undertook that monumental task deserve respect. Those who put forward the aim of reconstructing socialism in Poland are entitled to the democratic right to present their policies and symbols to the people. The denial of this right exposes the “democratic” pretensions of the right wing, of those who claim to be fighting for “democracy.” 
The Communist Party of Ireland is proud to associate itself with the campaign of the Communist Party of Poland against this unjust, undemocratic and reactionary law.

National Executive Committee 
Communist Party of Ireland 
Dublin