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Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of abbreviations
- 1 Advanced industrialisation, the division of labour and the growth of bureaucratic power
- 2 The building of a socialist economy: social and political limits to growth
- 3 The emergence of a corporate structure in Polish industry, 1958–68
- 4 The emergence of a corporate structure in Polish industry, 1968–80
- 5 The political consequences of industrial integration and concentration: class, Party and management
- 6 The political consequences of industrial integration and concentration: the ‘leading role’ of the PZPR, workforce participation and socio-political reform
- 7 Summary and conclusion
- Postscript: the events of 1980
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
6 - The political consequences of industrial integration and concentration: the ‘leading role’ of the PZPR, workforce participation and socio-political reform
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 October 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of abbreviations
- 1 Advanced industrialisation, the division of labour and the growth of bureaucratic power
- 2 The building of a socialist economy: social and political limits to growth
- 3 The emergence of a corporate structure in Polish industry, 1958–68
- 4 The emergence of a corporate structure in Polish industry, 1968–80
- 5 The political consequences of industrial integration and concentration: class, Party and management
- 6 The political consequences of industrial integration and concentration: the ‘leading role’ of the PZPR, workforce participation and socio-political reform
- 7 Summary and conclusion
- Postscript: the events of 1980
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
A complete understanding of the problems of Party control over a changing industrial structure cannot be acquired simply by reference to social structure and recruitment policies. The manner in which the PZPR chooses to organise and operate is of equal importance. In common with other Marxist–Leninist political parties this conforms to the principles of democratic centralism and of the vanguard-cadre party (the ‘leading role’ of the Party). If, as we have seen, the process of industrial concentration generates complexity in managerial practices and the accompanying strategy of economic growth generates social demands, can a Marxist–Leninist party change its mode of organisation and institutionalise political conflict? This involves a consideration of whether the principles underlying the PZPR are based on a ‘limited theory of organisational contradiction’ as suggested by E. Olin Wright. In comparing and contrasting the writings of Lenin and Max Weber about bureaucracy, he concludes that both suffer from ‘theoretical underdevelopment’. Lenin, in particular, fails to develop a notion of how the role and mechanism of the vanguard party can keep it responsive to the working class; he envisages the exercise of mass control and accountability to be inherently simple, and he assumes that experts do not pose a threat of bureaucratic usurpation.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Socialist Corporation and Technocratic PowerThe Polish United Workers' Party, Industrial Organisation and Workforce Control 1958–80, pp. 153 - 185Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1982