IMGpapers 1976–79

Newspapers of the International Marxist Group and its forerunners, 1976–79

The Pope in a workers' state

Socialist Challenge No. 99, 7 June 1979 · p. 2 of the scan · 349 words

The scan: sc-n99-jun-7-1979.pdf (PDF, Marxists Internet Archive, opens at this page)

Uncorrected machine reading. This text was read by machine (Apple Vision OCR) from a scan of a newspaper page, and the page was cut into articles by machine, at the headlines found by their type size. Nothing has been corrected: expect misread words, text from a neighbouring article, and titles that are the machine reading of the headline, some of them only fragments. Quote from the scan, not from this page.
How this article was cut and titled: headline found by type size in the OCR geometry (split_tabloid.py); 2-4 of 6; machine-segmented newspaper page; uncorrected Vision OCR.

page 2 of the scan

Our socialism will

than what exists in Brituin with Fall rights for all political parties and currents that do not take up arms against the socialist state. The Stalinist modeb of "socialism' in the USSR and Fastern Europe have discredited socialism in the eyes of millions of workers throughout We are opposed to them and will offer full support to. all those fighting for socialist democrucy, 3s wont was Capitan The Interests of workers and on a world scale. Capitalism not only created a market. it has created world WHEN the Cardinals hid away to select the successor to Pope John Paul I lust year, they must have had a chuckle at the idea of enthroning an East European Capitalist recessions are never healthy the anything which can distance the workers in the West from the alternative offered by the workers? states helps to underpin the bosses" solution to TECTESS, The millions who have greeted Pope John Paul Il in Poland are an eloquent testimony to the FIRST WORD Vutican's investments, and barren social and cultural life folsted on them by the bureuneratic leaders of the workers" states.

It takes bleakness in daily life for the rituals of the Catholic Church to hold any charm, and the suppression of political debate and opposition for millions to put their trust in the reaction of the Vatican rather than the trunsformation in every sphere of life that revolutionary Marxism would muke possible.

Far from informing the Pope of the untold misery that Catholicism has brought in its wake. bureaucratie rule and privilege. the Polish leaders shook his hand. Better to appease the followers of God's representative on Earth than risk organised resistance which could spill over into a repetition of the strikes by Polish workers in the early 70s and again in 1976.

When fear of the masses is at the centre of the policies pursued by the Polish regime, lt is mot surprising that they would prefer to accommodate Catholicism than risk the self-organisation of the would pu an end to their research body, the Organisation for

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