Poland, of Course, is a Critical Case

Left organizations have seldom succeeded in acting together in what is morally required and politically wise. Collective actions always presuppose some agreement concerning concrete historical situations as well as some moral principles irreducible to strategic or tactical calculations. This agreement is commensurate with a minimal distance from a specific political tradition, i.e., self-criticism. In other words, claims excluding theoretical consideration, the primacy of tactics over principles, make it difficult to build a community of interests. Thus, Left organizations frequently have not been able to develop lasting alliances. Furthermore, in Germany there has also always been the controversy as to who should be the protector of the holy grail of Marxism, while official state anti-communism in West Germany and the “real socialism” of East Germany have always polarized the West German Left

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