SOLIDARITY EMBARRASSES MOSCOW

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000606060001-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 23, 2010
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: October 4, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/23 :CIA-RDP90-005528000606060001-4
~P'1~~1 ~ .A tVl 1~ ~r?gd?rc. UnK?d F?d?raaon of Teachers .
Soviets Seek IV~on=Polish Scapegoat
"Solidarity" Embarrasses 11~oscow
was surprised and flattered at the same time: Last Tuesday I re-
I ceived phony calls from a number of reporters. There's nothing
new in that.. But this time the questions were not about the teacher
strike in Philadelphia, or the money problems of Boston, or the
Reagan budget cuts or the fight over tuition tax cr dits. This time,
the story-that prompted their calls came from far a~ay: I was being
attacked by Radio MOSCOW;.ts,p ,
A week ago an information office opened in New York City
which will. provide the American press with direct news and infor-
mation from the Polish trade union, Solidarity. The information
center, which .consists of three small office rooms, is located in the
same building as the United Federation of Teachers.
According to Moscow Radio, this information office is being
run by the CIA and NAlbert Shanker, president. of -the United Fed-
eration of .Teachers, funnels agency money into it." ..
The radio report vi+as a summary of a full length article which
.was to appear. the following day in the Moscow newspaper, Literary
Gazette. According to the report, "It has become known that the
CIA has taken under its wing the information bureau of Poland's
Solidarity. trade union federation,. whiclYopened in New York"
According. td the United Pres~International, "the radio did not offer
any evidence to back up its allegations."
The Moscow allegations are, of course, completely.false. But,
false and ridiculous as they are, they need'to be answered so that
no one will mistake silence for asstnt.
The information office is independent. It receives no money
from U.S. Government soerces directly or indirectly. It pays rent, '
and pays for its expenses-telephone, telex, etc. The information
center will eventually be economically self-sufficient, operating with
funds, received by selling subscriptions ~ to a news service from Po-
land. Meanwhile, in order to start its operation, it has received con-
tributions frorz~ private sources'including the AFL-CIO.
Says. Radio Moscow: "A CIA agent, Albert Shanker, is respon-
sible for material supplies. He uses the cover of leader of the teachers
labor federation. This organization annually receives $100,000 from
the CIA for' international contacts and activities to stimulate the
formation of so-called free trade unions in other countries."
;CONT~lYZTLD,
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 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/23 :CIA-RDP90-005528000606060001-4
What about the Moscowcharge that the teachers union gets
$100,000 a year from the CIA?-Totally?false, of course. We get no
money from the CIA. We do, however,~get some government money
from the Agency for International Development (AID). These
?fund$ are not covert-they aze public-and aze used to help teacher
unions in~third world countries by sharing the techniques of bargain-
ing; editingunion papers, etc. The specifics of these projects are mat-
ters of public recordr_thcy are similar to assistance given to third
world:,ttnions by German, .Dutch, Swedish and other trade unions
in thevv`e"st. ?
Of?course, the.Soviets do have a special problem here. Accord-
ing to their Mantist theory; workers'are sup"posed to revolt against
their oppressors in capitalist countries, but in Poland we have the
very first revolution in the world conducted by the working class,
.directed not against a capitalist system but against a communist
dictatorship which claims~to be a "workers" state. Since., according
to Marxist dogma, the workers cannot revolt against the "workers"
pazadi~se,~here must be some outside force which has misled them-
the CIA. How else account for what the Wall. Street Journal calls
"the colossal embarrassment Solidarity represents to world-wide
Communism." The ?Wall Street Iournal says further: "American
labor is indeed aiding the~Solidarity movement, openly and un-
ashamedly. It has~a long history of fighting Communist domination
of labor movements.. It learned eazly in. the game that Communist
parties and free unions are natural mortal 4nemies, more violently
so because free unions, morn than any other free institution, threaten
Communist claims fo legitimacy. When American labor goes head
to head with Communists, the obvious counterattack for the Com-
munists is to claim that American labor is an arm of the American
government, manipulated by the CIA. How.easy it is to make lists
of the CIA connections: the parallel aims, the instances of collabor-
ation, the communications and shazed_acquaintanceships:':
All this would be funny if it weren't so fraught v~nth danger. !,
Cleazly the Soviet Union isn't much interzsted either in our teachers ',
union or in a small information office in New York. It is deeply con-
cerned with the actions of over 10 million Polish workers who have
the full support of the Polish people. (Moscow 'should be very care-
? ful with its allegations about the CIA. If~it can convince the-Amen=
can people that the CIA was able to organize 10 million workers in
Poland, it may give the CIA`a-better reputation than it now enjoys.)
In the past,~charges of CIA interference have been a prelude to So-
viet brutality. Its new CIA allegations ~may~possibly serve a later
purpose. If Soviet forces move'mto Poland; rt.will not be a move
against Polish-workers ;but-,a mape against-the- secret agents of a_
fofeign 4nemy. (It was`~the~allegation of C>tA contacts which was
used to justify the jailing of dissident Anatoly Shcharansky.)'~~
No one will be.fooled by these Moscow charges. But.the stakes.,
are huge,: noE only. for Poland, but for the whole world.
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