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1981 warning strike in Poland

January 18, 2023

In the early spring of 1981 in Poland, during the Bydgoszcz events, several members of the Solidarity movement, including Jan Rulewski, Mariusz Łabentowicz and Roman Bartoszcze, were brutally beaten by the security services, such as Milicja Obywatelska and ZOMO. The Bydgoszcz events soon became widely known across Poland, and on 24 March 1981 Solidarity decided to go on a nationwide strike in protest against the violence. The strike was planned for Tuesday, 31 March 1981. On 25 March, Lech Wałęsa met Deputy Prime Minister Mieczysław Rakowski of the Polish United Workers' Party, but their talks were fruitless.[colloquialism] Two days later, a four-hour national warning strike took place. It was the biggest strike in the history of not only Poland but of the Warsaw Pact itself.[1][2][3] According to several sources, between 12 million[4][5] and 14 million Poles took part.[6]

Background

After the Bydgoszcz events, millions of Poles reacted angrily to the brutal beatings of the members of Solidarity. The atmosphere in the country grew even more tense when the government of the Polish People's Republic denied any wrongdoings, stating that the security services were simply doing their duty to restore order and the information on the beatings was described as "claims by Solidarity sources".[1] The mass-media claimed that Jan Rulewski, one of the beaten activists, had been hurt in a car accident, not as a result of the intervention of the police.[7] Furthermore, in early spring of 1981, the Soviet Army was carrying out huge military exercises named Soyuz 81, which were taking place in Poland. The manoeuvres were regarded by many Poles as the preparation of a Soviet invasion of their country and Marshall Viktor Kulikov, Commander-in-chief of the Warsaw Pact, told Polish general staff that despite the political situation, the exercises would continue indefinitely.[8] In Washington, the situation in Poland was described as "political tension at its highest level since last November".[1] Soviet military exercises continued until 7 April.

Meanwhile, leaders of Solidarity gathered at the meeting of the National Coordinating Commission (Krajowa Komisja Porozumiewawcza); they ordered all regional offices of the organisation to stay alert and be prepared for a national strike. On 21 March in Bydgoszcz, a two-hour warning strike took place; in a special communique, Solidarity announced that the Bydgoszcz events were a provocation, aimed at[colloquialism] the government of Prime Minister Wojciech Jaruzelski.[7] The government responded by sending to Bydgoszcz a special commission, headed by General Jozef Zyto, Deputy Prosecutor-General,[9] whose task was to clear up the situation and determine who was guilty of the beatings of the Solidarity activists. However, its members were not interested in fulfilling their task and their inactivity was criticized by Solidarity. Opposition activists were personally insulted by the Bydgoszcz events, thinking that if the beatings could happen to Jan Rulewski, they could happen to any of them. A statement of the Polish United Workers' Party did not improve the situation, as it characterised the Bydgoszcz events as a "flagrant violation of law, which created new tensions".[1]

Most members of Solidarity's National Coordinating Commission (NCC) were in favour of an all-national, general strike, which would completely paralyse[colloquialism] the country until all details of the Bydgoszcz events had been explained and those guilty punished. Few were against such action, such as Bronisław Geremek, who said that the decision for an unlimited general strike would be a decision for a national insurrection. Finally, during the 23 March 1981 meeting in Bydgoszcz, the majority of the members of the National Coordinating Commission voted in favour of the moderate proposal, suggested by Lech Wałęsa. According to this proposal, a four-hour national warning strike would take place on Friday, 27 March 1981 between 8 a.m. and 12 pm. Wałęsa's proposal was accepted only after a heated all-night session, during which the Solidarity leader threatened to walk out. On 22 March during the service transmitted by the Polish Radio, Bishop Stefan Wyszyński appealed both to the government and Solidarity to "work out mutual rights and duties"; he also mentioned several times the danger of a "foreign factor".[10] On 26 March, Wyszyński personally talked with General Jaruzelski; two days later, he met Wałęsa and other Solidarity activists.

The demands of the opposition were:

  1. The immediate punishment or suspension of officials considered responsible for the Bydgoszcz incident;
  2. Permission for the peasants to form their own union: Rural Solidarity;
  3. Security for union members and activists in their activities and the unions' right of reply to any criticism of their work (this right is to be exercised through the media);
  4. Annulment of a government directive giving only half pay to strikers;
  5. The closure of all pending cases against people arrested for political opposition to government policies between 1976 and 1980, "even if in the light of existing laws their activities constituted offenses."

If no agreement between the government and Solidarity had been reached, the general strike was planned for Tuesday, 31 March.[11] In between, a meeting between representatives of the NCC, headed by Wałęsa, and members of the Council of Ministers' Committee for Trade Unions, headed by Deputy Prime Minister Mieczysław Rakowski took place in Warsaw, but it ended without agreement.[9] During this meeting, a Solidarity activist from Szczecin yelled at Rakowski: "What if your wife cheats on you once, twice, three times? Will you trust her? And we do not trust you any longer".[4]

Strike

Timothy Garton Ash, who was in Poland at that time, wrote that Solidarity's mobilisation of its members was swift and effective, making it "the most impressive democratic mass mobilisation of any modern European society in peacetime, against its rulers' wishes".[11] In his opinion, Poland looked like a country going to war, with national red and white flags everywhere, and the women making red and white armbands for men who were to guard the occupied factories. The National Strike Committee was established in Gdańsk, in the cradle[colloquialism] of Solidarity – the Lenin Shipyard. Its members were Lech Wałęsa, Andrzej Gwiazda, Zbigniew Bujak, Andrzej Cierniewski, Lech Dymarski, Krzysztof Gotowski, Marian Jurczyk, Ryszard Kalinowski, Antoni Kopczewski, Bogdan Lis and Andrzej Słowik.[12]

Soon[when?] came three Solidarity's instructions to the workers:

  1. In case of a General Strike. It specified a countrywide occupation-strike, where worker guards would be on a 24-hour watch, forbidding possession or consumption of any alcoholic beverages;
  2. In case of a State of Emergency. It specified steps to be taken in case of militarisation of factories, urging the formations of shadow strike committees;
  3. In case of a Foreign Intervention. It suggested possible means of passive resistance to foreign troops in case of an invasion.

Apart from the National Strike Committee, several Interfactory Founding Committees (MKZ) were created in major cities. For security reasons, these offices were moved to large factories for the time of the strike, no matter how long it was planned to be. Therefore:[citation needed]

The preparations of the strike reflected an unprecedented level of planning, and in effect, worker fortresses were created across poland, patrolled by round-the-clock guards[1] and the strike itself is until today[when?] regarded as the biggest organisational success of Solidarity, with virtually all working people of Poland participating in it.[13] Historians from the Institute of National Remembrance claim that in late March 1981, Solidarity was at the "peak of its popularity",[14] and this fact was reflected on Friday, 27 March 1981. The strike itself took place "in an atmosphere of calm, order, and dignity."[9]

Even though virtually all Polish workers took part in it, basic services and crucial industrial plants, such as steelworks and armament factories, were operating without breaks. Nevertheless, Solidarity announced that these plants would go on strike as well in the event of armed intervention. Almost all schools, universities and colleges joined the strike, as well as public television (at the time, there were no private television stations in Poland). Television screens in Poland showed during the four hours of protest the words "Solidarity-Strike"[2] and the whole country was brought to a halt. Those who had to keep working, like employees of hospitals, put on white–red armbands, to express their solidarity.

Aftermath

After four hours, at midday, the sirens across the country sounded and Poland went back to work. The size of the strike shocked the leadership of the Polish United Workers' Party, especially when it turned out that members of the party had widely participated (at that time, Solidarity had some 9 million members, but 12–14 million people took part in the strike). Meanwhile, Lech Wałęsa's advisors, such as Tadeusz Mazowiecki and Bronisław Geremek, told the leader of Solidarity that the general strike, planned for 30 March, would mean civil war and the risk was too high. Diplomats from Western countries were also aware of the tense situation in Poland; therefore, military attaches from the United Kingdom, the United States and West Germany were ordered not to leave Poland. In case of a Soviet invasion of Poland, the Americans were planning a military blockade of Cuba.[15]

On 30 March 1981, the government of Poland reached an agreement with Solidarity. The government of Poland conceded to demands regarding police brutality but the agreement to legalise Rural Solidarity was postponed, as well as further steps on the issue of political prisoners.[further explanation needed] The government acknowledged its mishandling of the Bydgoszcz events,[3] and in return, Lech Wałęsa agreed to postpone the general strike.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e US Intelligence and the Confrontation in Poland, 1980–1981. Douglas J. MacEachin, page 120
  2. ^ a b The Polish Revolution. Timothy Garton Ash, page 165
  3. ^ a b From Solidarity to Martial Law. By Andrzej Paczkowski, page XXXVIII
  4. ^ a b The biggest strike in history of Poland, J. Polonus 2008-05-01 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ Kalendarium 1980 — 1981, Jaroslaw Szarek 2011-07-18 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ . Archived from the original on 2008-12-11. Retrieved 2009-01-02.
  7. ^ a b Polish Radio Online, Fourteen days
  8. ^ A Secret Life. Benjamin Weiser, page 235
  9. ^ a b c . Archived from the original on 2011-07-17. Retrieved 2009-01-02.
  10. ^ Tygodnik Powszechny online, Prymas Wyszyński, Mediator czy sojusznik? by Ryszard Gryz
  11. ^ a b The Polish Revolution. Timothy Garton Ash, page 162
  12. ^ The Encyclopedia of Solidarity, March 1981
  13. ^ . solidarnosc.org.pl. 2009-04-21. Archived from the original on 2009-05-14. Retrieved 2021-04-08. In the strike, almost all working persons in Poland took part
  14. ^ The Bydgoszcz March 1981 — the time of the breakthrough
  15. ^ Kalendarium 1980 – 1981, Jaroslaw Szarek 2011-07-18 at the Wayback Machine

External links

  • A Solidarity poster of the strike, with inscription "The truth will win"

January 18, 2023
1981, warning, strike, poland, early, spring, 1981, poland, during, bydgoszcz, events, several, members, solidarity, movement, including, rulewski, mariusz, Łabentowicz, roman, bartoszcze, were, brutally, beaten, security, services, such, milicja, obywatelska,. In the early spring of 1981 in Poland during the Bydgoszcz events several members of the Solidarity movement including Jan Rulewski Mariusz Labentowicz and Roman Bartoszcze were brutally beaten by the security services such as Milicja Obywatelska and ZOMO The Bydgoszcz events soon became widely known across Poland and on 24 March 1981 Solidarity decided to go on a nationwide strike in protest against the violence The strike was planned for Tuesday 31 March 1981 On 25 March Lech Walesa met Deputy Prime Minister Mieczyslaw Rakowski of the Polish United Workers Party but their talks were fruitless colloquialism Two days later a four hour national warning strike took place It was the biggest strike in the history of not only Poland but of the Warsaw Pact itself 1 2 3 According to several sources between 12 million 4 5 and 14 million Poles took part 6 Contents 1 Background 2 Strike 3 Aftermath 4 See also 5 References 6 External linksBackground EditAfter the Bydgoszcz events millions of Poles reacted angrily to the brutal beatings of the members of Solidarity The atmosphere in the country grew even more tense when the government of the Polish People s Republic denied any wrongdoings stating that the security services were simply doing their duty to restore order and the information on the beatings was described as claims by Solidarity sources 1 The mass media claimed that Jan Rulewski one of the beaten activists had been hurt in a car accident not as a result of the intervention of the police 7 Furthermore in early spring of 1981 the Soviet Army was carrying out huge military exercises named Soyuz 81 which were taking place in Poland The manoeuvres were regarded by many Poles as the preparation of a Soviet invasion of their country and Marshall Viktor Kulikov Commander in chief of the Warsaw Pact told Polish general staff that despite the political situation the exercises would continue indefinitely 8 In Washington the situation in Poland was described as political tension at its highest level since last November 1 Soviet military exercises continued until 7 April Meanwhile leaders of Solidarity gathered at the meeting of the National Coordinating Commission Krajowa Komisja Porozumiewawcza they ordered all regional offices of the organisation to stay alert and be prepared for a national strike On 21 March in Bydgoszcz a two hour warning strike took place in a special communique Solidarity announced that the Bydgoszcz events were a provocation aimed at colloquialism the government of Prime Minister Wojciech Jaruzelski 7 The government responded by sending to Bydgoszcz a special commission headed by General Jozef Zyto Deputy Prosecutor General 9 whose task was to clear up the situation and determine who was guilty of the beatings of the Solidarity activists However its members were not interested in fulfilling their task and their inactivity was criticized by Solidarity Opposition activists were personally insulted by the Bydgoszcz events thinking that if the beatings could happen to Jan Rulewski they could happen to any of them A statement of the Polish United Workers Party did not improve the situation as it characterised the Bydgoszcz events as a flagrant violation of law which created new tensions 1 Most members of Solidarity s National Coordinating Commission NCC were in favour of an all national general strike which would completely paralyse colloquialism the country until all details of the Bydgoszcz events had been explained and those guilty punished Few were against such action such as Bronislaw Geremek who said that the decision for an unlimited general strike would be a decision for a national insurrection Finally during the 23 March 1981 meeting in Bydgoszcz the majority of the members of the National Coordinating Commission voted in favour of the moderate proposal suggested by Lech Walesa According to this proposal a four hour national warning strike would take place on Friday 27 March 1981 between 8 a m and 12 pm Walesa s proposal was accepted only after a heated all night session during which the Solidarity leader threatened to walk out On 22 March during the service transmitted by the Polish Radio Bishop Stefan Wyszynski appealed both to the government and Solidarity to work out mutual rights and duties he also mentioned several times the danger of a foreign factor 10 On 26 March Wyszynski personally talked with General Jaruzelski two days later he met Walesa and other Solidarity activists The demands of the opposition were The immediate punishment or suspension of officials considered responsible for the Bydgoszcz incident Permission for the peasants to form their own union Rural Solidarity Security for union members and activists in their activities and the unions right of reply to any criticism of their work this right is to be exercised through the media Annulment of a government directive giving only half pay to strikers The closure of all pending cases against people arrested for political opposition to government policies between 1976 and 1980 even if in the light of existing laws their activities constituted offenses If no agreement between the government and Solidarity had been reached the general strike was planned for Tuesday 31 March 11 In between a meeting between representatives of the NCC headed by Walesa and members of the Council of Ministers Committee for Trade Unions headed by Deputy Prime Minister Mieczyslaw Rakowski took place in Warsaw but it ended without agreement 9 During this meeting a Solidarity activist from Szczecin yelled at Rakowski What if your wife cheats on you once twice three times Will you trust her And we do not trust you any longer 4 Strike EditTimothy Garton Ash who was in Poland at that time wrote that Solidarity s mobilisation of its members was swift and effective making it the most impressive democratic mass mobilisation of any modern European society in peacetime against its rulers wishes 11 In his opinion Poland looked like a country going to war with national red and white flags everywhere and the women making red and white armbands for men who were to guard the occupied factories The National Strike Committee was established in Gdansk in the cradle colloquialism of Solidarity the Lenin Shipyard Its members were Lech Walesa Andrzej Gwiazda Zbigniew Bujak Andrzej Cierniewski Lech Dymarski Krzysztof Gotowski Marian Jurczyk Ryszard Kalinowski Antoni Kopczewski Bogdan Lis and Andrzej Slowik 12 Soon when came three Solidarity s instructions to the workers In case of a General Strike It specified a countrywide occupation strike where worker guards would be on a 24 hour watch forbidding possession or consumption of any alcoholic beverages In case of a State of Emergency It specified steps to be taken in case of militarisation of factories urging the formations of shadow strike committees In case of a Foreign Intervention It suggested possible means of passive resistance to foreign troops in case of an invasion Apart from the National Strike Committee several Interfactory Founding Committees MKZ were created in major cities For security reasons these offices were moved to large factories for the time of the strike no matter how long it was planned to be Therefore citation needed Bialystok Committee was placed in the Factory of Instruments and Handles in Bialystok Polish Fabryka Przyrzadow i Uchwytow BISON BIAL located then in 3 Lakowa street Katowice Committee was placed in the Baildon Steelworks in Katowice Krakow Committee was placed in the Vladimir Lenin Steel Works in Nowa Huta Lodz Committee was placed in the Julian Marchlewski Cotton Plant in Lodz Lublin Committee was placed in the Automotive Factory in Lublin Opole Committee was placed in the Frotex Factory in Prudnik Poznan Committee was placed in the Cegielski Factory in Poznan Przemysl Committee was placed in the Plywood Factory in Przemysl Rzeszow Committee was placed in the Communications Equipment Factory in Rzeszow Sandomierz Land Committee was placed in the Steel Works in Stalowa Wola Szczecin Committee was placed in the Szczecin Shipyard Warsaw Committee was placed in the Ursus Factory in Warsaw Wroclaw Committee was placed in the joined factories of Pafawag and Dolmel in Wroclaw The preparations of the strike reflected an unprecedented level of planning and in effect worker fortresses were created across poland patrolled by round the clock guards 1 and the strike itself is until today when regarded as the biggest organisational success of Solidarity with virtually all working people of Poland participating in it 13 Historians from the Institute of National Remembrance claim that in late March 1981 Solidarity was at the peak of its popularity 14 and this fact was reflected on Friday 27 March 1981 The strike itself took place in an atmosphere of calm order and dignity 9 Even though virtually all Polish workers took part in it basic services and crucial industrial plants such as steelworks and armament factories were operating without breaks Nevertheless Solidarity announced that these plants would go on strike as well in the event of armed intervention Almost all schools universities and colleges joined the strike as well as public television at the time there were no private television stations in Poland Television screens in Poland showed during the four hours of protest the words Solidarity Strike 2 and the whole country was brought to a halt Those who had to keep working like employees of hospitals put on white red armbands to express their solidarity Aftermath EditAfter four hours at midday the sirens across the country sounded and Poland went back to work The size of the strike shocked the leadership of the Polish United Workers Party especially when it turned out that members of the party had widely participated at that time Solidarity had some 9 million members but 12 14 million people took part in the strike Meanwhile Lech Walesa s advisors such as Tadeusz Mazowiecki and Bronislaw Geremek told the leader of Solidarity that the general strike planned for 30 March would mean civil war and the risk was too high Diplomats from Western countries were also aware of the tense situation in Poland therefore military attaches from the United Kingdom the United States and West Germany were ordered not to leave Poland In case of a Soviet invasion of Poland the Americans were planning a military blockade of Cuba 15 On 30 March 1981 the government of Poland reached an agreement with Solidarity The government of Poland conceded to demands regarding police brutality but the agreement to legalise Rural Solidarity was postponed as well as further steps on the issue of political prisoners further explanation needed The government acknowledged its mishandling of the Bydgoszcz events 3 and in return Lech Walesa agreed to postpone the general strike See also EditSoviet reaction to the Polish crisis of 1980 1981References Edit a b c d e US Intelligence and the Confrontation in Poland 1980 1981 Douglas J MacEachin page 120 a b The Polish Revolution Timothy Garton Ash page 165 a b From Solidarity to Martial Law By Andrzej Paczkowski page XXXVIII a b The biggest strike in history of Poland J Polonus Archived 2008 05 01 at the Wayback Machine Kalendarium 1980 1981 Jaroslaw Szarek Archived 2011 07 18 at the Wayback Machine Bydgoszcz March Archived from the original on 2008 12 11 Retrieved 2009 01 02 a b Polish Radio Online Fourteen days A Secret Life Benjamin Weiser page 235 a b c Poland A Chronology of Events February July 1981 Compiled by Roman Stefanowski Archived from the original on 2011 07 17 Retrieved 2009 01 02 Tygodnik Powszechny online Prymas Wyszynski Mediator czy sojusznik by Ryszard Gryz a b The Polish Revolution Timothy Garton Ash page 162 The Encyclopedia of Solidarity March 1981 Historia Solidarnosci solidarnosc org pl 2009 04 21 Archived from the original on 2009 05 14 Retrieved 2021 04 08 In the strike almost all working persons in Poland took part The Bydgoszcz March 1981 the time of the breakthrough Kalendarium 1980 1981 Jaroslaw Szarek Archived 2011 07 18 at the Wayback MachineExternal links EditA photo of the strike in the Nowy Sacz Shoe Factory Podhale A Solidarity poster of the strike with inscription The truth will win Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title 1981 warning strike in Poland amp oldid 1087944459, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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