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BOX-FOLDER-REPORT: 46-4-214
TITLE:             Polish Workers Commemorate their Past Struggles
BY:                J. B. de Weydenthal
DATE:              1981-7-7
COUNTRY:           Poland
ORIGINAL SUBJECT:  RAD Background Report/192

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RAD Background Report/192
(Poland)"
7 July 1981

POLISH WORKERS COMMEMORATE THEIR PAST STRUGGLES
By J. B. de Weydenthal

Summary; Poland's workers have recently commemorated two
separate but closely related anniversaries of their
protests against official policies. One was the 25th
anniversary of the workers' upheavals in Poznan in 1956;
the other was the 5th anniversary of a protest in 1976.
These anniversaries symbolize distinct historical stages
in the long movement for the self-assertion of workers
as a separate social and political force. They were also
seen by many observers as vivid reminders of the need to
maintain a disciplined and cohesive labor movement in
Poland's current situation.

Two separate but closely related anniversaries were recently
commemorated in Poland. One was the 25th anniversary of a
major workers' rebellion in the city of Poznan; the other was the
5th anniversary of a workers' riot in Radom. These events were
separated by differences of time, they occurred in different places,
and they originated from different causes. Yet, to the degree that
they involved the same social group, the workers, one should and
must regard them as crucial phenomena in fashioning the development
of the workers1 role in Poland's political and public life. Indeed,
if nothing else, they symbolize historical stages in a long
movement for the self-assertion of workers as a distinct political force,
increasingly determined to influence both the direction and the
methods of policy-making over issues that affect their interests.

There is considerable evidence, of course, that industrial
conflicts in factories had occurred even before the Poznan
rebellion. Widespread demonstrations of workers' dissatisfaction
with official policies had taken place as early as the late 1940s.
Politically, however, those protests were specific in that they
exemplified the infighting between the labor organizations that
had existed even before the emergence of the socialist state and

This material was prepared for the use of the staff of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

[page 2]

RAD BR/192

the new regime. The Poznan revolt was important for socialist
politics because it was the first major instance in Poland in which
workers seemingly integrated into socialist society had protested
against the policies and operations of an established communist
government.

The Poznan Revolt

The workers' revolt in Poznan took the form of large-scale
street demonstrations on 28 and 29 June 1956. It arose from the
failure of the political authorities to take action on the various
economic grievances of workers in a large machinery plant against
local management decisions. To dramatize the situation, the workers
decided to march to the main town square. In the course of the
march many workers from other factories joined in as a sign of
solidarity. The purpose of the demonstration was not to revolt
against the authorities, however, but rather to bring home to the
public the poor working conditions in the factory and to appeal to
officialdom for some improvement. Commenting subsequently on the
character of the demonstration, a perceptive eyewitness observed
that it had been "reminiscent of the January 1905 Petersburg march
[on the Czar's palace] rather than the activities of workers in
the second half of the 20th century." [1]

It was only after the workers had waited for some hours for any
sign of interest from the authorities and none had materialized
that the crowd moved toward the local security police building.
It was there that the first shots, from the police building, were
fired. Rapidly, the peaceful demonstration turned into a riot.
Several official buildings were attacked, a number of shops were
rampaged though, and broadcasting installations were destroyed.
The authorities sent regular army troops to pacify the protesters.
This process of "pacification" extended through two days of
unrestrained violence : some seventy-five people were reported to have been
killed, several hundreds were wounded, and uncounted numbers of
others were subject to beatings and physical abuse. [2] Summing
up the position of the authorities, Prime Minister Jozef
Cyrankiewicz, who was also a Politburo member, told the citizens
of Poznan and the nation as a whole in a radio speech on 29 June
1956 that

any provocator or madman who dares to raise his
Indeed, for the workers of Poznan the immediate repercussions
of the revolt were drastic. None of their grievances was satisfied.
Large-scale punitive measures were implemented by the authorities

----------------------------------------

(1) Ewa Wacowska, "Poznan 1956," in Poznan 1956-Grudzien 1970
(Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1971), p. 172. Wacowska's work
is the best available account on the 1956 Poznan events.

(2) See Jaroslaw Maciejewski, "The Facts and the Question Marks,"
Polityka, 6 June 1981.

[page 3]

RAD BR/192

in all factories throughout the city. Several hundred worker
activists were arrested -- some of them were kept in jail for
several months only to be eventually released without sentences
but also without any rehabilitation -- and many more were dismissed
from their jobs. [3]

And yet, in spite of these acts of repression, the Poznan
revolt ended with a measure of unexpected but significant success.
Viewed in retrospect, it is clear that the events provided a turning
point in Poland's politics. Shattering the image of the party's
and government's seemingly indisputable authority, the Poznan revolt
was the catalyst for a large movement toward social and political
change throughout the country.

Particularly important was the emergence of workers' councils,
conceived as elective organs of self-government separate from other
organizations at factory level. Almost simultaneously, there were
mounting pressures to change the function of trade unions in Poland
from that of transmitting party orders to the workers to representing
the workers' interests with the party and the government. Similar
demands for greater autonomy were made within the party-controlled
youth movement. The political situation in the country and the
conditions of social life became topics of criticism among the
intellectuals and their opinions were openly displayed in numerous
books and articles.

There is also little doubt that the impact of the Poznan events
on the country at large was felt in the leadership of the party
itself. This was fully manifested during a plenary meeting of the
party's Central Committee in July 1956, barely three weeks after
the workers' protest had been suppressed. The protest was described
by the top leader of the party, CC First Secretary Edward Ochab,
as "a warning signal of a serious deterioration in the relations
between the party and the working class . . . [related to] the
functioning of the party itself as well as the frequently "faulty
understanding of its leading role." Ochab then called for a
"decisive reorientation in the conceptualization and in the practical
 implementation of the leading role of the party." [4] Three months
 later, in October 1956, an entirely new party leadership was elected,
the old methods of rule were strongly condemned, and promises were
made for a thorough overhaul of the system. These changes were
then defined, by both the new leaders and numerous observers, as
paving the road to something that was then known as "the Polish way
to socialism."

It is true, of course, that the initial hopes about the
"Polish October" were shortly to disappear. [5] The workers' council
were to be quickly integrated into a centralized organization of

-----------------------------------------

(3) See excerpts from the memoirs of some of the participants in
the Poznan events as published in Polityka, 30 May 1981.

(4) Nowe Droqi, July-August 1956, pp. 138-166.

(5) For a comprehensive analysis of Poland's politics in the late
1950s, see J. B. de Weydenthal, The Communists of Poland,

(Stanford, California: Hoover Institution Press, 1978), pp. 72-98

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RAD BRA92

factory "representation, the labor unions were rapidly disciplined,
and other forms of social activism were gradually suppressed. The
party's centralized machine once again re-emerged as the only
institutionalized body empowered to make decisions on all aspects
of the country's public life.

The Commemoration

Yet it is also true that the Poznan events have remained in
the public mind as symbolizing a major breakthrough, however
temporary it might have been, in social aspirations toward a greater
voice in politics as well as an indication of the vulnerability of
the system to determined public protest. There is also little doubt
that this symbolic meaning of the Poznan rebellion has never been
lost on the authorities themselves. How could one otherwise explain
the silence, apparently imposed from above, on all political aspects
of the revolt. How could one explain the fact that not a single
book has ever been published in Poland on the background to, and
the development of, the protests. How could one explain the
persistent failure to commemorate that tragedy over many years, both
in Poznan itself and in other parts of the country.

Indeed the most significant feature of the current
commemorations was that it broke this silence. [6] A special monument,
financed by voluntary contributions from many groups and individuals,
was erected in the center of Poznan, on a spot used for past
demonstrations. On June 28 there was a religious service conducted by
the local archbishop; some 150,000 of Poznan's inhabitants took part
in the commemoration, including large numbers of workers' delegates
from around the country, representatives of various social
organizations, members of the government, and the local party authorities. [7]
During the ceremony a special letter from Pope John Paul II,
containing the papal blessing for the occasion, was read in public.

To bring alive the memory of the 1956 events several public
conferences will be organized during the coming weeks to discuss
the meaning of the revolt, two special commemorative books on the
matter have just been published, and a play has been specially
written. Called "The Accused: June 1956," it opened with a
gala performance at the end of June in Poznan and will then be
staged in all major cities throughout the country. The play is a
dramatized documentary about the workers' protest and the official
reaction to it. [8]

All these activities have been primarily directed at the historical
resurrection and political rehabilitation of the once officially
forgotten events. Yet they also carry an equally important message
for the present in the form of a powerful reminder that public
developments of the magnitude of the Poznan rebellion should never
be removed from the collective consciousness of the nation.

-------------------------------

(6) This point was stressed by Gazeta Krakowska, 14 May 1981; Sztandar
Mlodvch, 5-7 June 1981; Nowiny, 15-17 May 1981; and Tvgodnik
Solidarnosc, 19. June 1981.

(7) Part of the ceremony was broadcast by Radio Warsaw, 28 June 1981.

(8) For excerpts, see Przekroj, il May 1981; also Slowo Powszechne,
19 June 1981.

[page 5]

RAD BR/192

That message might be regarded by some as particularly poignant
in the current situation, in which, following profound social
changes prompted by the successful workers' protests of 1980, the
public is especially sensitive to the memory of working-class
conflicts in the past. It could also have an additional meaning as
well considering the almost simultaneous fifth anniversary of the
workers' riot in Radom.

The Radom Anniversary

Occurring on 24 June 1976, the Radom riots were related to the
nationwide workers' protest against the government decision to
implement a previously unannounced increase in the prices of food
and meat. They took the form of a spontaneous demonstration by
workers on the city streets, a demonstration during which some
public office buildings were severely damaged and many shops were
looted. A similar demonstration also took place in a large tractor
factory in Ursus, near Warsaw. No counterreaction by military units
was organized that time in either place, although police intervened
to break up the demonstration in Radom and the authorities
subsequently arrested and prosecuted many hundreds of protesters.

In contrast to the Poznan rebellion of 1956, however, the
workers' protest of 1976 ended with major success. The government,
apparently concerned about the possibility that the workers'
agitation could persist and mindful that an earlier proletarian
protest in December 1970 had led to a drastic change in leadership,
decided to reverse its decision on prices. On the evening of
25 June 1976, less than 24 hours after the original announcement of
the increases, the food prices were rescinded.

Viewed in retrospect, the 1976 workers' protest against
official economic policy was a turning point both in the process of
government decision-making and in the evolution of the social
movement of self-assertion. [9] The government's operations, especially
in the area of economic policy-making, came to an almost complete
standstill. Although economic conditions in the country continued
to deteriorate, no comprehensive strategy of action to combat the
difficulties was introduced. Instead, the running of economic
policy became a succession of ad hoc moves, with frequent changes
of course or contradictory implications. The main preoccupation of
the leadership was with finding expedient ways to prevent a further
decline, rather than introducing innovation. The net effect of that
attitude, however, was growing public disillusionment with the
government's performance, operational chaos, and a mounting feeling
of uncertainty as to the future development of the country.

------------------------------------------

(9) For a discussion of post-1976 political and economic
developments in Poland, see J. B. de Weydenthal, Poland: Communism
Adrift, The Washington Papers, Vol. 7, No. 72 (Beverly Hills
and London: Sage Publications, 1979), pp. 32-63.

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RAD BR/192

The political and social repercussions of the protest were
equally significant. More than anything else, the success of the
workers in preventing the implementation of a government decision
in 1976, particularly when coupled with a similar success in 1971,
exposed the vulnerability of the political system to social
pressures. This element alone greatly enhanced the resolve of both
the workers and other social groups to demand access to
participation in the process of politics. Needless to say, this development
adversely influenced the effectiveness of the government and further
undermined its authority.

More specifically, following a series of repressive measures
against selected groups of workers from Radom and Ursus, where
incidents of limited violence had taken place, there was widespread
public criticism of the authorities' punitive action. This led to
the establishment, in September 1976, of the Committee for the
Defense of the Workers (KOR). Set up by a small group of prominent
intellectuals, the committee's main task was to provide legal and
financial help to the families of imprisoned workers and to campaign
for their release. The emergence of KOR and the subsequent
expansion of its activities to other areas of Poland's public life
prompted the establishment of other dissident organizations and
groups. Finally, in early 1978, the first units of the free trade
union movement were established by workers in mining and shipping
centers. Their aim was to serve as the nucleus of a future
independent syndicalist movement that would be autonomous of the
existing party-dominated institutions. The current Solidarity labor
organization, which was set up as the result of workers1 strikes in
July-August 1980, has grown from the foundations provided by the
free trade union movement.

The Past and the Future

This element of continuity in the workers efforts toward
self-organization must certainly have been on the minds of several
thousand people who attended, on June 25, a solemn ceremony in
memory of the Radom riots. Organized by a local chapter of Solidarity,
the ceremony centered on the placing of a cornerstone for a monument
that is to be erected to mark the 1976 events. A religious service
was also held.

Addressing the crowds, the Radom Solidarity leader Andrzej
Sobieraj, said that "we /Soldiarity7 will do our best so that the
tragic events of Radom prove "the last on the road of the cross of
our nation." [10] He then went on to praise the past activities of
KOR as the first organized group "to break the barrier of fear" in
the country. Sobieraj also stressed the need for a full disclosure
of official activities related to the 1976 events. indeed, the Radom
chapter of Solidarity and the government have been conducting
protracted negotiations on local problems, in which the issue of
official responsibility for the repression of workers who had taken

----------------------------------------

(10) UPI, 25 June 1981.

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RAD BR/192

part in the riots has been one of the most important elements. There
has been little if any progress so far on the matter. Following the
most recent session, on June 24, a government spokesman was reported
to have said that "as long as Solidarity fails to present documentary
evidence of official responsibility for [the use of violence in the
treatment of the protesters] no specific action can be undertaken
[by the authorities]." [11]

Despite these signs of a continuing preoccupation with past
events, the main accent behind the Radom ceremony was on the future
of the workers' movement. This was fully demonstrated in Sobieraj's
address., which, while dealing with the meaning of the Radom events
and warning against possible problems for Solidarity's work in the
current political environment, also carried a message of conviction
that the workers' organizations would overcome potential obstacles.
"We are sure that we will overcome all attempts at provocation that
strive to push the nation off the road of authentic renewal," he
said, adding that "our hopes for the victory of truth have strong
foundations in the Solidarity unions." [12]

Sobieraj's assurances were echoed with equal emphasis by the
main speaker at the ceremony, Lech Walesa, Chairman of Solidarity's
National Coordinating Commission. Speaking about the relations between
the unions and the authorities, Walesa told the people of Radom that
"the period of confrontation is over." He was quick to add, however,
that "let no one think that we have won; now the toughest period
begins." [13] Walesa stopped short of explaining in detail what
difficulties and problems the unions would have to face in the
future; but he pointedly suggested that "attempts" might be made by
"conservative forces" to break up the workers' organization and
called upon his listeners "to be united and sensible."

Walesa was even more explicit when he spoke at the unveiling
ceremony of a monument to the workers' rebellion in Poznan. He
reminded his audience of thousands there that the best way to defend
the interests of the workers was in "the solidarity of the world of
labor, in the solidarity of honest people against dishonest people,
against falseness and against people trying to keep our mouths
shut." [14] Then, concentrating on the need to preserve the
cohesion of the newly organized labor movement, Walesa declared:

We must not allow ourselves to be divided, we must
not allow ourselves to be set against one another,
we must not allow antisocialist and
counterrevolutionary forces to be sought, because this is
contemptible. . . . The world of labor is not
counterrevolutionary, it is not anti-this or anti-that, but

-----------------------------------

(11) Radio Warsaw, 24 June 1981.

(12) UPI, 25 June 1981.

(13) Ibid.

(14) Radio Warsaw, 28 June 1981.

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RAD BR/192

is honest and true. This is why you [the critics of
Solidarity (?)] should finally stop insulting us, stop
dividing us, because we will not allow ourselves to
be insulted and divided any more. Whoever looks for
antisocialist and counterrevolutionary forces, let
him look for a name for those who called us precisely
that at the time [of the Poznan rebellion],. We will
regard anyone who uses those epithets as someone who
wants to divide us and set us against one another.

Walesa's remarks were presumably directed at all those Solidarity
critics in both the domestic and foreign press who ascribe to some
groups within the labor organization tendencies hostile to the
existing system in Poland. Yet they also indicated a sense of
determination to persevere in the defense of the workers' interests,
a defense conducted in an organized and broadly based fashion.
There is little doubt that the recently held commemoration of the
past experiences of the workers' struggles for their rights will only
reinforce that determination.

- end -

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