The strike that ended on August 31, 1980 at the Gdańsk shipyard, supported by solidarity strikes throughout Poland, led to the creation of the Independent Self-Governing Trade Union “Solidarity.”
The ceremony of signing the agreement ending the strike in Gdańsk shipyard on August 31, 1980
It was an event unprecedented in the history of communism in the world. The decisions enforced by the strikes forced the communist authorities to meet the demands of the workers who demanded an independent, self-governing organization defending their interests. A break was made in the previous communist doctrine which usurped the right to control all activities. Circumstances and the socio-political situation in People’s Poland naturally forced the newly formed organization to take a stand, in which it became necessary to represent national goals and aspirations forbidden by the communist system.
“Solidarity” – assuming typical trade union demands – automatically became a freedom movement, although its methods of struggle were different from those usually used in such circumstances. The previous methods of successive anti-communist protests and demonstrations ended in bloodshed, persecutions and repressions. It was necessary to change the tactics, choosing a peaceful way. Awareness of this fact led to the organization of the August strikes as occupational strikes without going outside the units. This tactic did not give the communists an opportunity or pretext to use force, the usual “safeguarding of public order,” forcing them to talk to representatives of striking work crews.
The strikes that ended did not escape the attention of workers in the Staszów plants, including the largest plant, the Sulphur Mine “Siarkopol” in Grzybów. At the end of September 1980, the mine’s Trade Union of Chemists, like other pro-communist and pro-government trade unions in Poland, adopted the name NSZZ “Chemists” imitating the real NSZZ “Solidarity” even by name. These were typical simulated and manipulated actions. The “changed” union began organizing meetings in all the branches of mine. These meetings were intended to introduce the workers to the union as the only organization defending and still looking after their interests. This organization, like all previous unions in Poland, was according to communist doctrine, a transmission between the full-time union cadre and the communist party, and de facto obeyed all orders of the party.
Despite the fear of reprisals and the Communists’ desire for revenge, these meetings not only severely criticized the activities of the chemists’ union so far, but also emphasized the inefficiency of the entire communist system. One of the most tumultuous meetings took place in the Heating Branch at conference room of the department. The proceedings of this meeting were recorded by the plant’s radio station, which in order to make the Trade Union of Chemists credible to the rest of the workforce (something that had never been done before) was to be broadcast later. The broadcast took place but with such interference that only the intervention of listeners led to its proper repetition.
The meeting featured a speech by the supervisor, Józef Małobęcki, whose speech ended with an announcement of the formation of NSZZ “Solidarity” in the mine: “In case there is a necessity to form the NSZZ “Solidarity” in the mine, this union will be formed.” Such a necessity did arise. At the same time, at the CS2 Coal Disulfide Plant, the crew of which consisted mostly of young people hired from all over Poland, the organization of a wage strike began. The strike leader was Piotr Trych, who sought contact with the rest of the mine’s divisions. These independent actions and an accidental social conversation on the way to work with one of the CS2 employees led to a meeting between Piotr Trych and Józef Małobęcki, who was invited to one of the strike’s organizational meetings. Then contact was established with Bolesław Kozłowski and Andrzej Ptak. All three (except Piotr Trych) were employees of the Heating Branch. These three employees of the basic division of the mine were included in the Strike Committee as supporting members. The strike at CS2 did not take place. The management of the enterprise and the coming director of one of the departments of the Ministry agreed to raise the wages and to fulfill other social demands.
These acquaintances made it possible to develop further activities. The four people mentioned earlier decided to cooperate, which would lead to the creation of an independent trade union organization. Bolesław Kozłowski insisted on creating an independent, autonomous union. The other three had no intention of even accepting such a concept. Only the NSZZ “Solidarity” was on the table. This was the decision that was made when the NSZZ “Solidarity” Founding Committee was formed at the “Siarkopol” Sulfur Mine in Grzybów. For this purpose, it was decided to conduct a survey among the employees, sending out questionnaires and asking the crews of individual branches to take a stand on the actions taken. An overwhelming number of the surveyed crews supported the decision to form “Solidarity” and elected their own representatives. The first meeting of the Founding Committee with the appointed representatives of the branches took place in the Company Club at Langiewicza Street, where the previous Founding Committee was constituted and enlarged by two persons.
The enlarged Founding Committee consisted of:
Piotr Trych – Chairman – CS2 Plant
Andrzej Ptak – Deputy Chairman – Heating Branch
Józef Małobęcki – Secretary – Heating Branch
Bolesław Kozłowski – Representative – Heating Branch
Tadeusz Zamojski – Member – AKP Branch
Aleksander Bartłomiejczuk – Member – CS2 Plant
After the Solidarity Founding Committee was constituted, the members of the Committee presented this fact to the company management, at the same time applying for the allocation of premises for activities, as well as for installing a telephone. The assigned premises were located next to the management building in the firehouse and were about 9 m2 in size. Talks concerning access to a telex, a plant radio station, and a duplicator for the union press were much more difficult. These means allowed direct contact with the trade union headquarters, as well as with the mine staff. They were to be used for wide propaganda of the union’s ideas and for further discrediting and demonstrating the dysfunctionality of the communist system.
After strenuous negotiations with management, the Founding Committee succeeded in obtaining access to communications equipment. Initially, the management made it a condition that all publications and information transmitted via broadcasting, telex or print would be reviewed and accepted in advance. The Founding Committee could not agree to such conditions, firmly demanding free access to the mine’s communications media. From the moment it was obtained, instruments were frequently and widely used by the Founding Committee. In order to promote the union idea more widely, the Founding Committee invited Jan Kozłowski, a well-known opposition activist from the Tarnobrzeg Voivodeship, to a meeting with the workforce. The meeting with Jan Kozłowski was organized in the canteen of the sulphur mine “Siarkopol” in Staszów.
One of the basic tasks was to present the goals and objectives of the Founding Committee to the mine staff and to collect membership declarations from mine employees. The program of the Founding Committee, which was binding until the rightful election of the company union authorities, was written by Józef Małobęcki. The membership declarations were printed by Andrzej Ptak, who distributed them efficiently in all departments of the mine and in the CS2 plant, in which Aleksander Bartłomiejczuk also took an active part.
Józef Małobęcki and Tadeusz Zamojski were selected to operate the telex, communicate with the plant radio station, and print trade union information. Tadeusz Zamojski and Józef Małobęcki were also involved in intervention activities in current affairs. Andrzej Ptak and Aleksander Bartłomiejczuk were assigned to direct contact with employees of the branches and to deal with organizational matters. Andrzej Ptak was an irreplaceable person here. Many years of work experience and knowledge of almost everyone facilitated his contact with mine employees. Piotr Trych and Bolesław Kozłowski were appointed to direct contacts with the mine management in matters of wages, collective bargaining agreement and other issues concerning the whole enterprise. Throughout the activity of the Founding Committee, its members complemented each other in all necessary activities.
The work of the Committee was not easy. The constant movement of the enterprise’s employees in the “office,” a phone ringing all the time, dozens of complaints and requests to be dealt with, the most important and the most urgent demanding immediate intervention, did not make work easy. There was more cigarette smoke in the “office” than air – the proverbial axe could hang in it. Probably for this reason the non-smoking plenipotentiary of the Founding Committee rarely liked to be in the “office.” There were also slanders and accusations against the founding members of the Committee to discredit them and undermine their confidence. These slanders were spread by the mine’s “notables” who were afraid of losing their imaginary respect and positions in the communist arrangements.
Just like all over Poland, the workers in the mine widely joined the newly formed union, hoping that it was the only right and effective means to limit and eventually destroy the rampant communist caste. The liquidation of this caste in the mine, and above all, thanks to the nationwide range of activity, its elimination in the whole country, gave hope for the restoration of Poland’s role in the world, and thus also for the improvement of living conditions.
Seeing the unflagging popularity of the newly-formed union, some of the mine’s “big shots” undertook smashing activities, hoping to stop it. For this purpose, they entered into talks with the so-called “NSZZ Miners,” which had never before treated the crew of the Grzybow sulfer mine, extracting sulfur by underground smelting, as miners, and therefore the existing union in the mine was the Union of Chemists. The Miners’ Union, which was falling apart like all the other communist trade unions, was in desperate need of members and agreed to form such a cadre union of communist bosses in the Grzybow sulfer mine. In addition to this vestigial union, another one was formed at the Professional Fire Brigade branch, bringing together the basically communitised staff of that branch. In the end, there were 4 trade unions at the Grzybów sulfur mine – the truly Independent Self-Governing Trade Union “Solidarity” and the remaining 3 pro-communist industry unions, claiming to be independent only in name. In percentage terms, over 80% of the company’s staff belonged to “Solidarity.”
It is necessary to explain here what, apart from ideological conflicts, was the difference between Solidarity and trade unions. The basic structure of “Solidarity” was and still is territorial and professional, not branch structure. “Solidarity” is a territorial activity, covering the whole of Poland, grouping workers regardless of their industry. This structure – the union’s greatest strength – was the most threatening to communist power by its reach, as it could strike at the system across the country in all industries simultaneously. The other pro-communist unions still had an seperate industry structure. It should also not be forgotten in what geopolitical conditions this first trade union in the demolished countries, truly independent of the communist authorities, operated. The independence and self-governance of the union posed an incredible threat to the entire world communist system, which the communists were perfectly aware of and which eventually actually overthrew communism, as is known today even in its mainstay the imperial Soviet Union.
The newly formed union at the mine could not operate in isolation from what was happening in the country and in the union as a whole. The union was provoked on a daily basis at all levels into all sorts of political wrangling, forcing it to make increasingly radical statements that resulted in the transfer of responsibility to its leadership and were fought by force. One of the first communist provocations was the arrest of a member of the “Mazovia” region, Jan Narożniak, who had come into possession of confidential documents – instructions of the communist Security Service concerning methods of fighting “Solidarity.” The union of the “Mazovia” region immediately announced a warning strike, which led to the release of arrested man.
One of the biggest provocations at the turn of October and November 1980 was the refusal of the Communist-controlled Voivodeship Court in Warsaw to register the union as a whole. The registration was the most important part of the Gdańsk agreement signed on 31 August, which guaranteed legal approval for the newly-formed trade union. It was a sine qua non condition for the organization existence, which it could not abandon. The disputed issue of registration was the constitutional provision on the leading role of the communist party in Poland. The union did not want to include such a provision in the statute, arguing that it was already important enough to apply union activities on the principles expressed in the current Constitution. To support this argument, the union reached for its most dangerous weapon, declaring a nationwide strike and thus forcing its registration. The knowledge of geopolitical realities, composure and prudent actions of the advisors and national authorities of the union from the moment of its establishment until the martial law caused the ineffectiveness of the communist authorities and made them responsible for the harm and the policy destroying the country.
This was the atmosphere in which the union was formed in the country, and therefore in the plants of Staszów. In the mine, as in all bigger plants in the country, there was an administrative department for military affairs, closely cooperating with the Security Service. The Security Service as a regular visitor to the mine and other Staszów plants invigilated the members of the Founding Committees through its informers. Despite this, Solidarity continued to form, expanding its structures and activities, not only in terms of the trade union, but above all in social and political terms. Rejecting the charges of the communist authorities for security reasons, the union did not admit to the latter two.
Members of the mine’s Founding Committee were invited to other plants asking for advice and assistance in organizing the union. Such informational assistance in establishing Solidarity was provided at the Vocational School Complex in Staszów. On behalf of the mine’s Founding Committee Andrzej Ptak and Józef Małobęcki took part in that meeting. Bolesław Kozłowski and Józef Małobęcki participated in similar meeting in ZPO “Vistula.” In the “Jedność” Disabled People’s Cooperative, the “Wumet” Metalworks, MPGK, and ZPO “Modar,” Józef Małobęcki helped organize the union and later helped in the elections. The founding committees of “Solidarity” from the Staszów plants, including the sulphur mine, reported their accession to the union in the Regional Commission “Sandomierz Land” in Stalowa Wola.
In November, a meeting of all the Solidarity Founding Committees with the provincial authorities was held in the Voivodship House of Culture in Tarnobrzeg. Józef Małobęcki, who did not know about the Provincial Office’s decision to approve the construction of a new church in Staszów, spoke out, strongly demanding such a decision. This speech was met with great applause from the assembled trade unionists. On the way back from that meeting, an initiative was formed to set up a Local Coordination Committee that would bring together all Staszów plants, the aim of which would be to represent those plants with regard to the Staszów town and provincial authorities. The inaugural meeting took place in Staszów in the canteen of the sulphur mine. A Local Coordination Committee “Staszów Land” was set up there with Józef Małobęcki as the chairman. The Commission was composed of representatives of all Staszów plants.
After the modification finally emerged Coordination Commission “Staszów Land” in the composition of:
Józef Małobęcki – Chairman – Sulphur Mine
Bolesław Zabranny – Deputy Chairman – Budomont
Andrzej Kodym – Deputy Chairman – “Połaniec” Power Plant
Andrzej Ptak – Secretary – Sulphur Mine
Czesław Kaszluga – Sulphur Mine
Zdzisław Paciura – Social Welfare Team
Jan Markowski – “ASKO”
Robert Rożek – Professional Fire Brigade
Adam Żyła – Vocational School Complex
Jan Spychała – Primary School No. 1
Jan Swajda – “Wumet”
Stanisław Świerszcz – Railway Construction Company
In addition to those listed above, the most outstanding union members are:
Stefania Nadolska – ZPO “Vistula”
Stanisław Nagórka – “Jedność” Disabled Persons’ Cooperative
Ryszard Guła – “Jedność” Disabled Persons’ Cooperative
Alicja Skórska – ZPO “Modar”
Dorota Lik – PKS
Andrzej Semrau – Department of Trade
Mieczysław Piorkowski – PKS
Barbara Siejka – ZPO “Modar”
The Local Coordination Committee regulated trade union activities in Staszów and its vicinity, representing the demands of workers to the city authorities and intervening both in the city and in the field. The Commission provided regular information about its activities, using the information board in the Market Square, which was regularly destroyed by “unknown perpetrators.”
One of the first initiatives taken by the Local Coordination Committee was the so-called “blessing of crosses” campaign. The blessing of crosses did not have exclusively religious overtones. Above all, it was an act of manifestation of support for the Church, an institution generally respected for its faithfulness to national interests. It was also a manifestation of gratitude to the only organization at that time which represented the aspirations and dreams of Poles, supported and raised the spirits of the enslaved nation.
According to the law in force at that time, it was forbidden to display religious symbols in public places, except for places of religious worship. The action of “blessing crosses,” in which Staszów society participated in large numbers, was a form of opposition to the communist control, which strove to subjugate even the religious feelings of the society in order to draw it away from the Church, which supported the nation in those dark times. The blessed crosses were placed in all workplaces in Staszów, despite attempts to block their placing in classrooms, for example.
At the same time, the mine’s Solidarity union established close cooperation with the Solidarity of the Sulphur Mining and Processing Combine in Tarnobrzeg. Similar problems of the combine and the Grzybow sulfer mine led to the establishment of a joint bodyrepresenting these plants in their headquarters in Cracow. The basic problem was a new collective wage agreement concerning salaries in those enterprises. It was decided to create a “Sulfur Workers” section within the territorial structure of “Solidarity.” For this purpose a joint delegation of representatives of the sulphur workers from Tarnobrzeg and Grzybów went to Gdańsk in order to present the objectives for the creation of section and the intentions of actions taken to the forum of KKP – the National Covenant Committee of NSZZ “Solidarity.” Piotr Trych, Bolesław Kozłowski and Andrzej Ptak took part in the delegation from the Grzybów Sulphur Mine.
The delegation also met with the union chairman Lech Wałęsa. The KKP and Lech Wałęsa did not reject the project of establishing the section, although they did not fully support it, postponing the decision for later. Despite this, permission was given for informal action.
These principles applied to all such efforts. They were natural, stemming from the unfulfilled industry needs from the very beginning of the People’s Republic of Poland, despite constant promises of a “bright future” under communist leadership. The colossal neglect and underfunding of budget-laden plants affected every industry; the communist authorities devoured the earned capital, pushing through economically inefficient measures, subordinated to the interests of Soviet Russia.
The danger arose of a contradiction of interests between the territorial structure of the union and the division into branches, a scheme duplicated by the previous communist branch unions. It was necessary to constantly balance between these contradictions, which the union did very effectively, officially not supporting such a policy, but in practice consenting to such actions. Within Solidarity, such sections were created in almost every industry, and the union’s authorities had to come to terms with this fact. This phenomenon was inevitable and reflected in the final statute of the union. The basic strength of the union remained its territoriality, which was so threatening to the communist system. The communist authorities could not destroy Solidarity using the methods of playing on conflicting, particularistic interests, because they did not exist in the union.
“Solidarity” brought together all branches of anti-communist opposition, from KOR (Workers’ Defence Committee), through ROPCiO (Movement for the Defence of Human and Citizen’s Rights), KPN (Confederation of Independent Poland) to many other anti-communist groups. The union represented and realized the hostility of the Polish nation, oppressed and destroyed by the imposed communist power; the size of Solidarity was a result of this. No other socio-political formation in the history of the world was able to grow to a strength of 10 million members in just three months. This was done by the idea of Solidarity. The above alone testifies to the greatness of a unique phenomenon that was the Solidarity Trade Union. In this organization the whole nation defined its aspirations, goals and dreams, which it had been fighting to realize ever since the enemy communist power settled in Poland.
From the very beginning, after signing the August Agreements, the communist authorities were preparing a plan to smash and destroy Solidarity. The violent smashing of Solidarity was already planned in December 1980, when Soviet troops and communist “allied armies” entered Poland and used the same methods as during the suppression of the Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia in 1968. Only the decisive attitude of the U.S. government headed by National Security Secretary, Zbigniew Brzezinski, and the pressure exerted on the Soviets to stop using force prevented the military intervention of the “faithful allies” in Poland.