The
1980 Lublin strikes
(also known as
Lublin July
,
Polish
:
Lubelski Lipiec
) were the series of workers' strikes in the eastern part of the city of
Lublin
(
People's Republic of Poland
), demanding better salaries and lower prices of food products. They began on July 8, 1980, at the
State Aviation Works
in
?widnik
, a town located on the outskirts of Lublin. By mid-July, 1980, some 50,000 local workers from more than 150 enterprises went on strike.
[1]
These strikes marked the beginning of important socio-political changes in Poland, such as the creation of
Solidarity
and democratization of the country,
[2]
heralding a wave of protests later referred to as the
August 1980
strikes.
[1]
Background
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]
On January 1, 1980,
Edward Gierek
, First Secretary of the
Polish United Workers' Party
, gave a New Year's speech in which he admitted that Poland was in an economic slump, adding that the difficulties had been caused both by
drought
in the summer of 1979 and by the severe winter of 1979-1980. More than a month later, on February 9, the
Central Statistical Office
disclosed data about Polish State revenue, announcing that compared to the previous year, it shrank by 2%.
[3]
The growing crisis was also noticed by the
Catholic Church
. On February 18, Polish hierarchy with Primate
Stefan Wyszynski
, emphasized bad economic situation of the country and urged the government to talk to the nation.
In the following weeks, numerous price increases of several products were announced, such as gasoline, cigarettes, soft drinks, and then, on June 30, the nation was shocked to find out that a major increase in meat prices (up to 60%) had been announced.
[4]
The increase also included the so-called
meat products
, available in canteens in Polish factories. Reaction of the workers was immediate. On the next day, strikes broke out in Warsaw's tractor plant
Ursus
, in the bus producer
Autosan
in
Sanok
, in the
Communications Equipment Factory
in
Mielec
, in the car component factory
Polmo
in
Tczew
and in the compressor plant
Ponar
in
Tarnow
. In the Ursus tractor factory, the workers organised assemblies, composed a list of demands, and elected a strike committee. They resisted the threat of firings and repression and carried on work stoppages throughout the following period.
[5]
On July 1, the
Politburo
of the
Polish United Workers' Party
gathered in Warsaw, but the protests were not even mentioned during talks. Meanwhile, major factories in
Warsaw
joined the strike -
Warsaw Steelworks
,
Mera-Centrum
and
Polkolor
, as well as the cotton plant
Stella
in
?yrardow
.
Lublin strikes
[
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]
First strike in the area of Lublin took place on July 8, 1980, in the
State Aviation Works
PZL
in
?widnik
, in the
Section W-340
of the factory. It was then that the
Lublin July
began, which later sparked the famous
August 1980
wave of strikes in the cities on the Baltic coast.
[6]
Norbert Wojciechowski, former
Solidarity
activist and spokesperson of the
John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin
says that the collapse of the Communist system of Poland did not start in the
Gda?sk Shipyard
in August 1980, but a month earlier in Lublin and ?widnik.
[7]
Today, the factory in ?widnik is considered as the primary symbol of the social revolt of the year 1980, which led to the rise of Solidarity.
[8]
According to the strikers, it all began because of the price of pork chop dinner in the factory's canteen. On July 8, one worker noticed that overnight it had been increased by 80% - from
zl
10.20, to zl 18.10.
[7]
The workers, who for a long time had been complaining about prices and quality of food, decided that they had had enough. Following the inspiration of Miroslaw Kaczan who switched off the machines,
[9]
Section W-340 was first, but after a few hours, the whole factory stopped working. On the same days, following ?widnik's example, workers of Lublin's branch of the state
Polmozbyt
auto parts and repairs service joined the strike. A
Stoppage Committee
was created in ?widnik, headed by Zofia Bartkiewicz, which demanded economic concessions. The workers did not use the irritating word
strike
on purpose.
[9]
On the next day, during the meeting of the Politburo in Warsaw, Edward Gierek assured the
apparatchiks
that the difficulties were "temporary".
[3]
Meanwhile, the strikes quickly spread to other factories in Lublin and the surrounding region. Among striking plants, there were
Factory of Agricultural Machines Agromet
,
Lublin Car Repairs Shop
,
Lublin's Truck Factory
and
Lublin's Leather Factory
. Workers of the
Truck Factory
also created their Strike Committee of 80 members, and demanded, among others, abolition of
hard-currency shops
and special outlets for privileged groups of society, as well as raising their family allowances to the levels received by the
army
and
militia
. Finally, their strike was settled for way less than had been demanded.
[10]
On July 12, the ?widnik factory, after its demands had been met, ended the strike,
[3]
but by July 14, virtually the whole city of Lublin, together with the railroad network and city transit, came to a standstill. On strike were:
Meat Factory
,
Lublin Factory of Scales
,
Poultry and Eggs Producer
,
City Transit Authority
,
Pharmaceutical and Herb Producer Herbapol
, dairies, bakeries, the water heating plant, even the Work Cooperative for the Blind.
[11]
Lublin's rail workers began the strike on July 16 and, according to a legend, the railwaymen welded an engine to a track.
[7]
Ultimately 150 factories employing 50,000 workers joined the strike,
[1]
and the rail workers were regarded as the most militant and a key component of the strike, because earlier promises of pay rises to them had been broken by the management.
[12]
According to the
CIA
report, the situation was so serious that military vehicles were delivering food to stores and hospitals.
[13]
Other locations
[
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]
Even though the official mass-media did not inform about the strikes, events of Lublin became known in the area. Soon afterwards, strikes began in such towns, as
Chełm
,
Kra?nik
,
Lubartow
,
Opole Lubelskie
,
Puławy
,
Tomaszow Lubelski
,
Zamo??
and in the crucial rail junction of
D?blin
. The strikes of the Lublin and D?blin junctions paralyzed rail links between the Soviet Union and the
Red Army
garrisons in the
German Democratic Republic
.
[14]
The direct reason for railway workers protesting was terrible working conditions. 'We repaired wagons in canals, completely smeared with mud', one of them recollected.
[9]
On July 18, one of sections of the
Stalowa Wola
Steelworks
joined the strike, which spread across other sections. According to Mariusz Mucha, a journalist associated with Solidarity, altogether in the area of Lublin, 177 factories, with 80 000 employees joined the strike.
[7]
The demands dealt with wage increases and the cancellation of the price rises. The government granted wage increases: 10% on average, sometimes as high as 20%. Furthermore, the increases were sometimes granted in advance to strikers in order to calm the movement.
[5]
It must be mentioned, that during the strikes, the workers did not repeat mistakes of the
Pozna? 1956 protests
and the
1970 events in Pomerania
and avoided going out on the streets, instead staying in their factories. They came to work, stood at the machines and did not work. They managed to organise themselves, chose their representatives and negotiated to have their demands met.
[9]
Aftermath
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]
In most cases, the government was willing to resolve the strikes in favor of the workers, by "buying them off", so long as the strikers did not demand independent trade unions.
[15]
The last strikes in Lublin ended on July 25, after a delegation of the government, together with
Mieczyslaw Jagielski
,
Jozef Pinkowski
, and
Zdzislaw Kurowski
, agreed to most of the demands, such as free Saturdays, improvement in food supplies and earlier retirement age.
[3]
The city was flooded with posters with appeals to the society for peace and return to work.
The events of Lublin in July 1980 brought a final break in the official, Communist so-called "propaganda of success" that systematically exaggerated the country's economic performance to keep the population in line. Even though they did not result in the creation of an independent trade union, they generated momentum for more strikes which soon spread throughout the entire country - on July 23, a strike began in the
Cegielski Factories
in
Pozna?
, in Warsaw's
Fabryka Samochodow Osobowych
, then in
Łod?
,
Ostrow Wielkopolski
, and other cities. The compromise on salaries, worked out in Lublin and ?widnik, triggered a chain reaction as other workers demanded similar concessions. The process could not be stopped. Three weeks later the strikes on the Baltic coast started and there the workers successfully demanded
political concessions
. The result was the formation of independent trade unions and the beginning of the Solidarity movement.
See also
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]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
Warsaw Voice, Solidarity 1980-81
- ^
Tourist Information Centre in Lublin, Brief History of Lublin
Archived
2009-03-03 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
a
b
c
d
“To the creation of Solidarity - Chronology of 1980 in Poland”, by Krzysztof Kosinski, Warsaw 1998
Archived
2011-08-11 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
Poland 1980: Lessons still valid for the struggles of the world proletariat
"On July 1, 1980, after a major increase in meat prices [up to 60%]"
- ^
a
b
Poland 1980: Lessons still valid for the struggles of the world proletariat
- ^
Swidnik on-line, History of the town
Archived
2008-10-08 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
a
b
c
d
"Such was Lublin July, by Mariusz Mucha. Kurier Lubelski, July 8, 2004"
. Archived from
the original
on July 28, 2011
. Retrieved
January 6,
2009
.
- ^
Polish Radio, The Power of Radio
Archived
2011-08-18 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
a
b
c
d
25th anniversary of the Lublin July'80, by Maria Wrzeszcz, Niedziela Catholic Magazine
- ^
Poland Under Communism By A. Kemp-Welch, page 233
- ^
Solidarity and Contention By Maryjane Osa, page 143
- ^
Prelude to Solidarity By Keith John Lepak, page 199
- ^
[POLAND: UNREST IN LUBLIN. Created: 7/18/1980]
- ^
Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century, page 20
- ^
Solidarity and the Politics of Anti-politics, page 79
External links
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