{"id":1916,"date":"2025-08-26T12:36:30","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T12:36:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/studio74.pl\/historiapomorza\/from-protest-to-transformation\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T13:17:20","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T13:17:20","slug":"from-protest-to-transformation","status":"publish","type":"epoka","link":"https:\/\/historiapomorza.pl\/en\/epoka\/from-protest-to-transformation\/","title":{"rendered":"From Protest to Transformation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Szczecin and the Peaceful Dismantling of Communist Rule, 1988\u20131989<\/p>\n\n

In 1988, the process of a gradual and peaceful dismantling of the communist dictatorship in Poland began. Szczecin and the Western Pomerania region played an important role in this transformation.<\/p>\n\n

From the mid-1980s, Poland experienced a kind of stalemate in relations between the authorities and the opposition. The communist government of the Polish People\u2019s Republic lacked the social legitimacy to carry out the necessary reforms and lead the country out of economic crisis. The \u201cSolidarity\u201d movement, although enjoying public trust and support, was still operating illegally and remained too weak to force the authorities to make concessions. The only effective form of pressure the union could exert was through strikes. A pretext for organizing them came with yet another price increase introduced by the government of Mieczys\u0142aw Rakowski on February 1, 1988. However, the wave of protests did not erupt immediately\u2014it grew gradually.<\/p>\n\n

In the spring of 1988, strikes broke out in several workplaces, including in Bydgoszcz, Krak\u00f3w, and Gda\u0144sk. In early May, employees of two depots of the Provincial Public Transport Company (WPK) \u2014 in Szczecin-D\u0105bie and Police \u2014 went on strike. The organizers were in contact with Andrzej Milczanowski, leader of the underground Coordinating Council of NSZZ \u201cSolidarity\u201d in the Western Pomerania Region. He planned to use the strike situation to bring forward the key demand for the re-legalization of \u201cSolidarity.\u201d \n \nThis attempt, however, was unsuccessful, as the authorities suppressed the protest within a few hours. The strike in Police ended under the threat of force and criminal consequences for the participants. The depot in D\u0105bie was surrounded by ZOMO riot police units. Militia officers then removed three leaders of the protest \u2014 J\u00f3zef Ignor, Romuald Zi\u00f3\u0142kowski, and Andrzej Kud\u0142a \u2014 who were detained. Deprived of its leaders, the workforce left the depot, making their return to work the next day conditional upon the release of the three men \u2014 which indeed occurred that same evening. \n \nHowever, Ignor and Zi\u00f3\u0142kowski were soon dismissed from their jobs, prompting another protest. On June 22, a strike began in three depots \u2014 in addition to Police and D\u0105bie, also at Klonowica Street. Yet this protest, too, ended quickly, as the authorities, fearing its escalation, withdrew the decision to dismiss the workers.<\/p>\n\n

Another wave of strikes began on August 15, 1988, at the \u201cManifest Lipcowy\u201d coal mine in Jastrz\u0119bie-Zdr\u00f3j. Soon, strikes spread to other regions and cities, including Gda\u0144sk and Stalowa Wola. While the spring protests had been dominated by economic demands, this time the call for the restoration of trade union pluralism came to the forefront.<\/p>\n\n

On August 17, workers at the General Cargo Handling Terminal of the Szczecin port went on strike. The immediate pretext was the establishment of outrageously low rates for unloading cement. Andrzej Milczanowski managed to enter the port illegally, in disguise, and together with Edward Radziewicz, J\u00f3zef Kowalczyk, Jan Dubicki, Micha\u0142 Achramowicz, and others, began calling for the expansion of the protest \u2014 which indeed soon followed. \n \nThe dockworkers gathered in the recreation hall, where company directors and a prosecutor soon appeared, attempting to halt the protest by arguing that it was illegal and by outlining the possible consequences for participants. However, the assembled workers were not persuaded. A seventeen-member Strike Committee was elected, with Radziewicz as its chairman, and four demands were presented: \n \nThe restoration of the legal right for NSZZ \u201cSolidarity\u201d to operate; \n \nA 50% wage increase for the plant\u2019s employees; \n \nThe reinstatement of workers dismissed for opposition activities; \n \nGuarantees of safety for the strikers and full payment for the duration of the protest. \n \nThey also demanded that General Wojciech Jaruzelski come to the port to meet with the strikers. In response, a telex was sent from the Office of the Chairman of the Council of State, stating that General Jaruzelski was willing to meet the dockworkers on the condition that they end the illegal strike, expel non-employees from the premises, and compensate for losses caused by the stoppage. The meeting between the strikers and General Jaruzelski never took place \u2014 neither in Szczecin nor anywhere else.<\/p>\n\n

ChatGPT powiedzia\u0142: \n \nIn the following days, more workplaces joined the striking dockworkers. At the request of Andrzej Milczanowski, Mieczys\u0142aw Lisowski took part in organizing the WPKM (Provincial Public Transport Company) strike. On the morning of August 18, employees of the bus depots in Szczecin-D\u0105bie, Klonowica Street, and Police, as well as workers from other port facilities \u2014 including the Bulk Cargo Handling Plant, the Shipping Services Plant, and the Central Port Mechanical Workshops \u2014 refused to begin work. \n \nThat evening, an Inter-Enterprise Strike Committee (Mi\u0119dzyzak\u0142adowy Komitet Strajkowy, MKS) was established at the port. It reaffirmed the four demands previously put forward by the dockworkers, with the second and third generalized to apply more broadly. The committee\u2019s members included: Edward Radziewicz (chairman), J\u00f3zef Ignor (vice-chairman, representing WPKM), Jaros\u0142aw Krakowski (port), Jerzy Wojtowicz (port), and Andrzej Milczanowski (initially without official affiliation, later representing WPKM).<\/p>\n\n

In the following days, employees from additional WPKM depots joined the strike \u2014 including the tram depots on Niemierzy\u0144ska Street and in Goc\u0142aw (Gol\u0119cin) \u2014 as well as workers from the Railway Construction Works (Zak\u0142ady Budownictwa Kolejowego). \n \nHowever, attempts to spark a strike at the Adolf Warski Szczecin Shipyard \u2014 a symbolic site and the \u201ccradle\u201d of the regional \u201cSolidarity\u201d movement in August 1980 \u2014 were unsuccessful. At the \u201cChemitex\u2013Wiskord\u201d Chemical Fiber Plant, a Strike Committee was formed and a statement of support for the Inter-Enterprise Strike Committee (MKS) was issued, but production was not halted due to technological reasons \u2014 the risk of destroying large quantities of raw materials and equipment. \n \nThe protest also gained support from the Provincial Council of Farmers \u201cSolidarity\u201d of Western Pomerania, the Szczecin Catholic Club named after Micha\u0142 Plater-Zyberk, the founding committees of \u201cSolidarity\u201d at the Szczecin University of Technology and the Maritime University in Szczecin, the Szczecin branch of \u201cFighting Solidarity\u201d (Solidarno\u015b\u0107 Walcz\u0105ca), as well as opposition youth groups operating under banners such as the \u201cFreedom and Peace\u201d Movement (Ruch \u201eWolno\u015b\u0107 i Pok\u00f3j\u201d). The latter established direct contact with Milczanowski and assisted in communication, food collection, and medical supply efforts for the strikers. \n \nIn the days that followed, the personal composition of the MKS changed slightly as new individuals joined. Among those signing its statements, in addition to the previously mentioned members, were Henryk Orli\u0144ski, Henryk Stachal (ZWCh \u201cChemitex\u2013Wiskord\u201d), Romuald Wo\u0142od\u017ako (Central Port Mechanical Workshops), Andrzej Gruszczy\u0144ski (Shipping Services Plant), Artur Balazs (Provincial Council of Farmers \u201cSolidarity\u201d), and Edward Dworakowski (Railway Construction Works).<\/p>\n\n

The strikes in Szczecin, along with protests taking place at the same time in other parts of the country, contributed to the decision of the communist authorities to begin talks with the opposition. On August 31, the first official meeting between representatives of the government and \u201cSolidarity\u201d since the imposition of martial law took place. Participants included Lech Wa\u0142\u0119sa, General Czes\u0142aw Kiszczak, Stanis\u0142aw Ciosek, and Bishop Jerzy D\u0105browski. \n \nFollowing the meeting, Wa\u0142\u0119sa issued a statement announcing the organization of the Round Table talks and calling for an end to ongoing negotiations in the various striking workplaces and the suspension of strikes. In Szczecin, despite the lack of an agreement on wage issues, the Inter-Enterprise Strike Committee (MKS) ended the strike on September 3, 1988.<\/p>\n\n

In the following days, based on the Szczecin Inter-Enterprise Strike Committee (MKS), the Inter-Enterprise Organizing Committee of NSZZ \u201cSolidarity\u201d for the Western Pomerania Region was established, with Edward Radziewicz remaining at its head, supported by Andrzej Milczanowski. The group centered around them came to dominate the opposition scene in Szczecin, pushing aside the legendary leader of Szczecin\u2019s August 1980 movement, Marian Jurczyk, and his associates. Attempts at mediation between the two factions proved unsuccessful. \n \nJurczyk and his supporters did not join the Citizens\u2019 Coordination Committee \u201cSolidarity\u201d of the Western Pomerania Region (OKP), formed on March 23, 1989. This body bore the main responsibility for organizing the \u201cSolidarity\u201d election campaign in the Szczecin voivodeship ahead of the \u201ccontract\u201d elections negotiated at the Round Table. (At the Round Table itself, Western Pomerania was represented by Radziewicz and, at the so-called legal sub-table, by Milczanowski.) \n \nThe elections were held under a majority voting system in two rounds \u2014 on June 4 and June 18, 1989. In these elections, 35% of the seats in the Sejm were opened to democratic competition, along with the reestablished upper house of parliament \u2014 the 100-member Senate, restored after several decades of absence.<\/p>\n\n

The June elections ended in a crushing defeat for the ruling camp. In the first round, \u201cSolidarity\u201d candidates won 160 of the 161 Sejm seats available for free competition and 92 seats in the Senate. The remaining Sejm seat and eight of the nine remaining Senate seats were captured by representatives of the Citizens\u2019 Committees in the second round of voting. \n \nIn the Szczecin voivodeship, the first round brought victory to all candidates of the Citizens\u2019 Coordination Committee (OKP). Those elected to the Sejm were Jerzy Zimowski and J\u00f3zef Kowalczyk (Szczecin constituency), Bohdan Kopczy\u0144ski (\u015awinouj\u015bcie constituency), and Artur Balazs (Stargard constituency). Edmund Bilicki and Mieczys\u0142aw Ustasiak were elected to the Senate.<\/p>\n\n

The June 1989 elections were a pivotal moment in the peaceful transformation of Poland\u2019s political system. The crushing defeat of the Polish United Workers\u2019 Party (PZPR) and its allies set off a domino effect. The subsequent chain of events included the formation, in September 1989, of the first non-communist government under Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki; the restoration of the country\u2019s traditional name \u2014 the Republic of Poland \u2014 in December 1989; the self-dissolution of the PZPR in January 1990; and the launch of intensive economic reforms leading toward a free-market economy, known as the Balcerowicz Plan. \n \nThis was followed by the first free local government elections in the spring of 1990, the election of Lech Wa\u0142\u0119sa as President of the Republic of Poland in the country\u2019s first direct, universal, and free presidential vote that autumn, and finally, the first fully free parliamentary elections in postwar Poland, held in October 1991. \n \nThe events of 1988\u20131989 \u2014 with the significant participation of the people of Western Pomerania \u2014 opened the way to building a new, pluralistic, and democratic Third Republic of Poland.<\/p>\n\n

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More:<\/p>\n\n

Koniec pewnej epoki. Wybory parlamentarne 1989 roku w wojew\u00f3dztwie szczeci\u0144skim w dokumentach<\/em>, wst\u0119p, wyb\u00f3r i oprac. Artur Kubaj, Warszawa\u2013Szczecin: Instytut Pami\u0119ci Narodowej 2010.<\/p>\n\n

Artur Kubaj, Nie wyro\u015bli z marze\u0144. Szczeci\u0144ska podziemna Solidarno\u015b\u0107<\/em>, Warszawa: Instytut Pami\u0119ci Narodowej 2011.<\/p>\n\n

Narodziny III Rzeczypospolitej. Pomorze Zachodnie w latach 1988\u20131990<\/em>, red. Ma\u0142gorzata Macha\u0142ek, Jan Macholak, Szczecin: Wydawnictwo \u201eDokument\u201d 2006.<\/p>\n\n

Micha\u0142 Siedziako, Szczeci\u0144ski Sierpie\u0144 \u201988 w tr\u00f3jk\u0105cie: w\u0142adze \u2013 Ko\u015bci\u00f3\u0142 \u2013 opozycja<\/em> [w:] Polski rok 1988<\/em>, red. Micha\u0142 Przeperski, Przemys\u0142aw Ruchlewski, Gda\u0144sk: Europejskie Centrum Solidarno\u015bci 2024, s. 135\u2013206.<\/p>\n\n

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