{"id":1930,"date":"2025-08-26T12:35:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T12:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/studio74.pl\/historiapomorza\/the-solidarity-carnival\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T13:17:53","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T13:17:53","slug":"the-solidarity-carnival","status":"publish","type":"epoka","link":"https:\/\/historiapomorza.pl\/en\/epoka\/the-solidarity-carnival\/","title":{"rendered":"The \u201cSolidarity\u201d Carnival"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In the summer of 1980, a massive wave of strikes swept across Poland, leading to the creation of the Independent Self-Governing Trade Union \u201cSolidarity\u201d and the emergence of a vast ten-million-strong social movement that transformed the one-party socio-political system of the Polish People\u2019s Republic. Western Pomerania was one of its birthplaces and most important centers.<\/p>\n\n

Throughout Poland, social tensions had been rising since the late 1970s as the economic crisis deepened. Shortages of basic goods, empty store shelves, and long queues became part of daily life. People were further irritated by the government\u2019s \u201cpropaganda of success,\u201d which painted a rosy picture of the country\u2019s situation while living conditions continued to deteriorate. \n \nThe spark that ignited the wave of strikes was the price increase introduced on July 1, 1980. Within that same month, the first strikes began to erupt in various regions of the country. The authorities sought to \u201cextinguish\u201d them by granting wage increases in the striking workplaces \u2014 a move that only encouraged further protests elsewhere. \n \nThe key turning point came with the outbreak of the strike at the Lenin Shipyard in Gda\u0144sk on August 14, 1980. The Gda\u0144sk shipyard workers soon formed the Inter-Enterprise Strike Committee (MKS), led by Lech Wa\u0142\u0119sa, and presented a list of 21 demands. At the top of the list was a call for the government\u2019s consent to create independent trade unions, free from party and state control, that would genuinely defend workers\u2019 interests.<\/p>\n\n

On August 18, in a gesture of solidarity with the striking shipyard workers in Gda\u0144sk, shipyard workers in Szczecin also went on strike. The first to do so were the employees of the \u201cParnica\u201d Repair Shipyard, led by Aleksander Krystosiak. A few hours later, workers at the Adolf Warski Szczecin Shipyard joined them, electing storekeeper Marian Jurczyk as chairman of the Strike Committee. \n \nIn the following days, more workplaces from Szczecin and the surrounding region joined the protest. At the Warski Shipyard, an Inter-Enterprise Strike Committee (Mi\u0119dzyzak\u0142adowy Komitet Strajkowy, MKS) was established, headed by Jurczyk. The Szczecin MKS presented a list of 36 demands, placing \u2014 like its Gda\u0144sk counterpart \u2014 the creation of independent trade unions at the top of the list. \n \nNegotiations with the Szczecin strikers were undertaken by a government commission led by Deputy Prime Minister Kazimierz Barcikowski. By the end of the strike wave, the Szczecin MKS represented around 340 workplaces.<\/p>\n\n

The two striking centers established contact, exchanged delegates, and agreed to continue their protests jointly until the authorities accepted the first and most important demand. However, the Szczecin Inter-Enterprise Strike Committee (MKS) signed its agreement ending the strike on August 30 \u2014 one day before Gda\u0144sk. \n \nSeveral factors influenced this decision: communication difficulties (at the crucial moment of negotiating the end of the strike, telephone connections were cut), general exhaustion among the strikers, a desire to secure and \u201cmake use of\u201d the concessions already achieved, and the belief that the Gda\u0144sk workers would sign their agreement later that same day. \n \nThe separate signing of the agreements caused some tension between Gda\u0144sk and Szczecin in the following weeks, but these differences were eventually overcome. In both centers, the most important achievement was the government\u2019s consent \u2014 with only minor technical differences between the accords \u2014 to fulfill the first and key demand of the strikers.<\/p>\n\n

After the strikes, efforts began to establish the new trade union. The Szczecin Inter-Enterprise Strike Committee (MKS) was transformed into the Inter-Enterprise Workers\u2019 Commission (Mi\u0119dzyzak\u0142adowa Komisja Robotnicza, MKR), with Marian Jurczyk remaining as its chairman. The first headquarters of the MKR consisted of two small rooms in a shipyard building at 42 Nocznickiego Street in Szczecin. \n \nAlongside Jurczyk, the group of MKR leaders included: Maria Chmielewska, Ludwik Gracel, Stanis\u0142aw Kocjan, Micha\u0142 Kurowski, Franciszek \u0141uczko, Henryk Makie\u0142a, Jerzy Mirski, Jan Nowak, Wies\u0142aw Polczyk, Franciszek Skwierczy\u0144ski (who, as it later turned out, was also an informant of the Security Service), Adolf Szutkiewicz, Stanis\u0142aw W\u0105do\u0142owski, and Stanis\u0142aw Wiszniewski.<\/p>\n\n

On September 2, the first plenary session of the Inter-Enterprise Workers\u2019 Commission (MKR) was held at the Shipyard Cultural Center \u201cKorab\u201d in Szczecin, with the participation of representatives from workers\u2019 commissions across the region. Discussions focused on how to initiate the establishment of workplace organizations within the new trade union. Participants were uncertain whether to create entirely new structures and resign from existing branch unions or to conduct new elections within them. \n \nDuring the meeting, the voice of Andrzej Milczanowski \u2014 a legal adviser and organizer of the strikes at the Provincial Public Transport Company (WPKM) in Szczecin \u2014 stood out strongly. Milczanowski criticized the Szczecin MKS for ending its strike a day earlier than the Gda\u0144sk committee and called for cooperation with Gda\u0144sk in creating a single, unified trade union.<\/p>\n\n

On September 17, a congress of founding committees and workers\u2019 commissions from across the country was held in Gda\u0144sk. Western Pomerania was represented by Stanis\u0142aw W\u0105do\u0142owski, deputy to Marian Jurczyk in the Szczecin Inter-Enterprise Workers\u2019 Commission (MKR). He was the first to take the floor during the session, advocating for the creation of a single, nationwide organization. \n \nUltimately, the decision to adopt this solution was strongly influenced by the arguments of Jan Olszewski from Warsaw and Karol Modzelewski from Wroc\u0142aw, the latter also proposing the name \u201cSolidarity.\u201d During the meeting, it was also decided to establish a provisional national leadership for the new union \u2014 the National Coordinating Commission (Krajowa Komisja Porozumiewawcza, KKP). Western Pomerania was represented in this body by Marian Jurczyk and Stanis\u0142aw W\u0105do\u0142owski, who, in February 1981, became a member of the KKP Presidium.<\/p>\n\n

A distinctive feature of Szczecin during the first months of the \u201cSolidarity\u201d carnival was the operation of the Joint Commission (Komisja Mieszana), established to oversee the implementation of the August Agreements. It was created by order of the Prime Minister on September 2, 1980. The commission was headed by Deputy Prime Minister Kazimierz Barcikowski and included representatives of both the authorities \u2014 Janusz Brych (First Secretary of the Szczecin Voivodeship Committee of the Polish United Workers\u2019 Party), Jerzy Bia\u0142kowski (Deputy Minister of the Heavy and Agricultural Machinery Industry), and Henryk Kanicki (Szczecin Voivode) \u2014 as well as the MKR, represented by Jaros\u0142aw Mroczek, Marian Juszczuk, and Aleksander Krystosiak. \n \nThe commission quickly became a source of controversy among Solidarity leaders. Its critics accused its members of \u201cfraternizing\u201d with government officials, elevating themselves above other leaders of the new movement, and forming what was effectively a \u201cparallel trade union authority\u201d in the region alongside the MKR. The commission was also criticized by union leaders in Gda\u0144sk, who argued that it duplicated the responsibilities of the National Coordinating Commission (KKP). Amid growing tensions and conflict, the Joint Commission was dissolved in November 1980.<\/p>\n\n

That same month brought an event confirming Western Pomerania\u2019s significant position within the \u201cSolidarity\u201d movement. On November 18\u201319, the National Coordinating Commission (KKP) held its first off-site meeting in Szczecin. Among those who came to the city were Lech Wa\u0142\u0119sa, Andrzej Gwiazda, and Jacek Kuro\u0144. \n \nThe KKP members met at the Shipyard Cultural Center \u201cKorab\u201d with representatives of workplaces from across the voivodeship. Additionally, an open meeting for the general public was organized at the Summer Theater in Kasprowicz Park, attended by around 10,000 people.<\/p>\n\n

The organizational structures of \u201cSolidarity\u201d were gradually established throughout the country and the region. For example, on September 19, the Inter-Enterprise Workers\u2019 Commission (MKR) in \u015awinouj\u015bcie was formed, with Waldemar Ka\u015bkiewicz as its chairman. On October 9, the Szczecin MKR created a branch in Barlinek (also covering D\u0119bno and My\u015blib\u00f3rz), where Jan Chojnacki and Waldemar Kukie\u0142ka were responsible for organizing the union. In Gryfice, the Inter-Enterprise Coordinating and Consultative Commission was established on November 19, led by Andrzej Romanowicz (who was replaced by Andrzej Popielski in January 1981). \n \nAll of these bodies operated autonomously but remained subordinate to the Szczecin MKR. By the end of February 1981, \u201cSolidarity\u201d in Western Pomerania had around 400,000 members \u2014 meaning that as many as 90% of all employed persons in the region belonged to the union.<\/p>\n\n

The activity of \u201cSolidarity\u201d in Western Pomerania, as in the rest of the country, extended far beyond traditional trade union matters. In addition to defending workers\u2019 rights, the union became involved in a wide range of social issues. \n \nIn March 1981, the Regional Committee for the Defense of Prisoners of Conscience was established at the Szczecin Inter-Enterprise Workers\u2019 Commission (MKR), headed by Stanis\u0142aw W\u0105do\u0142owski and including, among others, lawyers Jerzy Zimowski and Andrzej Milczanowski. Union activists also participated in the creation of workers\u2019 self-management councils in enterprises. \n \nAt the end of July 1981, a \u201cwomen\u2019s and children\u2019s hunger march\u201d was organized in Szczecin to draw the authorities\u2019 attention to the worsening living conditions of society. During times of crisis and social tension, \u201cSolidarity\u201d in Western Pomerania was able to mobilize large numbers of people to protest. \n \nThis was the case during the nationwide warning strike of October 3, 1980 (linked to the authorities\u2019 delay in registering the union \u2014 the official registration was finally granted on November 10, 1980) and again during the so-called Bydgoszcz Crisis in March 1981, when the brutal beating of \u201cSolidarity\u201d activists in Bydgoszcz led the entire movement to prepare for a general strike \u2014 one that was eventually called off after the signing of the so-called Warsaw Agreement.<\/p>\n\n

For \u201cSolidarity\u201d activists, internal union elections served as a true school of democracy. In June 1981, during the First General Assembly of Delegates of the Western Pomerania Region held at the Shipyard Cultural Center \u201cKorab\u201d in Szczecin \u2014 with the participation of nearly 500 delegates \u2014 the union\u2019s permanent regional leadership was elected, with Marian Jurczyk remaining as chairman. \n \nThe Presidium of the Regional Board of NSZZ \u201cSolidarity\u201d Western Pomerania included: Aleksander Krystosiak and Stanis\u0142aw W\u0105do\u0142owski (both as vice-chairmen), Stanis\u0142aw Kocjan (secretary), and Przemys\u0142aw Fenrych, Kazimierz Kostrzewski, Jan Nowak, Grzegorz Olejnik, Jan Tarnowski, Mieczys\u0142aw Ustasiak, and Ewaryst Walig\u00f3rski (members). \n \nAt the First National Congress of Delegates, held in Gda\u0144sk in two sessions (September 5\u201310 and September 26\u2013October 7, 1981), Jurczyk ran for the position of national chairman of NSZZ \u201cSolidarity.\u201d With the support of 24.1% of the delegates, he finished second after Lech Wa\u0142\u0119sa, but he was elected to the National Commission, where Stanis\u0142aw W\u0105do\u0142owski became one of the vice-chairmen.<\/p>\n\n

During the \u201cSolidarity\u201d carnival, there was a genuine explosion of civic activity across Poland \u2014 including in Western Pomerania \u2014 as various social groups, inspired by the workers\u2019 movement, began forming their own independent organizations. Alongside the main \u201cSolidarity\u201d trade union, new branches were established such as the \u201cSolidarity\u201d of Individual Farmers and the \u201cSolidarity\u201d of Independent Craftsmen. \n \nAt all universities in Szczecin, the Independent Students\u2019 Association (Niezale\u017cne Zrzeszenie Student\u00f3w, NZS) was founded, organizing strikes and actions modeled after \u201cSolidarity\u201d to fight for student rights. The movement also opened opportunities for lay Catholic groups to begin legal activity. In December 1980, after many years of effort, the Szczecin Catholic Club (Szczeci\u0144ski Klub Katolik\u00f3w) was officially registered.<\/p>\n\n

After August 1980, independent publishing initiatives began to flourish on an unprecedented scale, breaking the state\u2019s long-standing monopoly on information. The most important \u201cSolidarity\u201d publication in the region was the weekly Jedno\u015b\u0107 (\u201cUnity\u201d), which first appeared during the August 1980 strikes as a strike bulletin. Its editor-in-chief was Leszek Dlouchy, and the editorial team included, among others: Tadeusz Dziechciowski, Karol Markowski, Micha\u0142 Paziewski, Lidia Kowali\u0144ska-Ma\u015blanka, Tomasz Zieli\u0144ski, Stanis\u0142aw Wiszniewski, Ewa Gutkowska, Jaros\u0142aw Piwar, and Andrzej W\u0119glarz. \n \nSzczecin\u2019s librarians published their own periodicals (Biuletyn, Pro Memoria), as did the employees of the Polish Steamship Company (Biuletyn Informacyjny), steelworkers (G\u0142os Hutnika), teachers (Informator NSZZ \u201cSolidarno\u015b\u0107\u201d Pracownik\u00f3w O\u015bwiaty i Wychowania w Szczecinie, Wolna O\u015bwiata), and railway workers (W\u0142a\u015bciwy Tor). \n \nStudents at Szczecin\u2019s universities, organized under the Independent Students\u2019 Association (NZS), were especially active in publishing. At the Higher School of Pedagogy (Wy\u017csza Szko\u0142a Pedagogiczna), they issued P\u00f3\u0142g\u0119bkiem and Komunikat; at the Szczecin University of Technology, G\u0142os Studencki, Prawda, and Muchomor; at the Agricultural Academy, Kret, New Striker, and Old Striker; and at the Pomeranian Medical Academy, Z\u0142oty R\u00f3g.<\/p>\n\n

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Throughout 1980\u20131981, the conflict between \u201cSolidarity\u201d and the authorities intensified steadily. From the very beginning, the communist leadership refused to accept the loss of its monopoly over public life, delaying the implementation of key provisions of the August Agreements and obstructing the functioning of the independent union. Practically all of 1981 was marked by a series of smaller and larger confrontations \u2014 many of them deliberately provoked by the authorities as part of the Polish United Workers\u2019 Party\u2019s (PZPR) strategy of so-called \u201csectoral confrontations.\u201d \n \nAt the same time, the economic crisis continued to deepen: queues in stores grew longer, and market supplies failed to improve. In this situation, \u201cSolidarity\u201d began to adopt increasingly radical slogans, demanding, among other things, the organization of free and democratic elections to local councils and later to the Sejm of the Polish People\u2019s Republic. \n \nOne of the most extreme examples of union radicalism was Marian Jurczyk, the chairman of the Western Pomerania branch of \u201cSolidarity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

The \u201cSolidarity\u201d carnival came to an end with the imposition of martial law on the night of December 12\u201313, 1981. Power in the country was seized by the Military Council of National Salvation (WRON), headed by General Wojciech Jaruzelski. The activities of all independent organizations \u2014 foremost among them \u201cSolidarity\u201d \u2014 were suspended, and a military-police regime was introduced. This included the militarization of workplaces, the imposition of curfews, restrictions on movement and communication, and harsh penalties for organizing protests or printing underground publications. \n \nUnion leaders, including key figures of Western Pomerania\u2019s \u201cSolidarity,\u201d were interned and placed in detention centers. Strikes organized by activists who remained at liberty \u2014 including the protest at the Adolf Warski Szczecin Shipyard \u2014 were crushed by force, with the use of militia and army units.<\/p>\n\n

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More:<\/p>\n\n

Robert Ko\u015bcielny, Wiosna wolnych Polak\u00f3w. Wersja szczeci\u0144ska<\/em>, Warszawa: Wydawnictwa Drugie 2017.<\/p>\n\n

Zdzis\u0142aw Matusewicz, Szczecin 1980\u20131981. Rewolucja \u201eSolidarno\u015bci\u201d<\/em>, Szczecin: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Szczeci\u0144skiego 1997.<\/p>\n\n

Micha\u0142 Siedziako, Marian Jurczyk (1935\u20132014). Biografia polityczna szczeci\u0144skiej legendy \u201eSolidarno\u015bci\u201d<\/em>, Gda\u0144sk: Europejskie Centrum Solidarno\u015bci 2014.<\/p>\n\n

Ma\u0142gorzata Szejnert, Tomasz Zalewski, Szczecin: Grudzie\u0144 \u2013 Sierpie\u0144 \u2013 Grudzie\u0144<\/em>, Szczecin: Wydawnictwo Walkowska 2008.<\/p>\n\n

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