27 was only 42.1%, even though Solidarnosc won 80% of the seats. Before and during the elections the North East of the country was paralyzed by the railway workers' strike — the first major strike since the Solidarnosc-supported government of Tadeusz Mazowiecki took office in September 1989. Lech
Walesa finally managed to convince the strikers to suspend their action - but only after 17 days of sharp conflict. In fact, despite the use of the entire arsenal of propaganda by the government, supported by the main trade union confederation, the movement of the Pomeranian railway workers was tending to spread.
CYRIL SMUGA
HE origins of the strike lay in
T the failure of the government to keep to an agreement made on
October 20 last year by the management of the Polish state railways
(PKP) and the union concerning, among other things, wages (Both Solidarnosc and the sectoral unions connected with the OPZZ (ex-official unions)
were involved in this agreement). But above all there was the increasing frustration, apparent throughout the country, of all those poorly paid wage owners who are suffering the effects of the government's
IMF dictated stabilization plan.
In the first four months of 1990 prices by nearly
260%, although the rose upward thrust of inflation slowed in
March and April. Industrial production fell in the same period by an average of
30%; in some sectors, such as light industry, by over 40%. Unemployment, a previously unknown phenomenon, has already affected 400,000 workers. And all this time nominal wages, held back by a fiscal mechanism inherited from preceding governments, have only risen by a few percent.
The movement was started by a group of railway workers who were Solidarnosc militants in the Slupsk region. After some warning actions that the authorities ignored, on May 10 nine railway workers began a hunger strike in the railway's regional offices in Slupsk. On May 19, the strike committee decided to prevent trains from leaving the Slupsk marshalling yard. This sparked off a broader movement. Delegations of railway workers from Gdynia, Radomsko, Poznan,
22 Szczecin and inowroclaw joined the
International Viewpoint #187. O June 18, 1990
Slupsk hunger strikes. Other hunger strikes began in Torun and Miastko.
The railway workers — following the tradition of 1980-81 — seized the PKP's means of communication and organized conferences by telephone link-ups. A central strike committee was established, based in Slupsk and putting forward 12 demands (see box).
The Solidarnose leadership was quick to react to the spread of the strike, distancing themselves from it at the same time as criticizing the government. On May 22, the union's national presidium stated: "The Slupsk railway" workers' strike is neither organized nor supported by Solidarnosc....However, our critical judgement of the strike does not mean that we do not see the reasons that have provoked it." The immediate result of this declaration was the spread of the strike to other centres. At Gdynia the strikers considered turning their strike into an active strike.
The government spokesperson, Malgorzata Niezabitowska declared: " A hunger strike is a form of struggle against a totalitarian state. Poland is a democratic country." An official from the finance ministry went further: "The strikers demands are very far reaching....Such a concession by the government could unleash a series of demands and strikes, the return of inflation and the return to production that does not correspond to the needs of the market. This would mean the failure of the government's economic programme and the end of foreign aid, which is very often conditional on the realization of this programme."2 Furthermore since the strike was not formally the strikers. While the latter two accepted, Walesa replied: "I think that your strike is justified, but I cannot reject the just arguments of the government.... Your protest is taking place outside all the union structures. This road leads in a bad direction....] am asking you to halt the strike through mediation and an agreement that will not call into question your pride and dignity."
To defend themselves from accusations of illegality, the strikers formed a national protest committee (KKP), inside which, for the first time, were found representatives of the OPZZ-affiliated union alongside the strike committee. The hunger strike was suspended, but the blockade of the trains continued. The strikers decided that if the negotiations were to be democratic, they should take place in their pres ence.
Government seizes on a pretext
The strike committee refused to go to Warsaw to meet a government delegation led by labour minister Jacek Kuron. Miodowicz and Jurczyk were mandated to put this position at the meeting in the capital. Miodowicz, ex-member of the politburo of the Polish United Workers Party (PUWP, the Polish communist party). mandated by the strikers! This gave the government a splendid pretext for ignoring the substance of the strike, while presenting it as manipulated by the old ruling elite.
As a journalist on the Solidarnosc daily remarked after the strike: "It was a good thing that Miodowicz and Jurczyk got involved in the railway strike. Faced with their old enemy Miodowicz, the railworkers' Solidarnosc organization, Walesa, the government and without doubt even some of the strikers, felt themselves once again in the same camp. The OPZZ-Solidarnosc division became superimposed on the original conflict between the workers and us Sovernment. It was this that saved
Gazeta Wyborcza published an instant poll which found that only 16% supported the strike and 62% condemned if. Appeals from various Solidarnosc structures multiplied, and were reproduced in the press and quoted in the media. One example was from the Solidarnosc leadership in Gdansk: "At the crucial moment 1. Gazela Wyborcza no.118, May 23, 1990. 2. Gazeta Wyborcza no.119, May 24, 1990. 3. Ibid. 4. Gazela Wyborcza no. 126, June 1, 1990.
The railway workers demands
1. That the transport minster presents urgently a clear and coherent programme for the restructuring of the PKP (Polish state rallways), leading to a radical transfer of administrative lobe to the operationa
POLAND militants — with whom he reached an agreement. Then he confronted the general assembly. The Solidarnosc daily paper reported these events: "The leaders of the union confederations excluded from the side, taking Into account the Ideas developed by the railway workers' union commission of Solldarnose In Slupsk. The representatives of this commission must take part in the development ol the progremme.
2. That the minimum levels of wages, pensions and family benefits should be such as to ensure decent living conditions.
3. That point 6 of the protocol of agreement from made in Warsaw on
October 20, 1989 should be Implemented, and in particular (a) that 90% of the wage is fixed; (b) that the varlable part of the wage corresponds to 20% of previous salary; (c) that price rises are automatlcally compensated by a wage rise, The average wage must be 110% of the national average wage, thanks to an across the board Increase to compensate for the rise in prices since April 1. This last point must be dealt with
Immediately
4, That a new salary scale should be presented to the unions before
June 15, 1990.
5. We demand payment for walting time at the statlon at the the same rate for operational time
6. We demand the suspension until September 1, 1990 of the rise In train fares both for people and goods.
7. We demand a rapid change in the PKP's economic system.
8. We demand the sacking of the PKP's director general, Janusz Glow-
9. The sacking of the PKP's reglonal director In Pomerania, Stelan
Maksymov.
10. Payment for days on strike, and a guarantee for the organizers of the strike, the hunger strikers and those who have taken part in the warning strikes, that there will be no repression againsi them.
11. A guarantee that the hunger strikers will be kept under medica observation at the expense of the enterprise and will be treated in a san-
12. The possibility to keep our colleagues Informed through the Intermedlary of the national media during the negotiations and at their confor the country, those who over the years supported the communist dictatorship now dare to place themselves at the head of the workers, and, profiting from the political and economic situation in the country, speak in their name....Comrade railway despite the justice of your
Different reactions from other Solidarnosc union structures were passed over.
The strike of railway workers in Bialograd for example was only mentioned when it was finished: "We, Solidarnos members and non-organized workers from Bialograd station, reject the position taken by the leadership of the Solidarnosc railway workers' union, which was not discussed with the workers. We demand that misinformation published in the press is corrected in the television news."'
Lech Walesa finally arrived in Slupsk on the night of May 26-27 to convince the workers to call off the strike. He explained his failure to do so on the TV: "When one is building democracy, when we are in the middle of the reform, at such a moment strikes, that type of solution to real problems, are against the reform and against democracy. In a word — this is leading to the destruction of the reform.
Logical arguments had reached the majority. Almost everyone was in agreement with me and we were getting to the point of bringing the strike to an end. Then three people got up on the podium. One of them said: 'If you stop the strike, then Czeslaw, who was on hunger strike with us, will immediately kill himself!' Another type from Slupsk said: 'If you stop the strike, Slupsk will continue it anyway.' This blackmail was effective, because the people were determined, since nobody had talked to them and they have been manipulated in this difficult situation. We cannot allow a few irresponsible elements to destroy our social gains. It is necessary either to give them what they want or put a stop to this strike immediately and in a decisive manner."
The KKP threatened to call for a general strike on the railways starting at midnight on May 29. Walesa came back to Slupsk on the night of Sunday May 27 to again try to stop the strike. He discussed with the president and vice-president of the strike committee — both Solidarnosc ment....'That's demagogy', Walesa interrupted them — It is useless to demand from this government, this government is not going to lie to us as your government did. It is going to realize all your demands but not in the way you propose: this government will sort everything out, for it is our goverment'.
Someone in the hall cried out: 'On TV you proposed the intervention of the police' "Yes," the ZOMO (police) should have thrown you out, just as they used to throw me out under your government. Then you would discuss in another way. Let us get this finished, I don't have much time. Your methods are criminal. But this time it is finished once and for all. In fact everyone who has supported this strike should be tried. Only a union has the right to begin a strike and we have to start constructing the law and not making a mock-
Solidarnosc supporters pushed to the limit
"Shouts in the hall: 'But, Mr. Walesa, this strike was started by Solidarnosc supporters pushed to the limit.' 'You are right, we did not pay attention to you. But we cannot lead Poland to ruin. What can you lose? Some honour, because the government did not come to you on its knees? Is that what you want? You have given a lesson both to the government, to Walesa, to the unions and to the types who have gone along with you. But do not destroy our country which is so poor. Do not ask the new Poland after nine months to have good, ready made solutions for everything. Let us put aside our ambitions. Let each return to their place."
Walesa and the strike committee published a communiqué announcing the ending of the strike: "We will advance together to the realization of the 12 demands and we are going to inform the prime minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki that the whole of society must bear the burden of the crisis equally."
But on May 31 Jacek Kuron announced in the name of the government that while wage rises were on the way in the public sector, the demand for the raising of the average national wage by 110% was no feasible. J 5. Such polls leave much to be desired — another foresaw a 61.5% turnout in the elections.
. Gazeta Wyborcza no. 121, May 26-27, 199(
I. Gazeta Wyborcza no. 122, May 28, 1990
8. According to the acount in Gazera Wyboraza a0 2 3
122, May 28, 1990. 9. Gazela Wyborcza no. 123, May 29, 1990. June 18, 1990 • #187 International Viewpoint