Lublin 1980 Strikes - Lublin Strikes

Lublin Strikes

First strike in the area of Lublin took place on July 8, 1980, in the State Aviation Works PZL in Świdnik, 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. 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 Gdańsk Shipyard in August 1980, but a month earlier in Lublin and Świdnik. Today, the factory in Świdnik is considered as the primary symbol of the social revolt of the year 1980, which led to the rise of Solidarity.

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 10.20 zlotys, to 18.10 zlotys. 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, Section W-340 was first, but after a few hours, the whole factory stopped working. On the same days, following Świdnik'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 Świdnik, headed by Zofia Bartkiewicz, which demanded economic concessions. The workers did not use the irritating word strike on purpose.

On the next day, during the meeting of the Politburo in Warsaw, Edward Gierek assured the apparatchiks that the difficulties were "temporary". Meanwhile, the strikes quickly 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.

On July 12, the Świdnik factory, after its demands had been met, ended the strike, 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. Lublin's rail workers began the strike on July 16 and, according to a legend, the railwaymen welded an engine to a track. Ultimately 150 factories employing 50,000 workers joined the strike, 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. According to the CIA report, the situation was so serious that military vehicles were delivering food to stores and hospitals.