Cold Open

It’s a cold morning on December 17th, 1970, at a rail station in port city of Gdynia, at the northern fringe of communist Poland.

Eighteen-year-old shipyard worker Zbyszek Godlewski walks across the platform, boarding his train to work.

As he takes a seat, he greets his coworkers who are already packed inside. It’s been a few days since they all commuted together like this.

Like many other industrial workers around Poland, the workers at Gdynia Shipyard have been on strike, protesting the communist government’s recent increase in food prices and calling for higher wages. Elsewhere, the clashes between protestors and the government have started to escalate, growing increasingly violent. In the neighboring city of Gdańsk, the police have turned to brute force and gunfire to control the outspoken demonstrators.

And yesterday, in a televised address, Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister urged the strikers to return to work. Amid the government’s crackdown, Gdinya’s weary workers have heeded this call. And today, Zbyszek’s commuter train is packed with dispirited men in grimy overalls.

Together, they muse upon what work will be like today, wondering what their bosses will say or do. Fresh out of high school, Zbyszek has no idea what to expect. But he’s about to find out.

The train lurches to a halt at the shipyard’s station, and its restless passengers pour out.

As Zbyszek joins the sea of workers making their way out of the station, a sudden burst of gunfire sends them scattering. Zbyszek looks ahead and seeing a line of soldiers, realizes they’re under attack by the Polish army.

Zbyszek is terrified as another volley of bullets is fired. He swivels frantically among a stampeding crowd, trying desperately to find cover. But it’s not possible. A bullet hits him, and Zbyszek slumps to the ground, his last cries scarcely audible of the din of the crowd, and a crack of riffles.

Zbyszek Godlewski will be just one of ten workers killed by the Polish armed forces as they emerge from their train. Similar scenes will unfold in neighboring areas as soldiers are ordered to crush any remaining protests, killing more than 40 workers and injuring 1,000 others in the process, only escalating the conflict.

The government’s violent act of retribution toward the laborers will spark widespread public outcry. The poignant image of six young men solemnly carrying Zbyszek’s lifeless body on their shoulders through the streets of Gdynia, leading a procession of enraged workers, will galvanize protesters around the country, inspiring them to continue their fight.

To pacify the rebelling workers, several senior members of the communist party will be forced to resign, including Poland’s de facto leader. Their replacements will promise to implement sweeping economic and political changes, including higher wages and lower prices. But as the Polish economy grows unstable, price hikes will continue, prompting further widespread strikes which will revolutionize Poland’s labor movement and lead to the Soviet bloc’s first independent trade union, after workers’ demands are met on August 31st, 1980.

Introduction

From Noiser and Airship, I’m Lindsay Graham and this is History Daily.

History is made every day. On this podcast—every day—we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world.

Today is August 31st, 1980: A Polish Labor Movement Sparks the Fall of Communism.

Act One

It’s August 7th, 1980, in Gdańsk, Poland, nearly a decade after the government’s attacks on protesting workers.

50-year-old Anna Walentynowicz marches through Lenin Shipyard, her blood boiling as she makes the familiar journey to its gates. Normally, she makes this walk with her coworkers. But today, she’s alone.

Until just a few minutes ago, the stout, bespectacled crane operator was one of the shipyard’s longest-serving employees. But her 30-year career abruptly ended today when management fired her for her anti-government activities.

In the 1950s, as Poland transitioned into a communist state, Anna became an enthusiastic member of the Communist Party. But as the years passed, she started to question the value of communism and the integrity of the party leaders. Then came the 1970 massacres that saw authorities kill dozens of Polish workers. And after the subsequent reforms promised by the government never quite materialized, Anna became disillusioned, and began her quest for workers’ rights.

As government opposition began sprouting throughout the country, she got involved in labor protests, eventually becoming a leader of them herself. As a widow with an adult son in the military, Anna felt free to take more political risks than many of her peers. Knowing any sacrifices forced upon her would affect her alone, she became uniquely outspoken in her activism.

Several years prior in 1968, when she discovered when one of her supervisors at the shipyard stole from a workers’ fund, she publicly accused him of embezzling money, bringing her harassment from Poland’s secret police, and earning her a reputation with her bosses as a troublemaker and a dissident. The shipyard tried to fire her over the incident, but Anna was saved by the support of her coworkers. And this incident only further galvanized her activism.

That same year, Anna joined the Free Trade Unions, an illegal underground organization formed in opposition to the government's control of the workplace and its suppression of workers' rights. She's been an active member ever since, letting her apartment be used as a meeting spot and frequently handing out their newspaper to her fellow workers at the shipyard.

But after years of searching for any reason to fire her, Anna's bosses finally found an opportunity. Earlier this month, Anna decided she wanted to make new candles for a memorial to the workers killed by government soldiers 10 years ago. When she went to collect candle stubs from a local cemetery, the authorities caught her in the act and charged her with petty theft, leading to the recent dismissal from the shipyard, just a few months ahead of her scheduled retirement.

So today, as Anna reaches the yard’s gates, she turns and looks at her former workplace. She wonders what her firing will do to the shipyard. She knows she’s not alone in her discontent, not by any means.

Since the late 1970s, tensions between workers and their communist government have been running high. The Polish economy is struggling. Huge amounts of foreign debt have plunged the country into a deep recession, and Poland’s working-class population has borne the brunt of that economic downturn.

Living standards have sharply declined. And with Poland forced to export any resource it can to help pay off its debts, essential goods have become heavily rationed and power outages have grown frequent. Last month, the government announced another increase in food prices, igniting even more outrage among workers whose already meager salaries are rapidly losing their value.

So as Anna begins her last journey home, she can only imagine how angry her coworkers will be when they learn what’s happened to her.

But in the end, Anna’s firing will spark more unrest than she ever could have anticipated. Despite her coworkers rallying behind her just two years earlier, her bosses at the shipyard will underestimate just how well-liked Anna is. A widely respected figure at Lenin Shipyard, her removal will enrage her former coworkers and propel them into action, fighting not just for her, but the entire labor force. Used as a pretext for an organized protest against the communist government, Anna’s dismissal will lead the shipyard’s workers to go on strike. In a determined bid for change, the demand to reinstate Anna will become just one of the workers’ many ambitious demands, which will come to transform Polish society, and even hasten the fall of communism across Eastern Europe.

Act Two

It’s dawn on August 14th, 1980, inside the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland, one week after Anna Walentynowicz was fired.

Jerzy Borowczak hurries across the quiet compound, just as the first rays of sunlight peek over the horizon. The 22-year-old worker pushes open the door to the shipyard’s locker room to find it empty.

Jerzy is the first worker in. He doesn’t usually come in this early, but today Jerzy has a special assignment. He’s part of a top-secret plan to organize the shipyard’s workers in a sit-in strike.

Since Poland’s economic crisis began, the working class has struggled to contend with ever-rising prices, stagnant wages, and the country’s widespread shortages of goods. Dissatisfaction has been rife, but for Jerzy and the other employees of Lenin Shipyard, the last straw came a week ago, when their fellow worker Anna was unfairly dismissed. Her firing has led those at the shipyard to organize and finally take group action.

Jerzy rummages through the dusty locker shelves, searching for the thick stack of flyers he hid there a few days ago. Each leaflet calls for the shipyard employees to protest Anna’s unfair firing, and the time has come to finally put them to use.

While he collects the flyers, Jerzy hears the heavy footsteps of workers approaching the locker room. As soon as they enter, Jerzy shouts “Strike!” at the top of his lungs, while eagerly thrusting the leaflets into their hands. Murmurs erupt as workers deliberate on their course of action, contemplating if it’s worth the potential retribution from their bosses or government again. But it doesn’t take long for many to decide to take the risk.

Just an hour later, Jerzy leads a column of nearly two hundred workers across the shipyard. As they march, the strikers shout their demands for higher wages and the right to organize an official, independent labor union. Their spirited chants attract more and more employees and the crowd of workers swells into the thousands, and the atmosphere is electric.

As the sea of workers approaches the shipyard director’s building, one of the strike’s main organizers, Lech Walesa darts to the head of the crowd, he clambers atop a bulldozer, and delivers a rousing speech, calling the shipyard workers to not give up their fight.

Having been recently fired himself for taking part in anti-government protests, Lech didn’t have easy access into the shipyard today. But he was finally able to scale one of its 12-foot walls, and he will stop at nothing to make sure today’s demonstration is a success.

Galvanized by Lech’s speech, the demonstrators begin to shout at the shipyard's director, chanting “Return Anna Walentynowicz!”. They demand that not only should she be reinstated, but that she is driven back to the shipyard in the director’s limousine.

Daunted by their passion and numbers, the shipyard’s management quickly relent. Anna is showered with flowers and applause as her chauffeur-driven car enters the yard’s gates. This small victory spurs the protestors on and also inspires others throughout Poland.

As news of their success spreads to industrial enterprises all around Gdansk, what began as a local movement snowballs into something far more significant. The shipyard employees initially only demanded a pay increase and the reinstatement of employees dismissed for political reasons. But as their strike entices others to rebel against their employers, they decide to join forces, forming a unified front through the creation of the Inter Factory Strike Committee with Lech Waleska at its head.

Emboldened, the Committee draws up a new list of 21 demands. Among them are the guaranteed right to strike, the right to freedom of speech and an uncensored media, the release of political prisoners, an increase in worker pay, better working conditions, and most controversial of all, the right to form free trade unions independent of the Communist Party.

These demands are shockingly bold. But as the shipyard workers’ strike continues, attracting more and more citizens to their cause, the government has no choice but to negotiate. For eight days, the workers and a government commission go back and forth.

All the while, outside the shipyard, the public will voice their overwhelming support for the workers. Well-wishers will crowd the yard’s gates which they adorn with flowers and flags. Women and children will wait for hours in the hot summer sun to pass food over the fence to their husbands, sons, and brothers. Priests will conduct religious masses, and a band of actors will even perform a medley of songs to uplift the workers’ spirits.

Faced by the collective will of the country’s working class, and with the Inter Factory Strike Committee showing no signs of relenting, the Polish government will have no choice but to give in to the workers’ demands.

Act Three

It’s the afternoon of August 31st, 1980, in a ceremonial hall inside Lenin Shipyard, eighteen days after its workers went on strike.

Inter Factory Strike Committee leader Lech Walesa sits behind a table on a makeshift stage, wearing a faded gray suit, and awkwardly grasping a sixteen-inch souvenir pen bearing the picture of the pope in his right hand.

This is the final time Lech will have to meet with the Polish government. After protracted discussions, its representatives will have finally agreed to grant 21 crucial rights to Poland’s workers.

A hush falls over the hall, crowded with workers who watch as Lech intently scrutinizes the sheaf of papers placed before him. As he reviews the agreement, vetting the 21 demands, a smile crosses his face at the hard-won results of their determination. As Lech signs the sheets, the hall bursts into thunderous applause, celebrating all the new liberties they have to look forward to.

Having gained the right to form independent trade unions separate from the communist party, the regional factions that participated in the workers’ strike will formally unite to establish “Solidarity,” the first independent labor union in the Soviet bloc.

Solidarity will gain immense popularity, attracting close to ten million members in less than a month. Under Lech’s charismatic leadership, the union will emerge as a formidable force in the labor movement. And the birth of this union will herald a new era of freedom, autonomy, and self-governance for the country’s working-class population. With an impressive eighty percent of Poland’s employees under its wing, Solidarity will dramatically change the course of politics in Poland.

As Solidarity's ranks swell, more and more Polish citizens will hold the Communist Party in open contempt. Relations between Solidarity and the Polish government will sour, hitting rock-bottom in December of 1981, when the union is banned after martial law is declared in Poland.

But under Lech’s leadership, Solidarity will covertly continue its activities underground. In 1988, deteriorating economic conditions will lead to a fresh wave of labor strikes across the country, forcing the Polish government to discuss radical reform with Solidarity and other opposition groups once again.

Re-granted its legal status, Solidarity will be invited to join the Communist Party in forming a coalition government. And in the subsequent election, Lech Walesa will become Poland’s first democratically elected president since 1926 and its first-ever president elected by popular vote.

It will be the first time that a communist government is peacefully overthrown in Eastern Europe. And the fall of communism in Poland will be a major blow to the Soviet Union. It will inspire other countries in the region to follow suit and, within a few years, communism will collapse all across Eastern Europe — an outcome set into motion, in part, by the revolutionary agreement signed between workers and the Polish government at the Lenin Shipyard on August 31st, 1980.

Outro

Next on History Daily. September 1st, 1972. Bobby Fischer becomes the first American to win the World Chess Championship, ending 24 years of Soviet dominance.

From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily, hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham.

Audio editing by Muhammad Shahzaib.

Sound design by Katrina Zemrak.

Music by Lindsay Graham.

This episode is written and researched by Rhea Purohit.

Executive Producers are Alexandra Currie-Buckner for Airship, and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.