A kind of revolution Some thoughts on solidarity. By LEONARD NEUGER
When strikes broke out
across Poland the autumn of 1980, it was difficult to find a name for the new
phenomenon. The story is simple
enough. In August 1980, a strike broke out at the shipyard in Gdansk. The
workers, who were among the fairly well paid, wanted a raise. In the People’s
Republic of Poland, such a matter was not difficult to resolve. Either one
agreed to the demands of the workers, or one called in the police, the
military; this had been done before and claimed victims. The workers demanded a
meeting with high-ranking politicians in order to solve the conflict, and the
politicians agreed to it.
But they were in for a surprise. The negotiations
took place in public: apart from the strike committee, other workers also
participated (through the internal radio at the shipyard). And the workers
moved between the room where the negotiations took place and other places in
the shipyard. Every decision made by the strikers’ committee was a joint
decision.
Among other things, it
transpired that a female worker had been sacked for political reasons. The
strike committee demanded that she be reinstated. The politicians agreed. But
it turned out that many of those who had cooperated with the workers at the
shipyard in Gdansk had been imprisoned, and the strike committee demanded that
the politicians free them, along with all other political prisoners.
The authorities would
not agree to this. Now the issue was no longer Gdansk, the shipyard or money.
It was no longer a strike, but a kind of revolution: all strike rules were
broken, it was no longer a struggle based on self-interest, and before the
politicians had time to find a solution (either agree to the demands or
suppress the revolt by force), strikes had broken out across the country,
primarily in big enterprises: mines, ironworks and other sectors of great
importance for the economy. In these cases as well, the strikers were among the
fairly well paid. Money and economic exchange ceased to be the foundation or
model for representation. Some strikes demanded compensation for low-wage
groups, instead of simply a rise in wages.
I am not going to
relate the whole history of the Solidarity movement. What I want to point out
here is that this is where the attachment, the inner connection contained in
the word solidarity is most clearly manifested. One begins by acting out of
self-interest, and suddenly this horizon is transcended. What was this new
phenomenon to be called?.. read more:
