PIOTR KOZLOWSKI and Marek Garztecki have spent the last few weeks touring Britain to build support for Solidarnosc in the labour movement. Kozlowski was a senior steward in the Ursus tractor plant; Garztecki a journalist and broadcaster with Warsaw Radio, and also a shop steward.
explain is that Solidarnosc was a genuine mass workers' organisation under the control of its members. by anybody.
and development of Solidarnosc in an interDES METEYARD for Socialist Challenge.
Piotr, can you explain how Solidarnosc came into existence in Ursus?
PK: Ursus is about eight kilometres outside Warsaw. so in one sense it is a bit cut off. But Warsaw, although it's the capital, has never been a main centre of working class activity. Il was actually from Solidarnosc sprang up throughout the central Mazowsze region.
You have to go back to the 1976 strike, in which workers trom Ursus played a leading part. general. Solidarnosc took root most quickly where these problems already been aired.
thing yUU should know is that were all pretty young at the time of the 1976 strike. We DeaT many years of repression, and so were more prepared to do something ADE HE There were a group of us wno started to meet tor discussion. People like Zbigniew Bujak, who became the regional of ROSCA Loignlew Janas, lne head of Solidarnose in UrCzerwinski; as well as myself. KOR. literature through the One of the points they are most anxious to As such it could not be manipulated This is how they described the emergence TIERNEY and MARTIN Strange Sa ihings the most important KOR gave us were official documents like the Polish constitution and the Labour Code. It was the first time we'd been able to read Lena authorities Just used 1o quote extracts at us out ot context. This was the first chance workers at Ursus ever had to find out about their real rights. We also ‚official tion, Poland's debts to the West - that kind of thing. So a lot was going on at Ursus well before August 1980. For instance, we had three strikes earlier in the year which reported. held meetings during the stoppages, from talking 1D0BL basic living condi tions we rapidly got on to more political questions. He merla one When the workers of Gdansk went on strike, we were organised enough to Ine probiem unco-ordinated stoppazes. musicau we sell! delegates to Gdansk who took part in the Hiccus that agreed the demands. We decided to wait for them to report back going sirike use threat was enough.
Kozlowski, third from right, links arms with Ellen Monaghan (Lee Jeans)
After the Gdansk Agreements were signed, it was suggested Inal ine right to form free trade unions only applied to the Baltic Coast. That's when we had to act quickly.
war we ala was to sel up a 'Founding Committee' union. Our small group went round the whole factory - that's about 10,000 workers and in each section we addressed mass meetings to explain the situation. Each time we asked the meeting select delegates (depending on the size of the section) to go to une mounang com mittee.
One thing we asked them to make sure was that these delegates had not been involved in corruption in any way; also, Could be people linked to the official unions. so most of them turned out to be very Jallas tor stance, whom I mentioned , is only 28.
Within couple of days the was together and functioning. We had to do it very quickly before the government had a chance to react and clamp down again. So that the union existed.
How the union develop then?
MG: After that the crucial thing was waiting to see if they would register the union officialand recognise statutes. As you know there were a lot _oI propens - but finally it was done.
PK: In Ursus we set a date in mid-December 101 0i U per union elections. Each section held meeting to elect representatives to function at three separate levels: the section, the department, and the factory as a whole. So the committees at each level were all made up of directly elected representatives, and no one could hold a more than level. here was too muc! work involved for anyone to do more than one job properly.
instance, each departmental committee had separate commissions deal with health and safety problems; pay and conditions;
culture allu sport; and housing. And che tactory committee had no less than twelve commissions dealing specific questions. Then inere were hic sions, which meant you had to go to the regional office in Warsaw.... MG: It was the same with us. was on comas. Sion dealing music alle Lidl the whole evening happening the old official unions while all this was going on?
MG: They still existed. After all, they had a huge ap pracus hundreds paid fulltimers, and told weaton and resoures.
wealth and resources PK: We didn't have a closea snop, our 1 represenice 1,180 of the 1,200 WORKCH department. That's quite a few CIA agents, isn't it!
Overall would say that around 15,000 out of the 18,000 workers in UrSolidarnosc Sus and many weren't in any union al all. by last sum mer perhaps 500 were still members of the official union. But of course Ursus wangh old of the working wasn't class.
In smaller factories the official unions were stronger. As general rule, you could say that the bigger the factory the more support there was for Solidarnosc. Piotr Kozlowski than two two-year terms. • Or une tirst you could be declared elected it the position hac been uncontested And you had to win fifty per cent of the votes plus one to get in. ror a secon term, you had to get seventy five per cent of the vote plus five We could get paid time off work for union business, but this certainly wasn't a privilege. For example, as a representative at the denartmental level was paid by the company SALI UHOE work a month. The rest of the time I did my job as normal.
But my wage dropped didn't quality for bonuses quarter because or anything like that. In fact some of my colleagues who worked quite a bit of overtime ended up almost twice what I got. There were no perks, ochieve me other thing should mention: al every level we also elected a body known as the review commission which acted as sort of watchdog on behalf of the members. It had free all documents, books and so on. This was true even at a national level The nacommittee had to documents fourteen regional colluss ons askcu lo m spect these papers.
MG: myself was member of such a review commission. was elected mid-term the old Was recalled and replaced by the members.
PK: That's another point • elected bodies at every level could be recalled on the demand of only twenty five per cent of their electorate. That's because thought that making it fifty per cent would make it much easier tor deople lo Socialist Challenge take advantage of apathy to hold on to their positions. It would have made the union vulnerable manoeuvres.
Of course, you can say that perhaps we were tak ing things a bịt too far. Bu: after thirty-six years of no democracy all, wanted go as far possible towards total democracy.
MG: It had some fairly startling results, months after Solidarnosc was formally established, no more than fifty per of the Their posts. If they did the been elected still held slightest thing he wrong the! were out. workers simply weren't prepared to settle anything Besi than total democracy Elections were held on the basis of who would best defend workers CY O1 presented yourself and would then be grilled on all sorts of questions sometimes very personal. such as vou drinking habits! It would take up at least an hour of the mass meeting.
In some ways Solidarwas obsessed with
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Ursus that
Solidar- chairperson
was who was sell- ing out Poland.
make available if just one of the