[International Communication Agency, 1982]

Warsaw police equipped with helmets and special riot shields advance against demonstrators following the declaration of martial law. Below, the ever-present Solidarity slogan.

Faith and struggle: At left, worshippers before a reproduction of the Black Madonna at Czestochowa, the most cherished religious shrine in . Below, Poles reach out for leaflets from workers inside the Gdansk shipyards. At right, Solidairty headquarters on the day martial law was declared.

Solidarnosc. Solidarity. A sturdy In the 18th century they suffered The world workers’ word that traditionally has three successive partitions that witnesses a struggle signified the unity of working men and eliminated Poland from the map of women throughout the world. Today, Europe until 1918. for liberation Solidarity has a new meaning: Poland’s Poles were sustained through that is as old as quest for individual freedom. these decades of strife by their Poland is a nation that has been religious faith. Throughout Poland’s Poland itself forged in generations of struggle for history, the Roman freedom and self-determination. But has served as a protector of its culture, if history taught Poles to cherish tradition, even language. And the freedom, geography exposed them to Church continued to be a defen- repeated invasions by Germans from der of human rights and Polish identity the west and Russians from the east. in the postwar era. Today, 75 to 80 percent of Poland’s 36 million people wages and working conditions–were regime, pressured by the Soviet Union, are practicing Catholics. the demands of any free labor union refused to accept limitations on its Patriotism, religious faith, a throughout the world. power or a tolerance of pluralism. tradition of resistance to oppression, Because Solidarity reflected the Instead, the regime resorted to these are values that have united aspirations of the Polish people for force, playing the role of Poland’s Poles for centuries. Today, they are self-determination, the Communist historic foreign oppressors by the values embodied in Solidarity. Party perceived it as a threat to the instituting martial law, banning Solidarity is, first and foremost, a continuation of single-party rule. In Solidarity and imprisoning its leaders. labor movement: It arose from the short, it was a genuine working-class And once again, it was the Church accumulated grievances of workers movement that threatened Commu- which spoke for the Polish people: exploited by a state that ruled in the nist leadership-the self-appointed, “Our suffering,” said Poland’s name of the working class. Its self-perpetuating representatives of the bishops, “is that of the entire nation, demands–the right to strike, better working class. In the end, the Polish terrorized by military force.” 5 Poznan and other cities. The regime sion and economic failure. Intellectuals and violently suppressed the demonstra- students called for political reforms, includ- SOLIDARITY: tions; and in the fall, Wladyslaw ing an end to censorship. They failed to win A response to Gomulka took power during the support from the workers, however, and the “Polish October,” a period of relaxed regime suppressed efforts at liberalization, decades of political political and cultural controls. forcing many scholars, artists and other in- and economic 1968. The freedoms of the “Pol- tellectuals to emigrate. failure ish October” were only a memory, re- 1970. With Poland’s economy falter- placed with more familiar political repres- ing, the government instituted frantic price increases, triggering strikes and factory Although Solidarity seemed to rise to shutdowns in cities along the Baltic coast. prominence with incredible swiftness, its As strikes continued, demonstrators began roots can be traced back to the devastation attacking Communist Party headquarters. of World War II, to Soviet occupation, and In one of the darkest moments of postwar to the imposition of a Communist govern- Polish history, the regime ordered soldiers ment controlled by Moscow. It emerged to fire on workers; dozens, perhaps hun- because Poland was oppressed by a regime dreds died-the government never gave a unable to provide either bread or freedom. full accounting. 1956. Polish workers protested But Poles never forgot the food shortages and high prices in Lech Walesa, flanked by banners and flags, speaks to a gathering of Polish workers.

Poles gather at the Gdansk shipyard gates for the dedication of the towers commemorating those who died in the 1970 protests. events of 1970, and 10 years later, economy nor controlled Poland’s and harassment of protesting workers workers in Gdansk commemorated growing national debt. He succeeded led to the founding of the Committee those who died in 1970 by erecting only in building large, ill-conceived for Worker’s Defense, later renamed three towers with intertwined anchors export industries, impoverishing agri- the Committee for Social Self- resembling crosses. culture, and importing a flood of con- Defense (KOR). KOR bridged, at last, 1976. Edward Gierek had re- sumer goods that, in many cases, en- the division between intellectuals and placed Gomulka in 1970, but eco- riched just the privileged few. Once workers; four years later, both groups nomic mismanagement continued. again sudden price increases sparked stood united in their confrontation Gierek neither decentralized the protests. The subsequent repression with the regime.

Polish steelworkers march under the Solidarity banner.

7 Epic days of joined by striking miners in Silesia. An elec- carried Sunday church services for the first trician named Lech Walesa climbed over a time; new passport regulations enabled confrontation and fence to join the Gdansk strikers, and soon Poles to travel more freely; writers, triumph found himself negotiating with the govern- scholars, artists and filmmakers began ment as the representative for more than exploring a world whose boundaries had one-half million workers. With patience, de- suddenly broadened. Two events set the stage for the dramatic termination, and a refusal to be intimidated, Solidarity grew to a membership of 10 emergence of Solidarity: one unprecedented, Walesa and his negotiating team won virtu- million: Together, union members and their the other familiar. The unprecedented occur- ally all their demands. Among the most sig- families comprised a majority of Poland’s rence was the 1979 visit of Pope John Paul nificant: the right to an independent union, population. Farmers organized and won ap- II to his homeland, a moment of immense the right to strike, a relaxation of censorship proval for a rural counterpart to Solidarity. national pride for the Polish people. and more freedom for the Church. At the same time, some 900,000 Poles quit The other event was a 1980 decree rais- he historic Gdansk agreements of the Communist Party, and dozens of corrupt ing meat prices. Polish workers rose in pro- August 1980 signaled an extraordinary, officials were forced from positions of au- test, but instead of marching in the streets, long-awaited flowering of freedom in thority. they remained in the factories and conducted Poland. Solidarity gained rights taken for Poland was a nation where freedom was peaceful sit-in demonstrations. The strikes granted elsewhere: It published its own no longer an abstraction, but a daily reality spread, and shipyard workers in Gdansk were newspaper; the state television network in the lives of millions.

Above, crowd gathers to read leaflets offering best wishes to Solidarity. At right, Poles assemble at the gates of the Gdansk shipyard to show their support for striking workersmassed inside the yard. Negotiations conducted there led to the historic Gdansk Accords that recognized Solidarity as an independent union.

Gdansk shipyard workers (top) eye passing members of Poland’s security forces. Above, workers carry an exhuberant Walesa on their shoulders following negotiations that produced the Gdansk Accords.

For a discredited, beleaguered regime, the only goal is survival Publicly, the Polish government endorsed a dialogue with the representatives of Solidarity and the Church. But in practice they proved unwilling to implement their promises of reform, and unable to recon- cile themselves to sharing power with groups they could not dominate, In fact, the Communist Party was so demoralized and unstable that it could barely manage its own internal affairs. Party leader Stanislaw Kania, who had replaced Edward Gierek in September 1980, was in turn superseded in October 1981 by General , who already held the offices of Premier and Defense Minister. For their part, the Soviets engaged in continual, undisguised intervention in Polish affairs. They leveled a steady barrage of false or wildly overblown charges at Solidarity, repeatedly de- manded suppression of the Solidarity movement, and conducted intimidating military exercises that underscored the threat of invasion. With the party in disarray, the economy in shambles and the Soviets demanding action, Jaruzelski resorted to his last bastion of support, the military and security forces. On December 13, 1981, the martial-law regime plunged Poland into a new round of fear and repression.

Woman carries candle in a church procession for the Black Madonna. The date: December 13 1981, the first day of martial law.

Riot squads confront demonstrators at the Warsaw Academy of Science, where police arrested 300 students and professors and took them to detention camps.

Gdansk, December 16, 1981: Soldiers in tanks have smashed through the gate sof the shipyard and occupied it. The yards did no The final appeal of the regime was neither to patriotism nor Marxism, but to force

The attacks were swift, efficient and harsh. As many as 5,000 Solidarity members, including Walesa, were detained and thrown into internment camps. Many suffered through the winter months with little protection from the bitter cold. Authorities cut domestic and international telephone and telex services, imposed curfews, restricted all travel and tightened press censorship. The government tried to minimize the resistance and violence that accom- panied martial law, but both were wide- spread. Workers occupied factories throughout Poland; police and militia responded by smashing through gates and subduing protesters with force. At the height of the protests in Gdansk, security forces fired riot-control grenades at protesters. In Gdansk, riot police used tear gas and truncheons to halt demonstra- tions by as many as 40,000 persons. In the first days of martial law, the toll in Gdansk alone was one dead and 600 wounded.

Member of the Polish militia with helmet and riot shield prepares to advance against martial-law demonstrators. did not reopens until after Christmas

13 Armored vehicle leads police raid on the Academy of Science in Warsaw. Warsaw and Katowice: repression and resistance

In Warsaw, riot police, supported by armored vehicles and trucks with water cannons, suppressed street demonstra- tions, even firing tear gas into churches to flush out protesters. At Warsaw Univ-ersity, the Academy of Science and the Huta Warszawa steel mill the pattern was the same: an assault by security forces to disperse strikers, followed by the arrest of Solidarity leaders. The bloodiest confrontation oc- curred in the mining town of Katowice, a Solidarity stronghold. When police and militia attempted to occupy the Wujek mine there, the miners fought them off with axes, clubs and pneu- matic drills. Special paramilitary police units rushed to the scene and opened fire, killing seven; two more died in the following weeks. Injured miners and medical personnel also were beaten by police, according to numerous eyewit- ness accounts.

In Katowice, flowers, candles and miners’ hard hats serve as a memorial to those who died resist-ing the assault by police and security forces. 15 between the government and Solidarity, of historic dates serve to illuminate the and many workers follow the suggestions hostility of the Polish people toward the of the anti-regime Social Resistance Circle regime. May Day 1982 produced a large, (KOS): “Work like a snail. Behave in a pro-Solidarity march in Warsaw; two days passive way .... Break all the idiotic rules later, on the anniversary of Poland’s first made by the military council.” liberal constitution in 1791, angry demon- Life under martial Solidarity has gone underground, strations broke out in a number of cities, law: dissidence and trying to operate much as it did before resulting in more than 1,000 arrests. privation August 1980. Couriers deliver messages, Solidarity members have even suc- and thousands help print and distribute ceeded in making clandestine radio broad- leaflets and other publications rallying casts calling for continued resistance to Despite the estimated 2,000 dissidents support for Solidarity and reporting martial law and reporting on conditions in and Solidarity members still imprisoned, incidents of repression. Some are single the internment camps. Radio Solidarity’s Poles continue to demonstrate their typewritten sheets, but several, such as theme music: a popular song of anti-Nazi opposition to the martial law regime in News of the Day in Warsaw, appear regu- resistance fighters during World War II. hundreds of daily individual acts. larly enough to be called newspapers. The response of the Jaruzelski govern- Church leaders speak out for a dialogue State holidays and commemorations ment follows a familiar pattern: For families such as the one shown below, martial law has added political oppression to the unrelenting burdens imposed by the regime’s economic failures. Many churches (center) have become repositories for shipments of food and other goods sent from the West by relatives and foreign relief agencies. Bottom, soldiers on a city street are a daily reminder of martial law.

At left, one of the many internment camps where Solidarity members and other protesters are still imprisoned months after the imposition of martial law, all without having any formal charges brought against them. Below, food line stretches along a Warsaw street.

It floats tentative plans for restoration of a “reformed” Solidarity while handing out harsh sentences to anyone caught distribut- ing anti-government publications. It talks of reconciliation, but announces a compulsory -labor provision for all males aged 18 to 45 that is reminiscent of the Stalinist era. The martial-law regime continues to offer promises of economic reform, but it has only succeeded in providing scarcity at higher prices. In March 1982, the regime announced the greatest price increases in postwar Polish history; the cost of basic foods such as sausage, potatoes and bread doubled or even tripled. Despite such measures, shortages, food lines and ration- ing remain a way of life. For some Poles, the only recourse is exile

In pain and disillusion, thousands of people, as in the Czarist past, have left Poland for the uncertainties and wrenc- hing adjustments to life apart from their homeland. Many were outside the country when martial law was declared and decided not to return. Since martial law, Poland’s borders have been sealed, and few have been able to leave the country. Many Polish refugees hold temporary visas and are housed in Austrian transit camps; hundreds have applied for permanent residence abroad. In Washington, the Polish ambas- sador to the , Rornuald Spasowski, resigned and asked for political asylum. “I cannot be silent,” he stated. “I shall not have any associa- tion... with the authorities responsible for this brutality and inhumanity.” The ambassador to Japan, Zdzislaw Rurarz, sought asylum as well: “Poland today is not my Poland. The Polish people are being punished for the crimes commit- ted by the Polish government.” And writer Czeslaw Milosz, winner of the 1980 Nobel Prize for Literature, stated: “Last summer, after 30 years of exile, I returned to Poland. But after what happened in December, I am again a poet in exile.”

Polish refugees in the Traiskirchen transit camp in Austria: Their grim choices are uncertain futures in foreign lands, or a return to the bleak repression of Poland under martial law. New arrival at Traiskirchen: Many Poles seek political Exiles new and old: Former Polish Ambassador asylum in Austria or West Germany; some have to the United States, Romuald Spasowski (top); obtained visas for other West European countries, Nobel laureateCzeslaw Milosz. Australia, Canada, or the United States.

19 Below, rallies for Solidarity in Tokyo and ...

The world is watching

Tokyo. London. New York. Paris. Washington. Madrid. Stockholm. Chicago. Sydney. Bonn. Brussels. Lisbon. Rome.

In cities such as these throughout Europe and other parts of the world, thousands of ordinary citizens–many of them union members themselves–have rallied to show their own solidarity with the 10 million members of Poland’s Solidarity Union, and with the thousands who have been imprisoned under martial law. Such rallies, many of which were sponsored by member unions of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, serve as a massive indictment of a regime, claiming to represent workers, that has repressed an authentic workers’ movementand then turned to the Soviet Union for support. These worldwide demonstrations also insure that neither silence nor censorship will allow the repression of the Polish people to go unchallenged. ...in New York City...... in paris and in Chicago.

21 “The age-old lesson of history is that “On the 13th of December last year, we the human spirit will not live in chains. once again witnessed the failure of the In Poland today, the flame of freedom Communist system accept a process of may seem to burn less brightly, but it national renewal and reform.” has not been extinguished, nor can it be. Prime Minister Kare Willoch, Norway

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, United Kingdom

“Now and always the Portuguese “Men of goodwill throughout the world people will stand beside the Polish deplore the present situation in Poland people and all those whose freedom has and ... search for an avenue which been destroyed. leads to genuine stability and prosper- ity in Poland.”

Prime Minister Pinto Balsemao, Portugal Prime Minister Zenko Suzuki, Japan

A world appeal for an end to martial law

In an unprecedented satellite television broadcast entitled “Let Poland Be Poland,” fifteen European and other leaders expressed their support for the people of Poland and called for the “I would like to add my voice to those “I am convinced that all democratic lifting of martial law. The leaders of other countries to ask the nations must show an attitude of unity broadcast was seen, in whole military authorities... to abolish the and firmness in the face of the Polish or in part, by more than 180 state of martial law which currently crisis and the Soviet responsibilities million people in 43 suppresses the most profound aspira- related to it.” countries. tions of the Polish people.” Prime Minister Pierre Werner, Luxembourg Prime Minister Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo, Spain “Solidarity symbolizes the struggle of “The Polish people have often, through “The repression in Poland concerns us real workers in a so-called workers’ ages, suffered from despotism, but never all. The Poles must be allowed to build state for fundamental human and has the soul surrendered. Their hope for their own way of life without interference economic rights... the right to assemble, freedom will give them strength to or coercion.” the right to strike, and the right to endure and survive.” freedom of expression.” Prime Minister John Malcolm Fraser, Australia Prime Minister Gunnar Thoroddsen, Iceland

President Ronald Reagan United States

“The days go by and the basic condi- “In the name of all Canadians, I fer- “We had hoped that the Polish people tions of freedom of which the labor vently call upon the government of would be able to progress on the path of movement has been deprived are not Poland to bring an end to martial law renewal and reform, which had started in being restored to that great nation.” and to open the way to national renewal the summer of 1980, without foreign and reconciliation.” interference.” Prime Minister Giovanni Spadolini, Italy

Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Canada Prime Minister Buient Ulusu, Turkey

“ThePolish people ... need to know that “The suppression of freedom in Poland is “Poland recalls to us the value, and also the political and moral pressure of a grave moral challenge to all those in the fragility, of what we have to repre- international public opinion will not the world who stand for humanity and sent and defend.” cease until they have regained the use of freedom.” the labor union rights wrested by the Prime Minister Wilfried Martens, Belgium workers and farmers these past few Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, Federal Republic of Germany years.” President Franqois Mitterrand, France Warsaw in May: top, police disperse crowd with water cannon; above, mass protest demonstration. curfews. During the annual May Day police throughout the night. Violent parade in Warsaw, more than 20,000 Poles confrontations also occurred in Gdansk, defied the regime by conducting their own Szczecin, Krakow, Lublin and other cities. ...Poland 1982 march with Solidarity banners and chants The regime tried to blame the May of “End martial law” and “Free Lech disturbances on Western intervention, a Walesa.” charge leveled without even an attempt at The marches and protests of May again May Day was peaceful, but violence substantiation. But the wellspring of vividly demonstrated the failure of the broke out later when police used tear gas, discontent runs much deeper than the martial-law regime to win the support of clubs and water cannons mounted on regime acknowledges. The Polish people, the Polish people, despite such gestures as trucks to break up a gathering in the Old as the May demonstrations revealed, have the release of 1,000 political prisoners and Town section of Warsaw. Small groups of forgotten neither Solidarity nor what it a temporary suspension of nighttime demonstrators fought sporadically with represents. ENDURING requires one to laud the Jaruzelski regime’s THE DARKNESS OF high-mindedness in doing the Soviets’ dirty work for them in returning the Polish people to MARTIAL LAW the oppression that they had struggled so The present Government of the people in valiantly to escape. Poland rests on the alliance of workers and Fourth, the myth that events in Poland are working peasants. In this alliance the leading purely an internal matter. This assertion ignores role belongs to the workers, who are the an inconvenient fact: Poland and the Soviet leading class of society.... Union are signatories to the Helsinki Final Act These are the words of the preamble to the of 1975, which obligates all parties to respect Editor: Howard Cincotta each nation’s right to develop its own political Constitution of the Polish People’s Republic. Deputy Editor: Adrienne Price Poland today is a country oppressed by a and economic system without interference. The Art Director: Robert Banks regime responsible for an economic fiasco, establishment of martial law, the imprisonment Editorial Assistant: Diane Lewis divided internally fearful of its citizens, and of thousands, and the deprivation of freedoms accountable only to the Soviet Union. Its lone for all is the clearest possible example of a Photos: success has been the forcible repression of deliberate and conscious violation of the Front cover, Liaison / Bulka. Poland’s first postwar mass workers’ move- Helsinki Final Act. Inside Front cover-1, ment. Poland is a challenge to the principles of Gamma-Liaison / Czarnecki. 2,Sygma / Rancinan. The Soviet Union attempts to rationalize civilized international conduct, and to the 3, Photoreporters. political will of independent nations every- its constant meddling in Polish affairs by 4, top left-Contact Press endlessly stressing Poland’s “fraternal ties” to where. In meeting this challenge, the United Images / Fishman, Moscow. As part of this effort, Polish and States has joined with the nations of the Atlantic top right-Contact Press Soviet authorities have tried to exploit four Community, and many others around the world, Images / Burnett, myths about recent events. to demand the lifting of martial law, the release bottom-Sygma / Keler. First, that Solidarity, through its “ex- of all political prisoners, and the reestablish- 5, Gamma-Liaison / Hires. cesses,” was responsible for its own downfall. ment of dialogue and reconciliation among all 6-7, top left-Liaison / Bulka, The facts are otherwise. The claim that strikes sectors of Polish society, including Solidarity top right--Sygma / Philippot, bottom-Contact Press by Solidarity created Poland’s economic and the Church. In short, the Polish people must Images / Fishman. be allowed to determine their own future, free turmoil ignores the simple truth that much of 8, top-Contact Press the labor unrest arose as a result of the from fear and outside coercion. To underline its Images / Fishman, economic chaos caused by decades of govern- condemnation of martial law and Soviet bottom left--Sygma / Dejean, ment ineptitude and corruption. interference in Poland, the United States, along bottom right- Visions / Damien. Lech Walesa and other Solidarity leaders with other nations, has imposed a series of 9, Sygma / Atian. worked continuously to halt strikes and economic sanctions-including trade and credit 10, Contact Press Images / Burnett. encourage a return to work following the restrictions-on both countries. 11, Photoreporters August 1980 accords. Strikes affected only a If the Polish regime undertakes a program 12, Liaison / Czarnecki. 13, top-Sygma, small proportion of workers after March 1981, of genuine reconciliation, the United States, bottom-Sygma. together with Western Europe and other and the government’s own statistics showed a 14-15, left-Photoreporters, steady increase in overall production. By nations, stands ready to aid Poland in eliminat- right-Sygma. contrast, the Jaruzelski regime never accepted ing agricultural shortages and reducing its 16, Photoreporters. Solidarity as a legitimate union, and it height- foreign debt. And the American people, as in 17, top left-Contact Press ened tensions when it attempted to repudiate the past, will continue to provide food and Images / Fishman, the heart of the Gdansk agreement by introduc- humanitarian aid directly to the people through top right-Nisions / Riboud, ing a law to forbid strikes. private agencies. But the United States will not bottom right-Black Star / Niedenthal, A second myth is that the Soviet Union supply credits or other forms of assistance that bottom-Liaison Czarnecki / Hires. 18, top-Visions LeScour / Ana, did not intervene in Poland. Any impartial serve only to prop up a regime imposed on the middle-Visions Bisson, Polish people against their will. review of the record reveal a continuous Soviet bottom-Gamma-Liaison / Wildenberg. campaign of threatening military maneuvers, The restoration of an independent, strong 19, left-Visions / Bisson, verbal intimidation, and fabricated accusations Poland is a matter which concerns not only the top right-Liaison / Halstead, directed at Solidarity. Western observers agree Poles but all of us .... For the workers of all the bottom right-Sygma / Zimberoff. that secret preparations for martial law began rest of Europe need the independence of 20, bottom left--Sygma Franken, as early as March 1981; the martial law decree Poland just as much as the Polish workers top right-Eiji Miyazawa Black Star, es. itself was printed in the Soviet Union in Sept- themselves. bottom right-Liaison / Jordan. ember; and the Warsaw Pact Commander Friedrich Engels wrote those words in the 21, left-Visions /Jacobson, top right-Sygma / Franken, -in-Chief, Viktor Kulikov, and other senior introduction to the Polish edition of The bottom right-Robert Lightfoot. Communist Manifesto. Those outside Poland at Soviet military officers, were in Warsaw when 22-23, Carol Hightower. martial law was declared. can cite such passages, acknowledging the 24, Photoreporters (2). As one Soviet speaker admitted publicly: heavy irony of a nation that oppresses its Back cover, posters by: Jan Sawka, Martial law had been “brilliantly conspired.” workers in the name of a workers’ state. But photographs by: Krawczyk. e, A third myth is that Poland’s rulers acted Poles cannot afford the luxury of irony. They ve out of patriotism, to pre-empt a Soviet inva- live the tragedy of Communist failure every International sion. This particular example of double-think day. w Communication Agency, United States of America Images of Poland yesterday and today

These posters are the work of a Polish artist, Jan Sawka, who left Poland in 1976 in search of greater artistic freedom. In the fall of 1981, Solidarity called and asked him to create a poster celebrating its union movement.

He did, but the poster was confiscated and destroyed when he sent it to Poland. So Sawka reproduced the poster (top), and then executed another (above)– his vision of Poland under martial law.