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Labour Focus on Eastern Europe, Vol. 2 No. 2, May–June 1978, pp. 19–20.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’ Callaghan for the Encyclopaedia of Trotskyism On-Line (ETOL).
On 23 February some workers in the Polish mining centre of Katowice announced the formation of a Committee for the Creation of Free Trade Unions. The authorities responded swiftly by trying to suppress the organization. According to the Guardian, 1 March, one of the members of the committee, Andrzej Czuna, was sacked from his job. Another member, Kazimierz Switon, was arrested and held by the police for 48 hours before being released. Jacek Kuron has denounced this repression as well as the harassment of members and sympathizers of the KOR.
The Committee has, nevertheless, continued to operate. The Paris daily Rouge reported on 17 April that the Committee has launched an appeal to Polish workers to create cells in their factories to discuss the statutes and programme of the Committee and to organize a struggle against exploitation and against the humiliation of workers at work. The appeal says that unions must be created to “defend the interests of workers and to obtain just wages”. They must fight for a 40-hour week and for 2 rest days per week, and they must oppose the small groups in the Party who “exploit the labour of the whole Polish nation”.
Little news has reached the West about the composition and activities of the Committee. But the creation of the Committee is a significant new development in Polish politics. While the dissident movement in Poland has concentrated almost entirely on the struggle for civil liberties there has been a very widespread and deep-going frustration amongst Polish workers with their economic and social situation. The appeal by the Trade Union Committee is the first initiative that focuses attention mainly on these problems.
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Last updated: 15 February 2023