The Katowice branch of the Institute of National Remembrance has prepared the regional part of the exhibition which presents the formation of new independent trade unions in Śląskie Voivodship and four local exhibitions focused on Tarnowskie Góry, Bielsko-Biała, Dąbrowa Górnicza and Jastrzębie-Zdrój.
- Our objective is to show that the birth of Solidarity was an event in which not only politicians took part and that decisions which led to the birth of Solidarity were made in places such as Jastrzębie-Zdrój - emphasized Dr. Andrzej Sznajder, Director of the Katowice Branch of the Institute of National Remembrance. - Jastrzębie-Zdrój played an important role in the historic event of the birth of Solidarity, because this is where the four agreements of August and September 1980 were signed, leading to the establishment of the first independent self-governing trade union that was able to operate lawfully under the regime of a communist state. Moreover, Jastrzębie-Zdrój was the very place where, on 28 August 1980, the strikes began that quickly spread to include other mines and large industrial plants - adds Dr. Andrzej Sznajder.
The purpose of the strikes in Jastrzębie was to demonstrate solidarity with the protesting workers of the Polish Coast, but also to draw attention to the irregularities in the organization of work in the mining industry. The agreement signed in Jastrzębie-Zdrój with the communist authorities was the third such agreement after the ones signed in Szczecin and Gdańsk. It included support for the 21 Gdańsk postulates, abolition of the 4-brigade system of work in the mining industry and introduction of non-working Saturdays from the beginning of 1981. In accordance with the provisions of the agreement, the Jastrzębie Inter-Company Strike Committee was transformed into the Inter-Company Workers’ Committee.
- It is beyond any doubt that we at the Manifest Lipcowy mine successfully overcame the resistance of the communist authorities, and I would like everyone to remember this fact - said Grzegorz Stawski, a signatory of the Jastrzębie Agreement. - Of course we felt fear, only a fool would not be afraid in those circumstances. However, in retrospect, I know it was worth it. Today I am a free man, and the opportunities our children and grandchildren currently have are completely different from what my generation had during the communist era - emphasizes Grzegorz Stawski.
The Jastrzębie Inter-Company Workers’ Committee became a key inter-company center of the newly established structures of trade unions in Katowickie Voivodship. The popularity and actual outreach of the Inter-Company Workers’ Committee quickly extended beyond the boundaries of Upper Silesia and the Dąbrowa Coal Basin region, resulting in new trade unions, created in mines all over the country, joining the Committee. Its representatives participated in the national-level meeting held on 17 September 1980 in Gdańsk, at which the structures of a new nationwide trade union were formed. The trade union took the name of the “Solidarity” Independent Self-Governing Trade Union.
- For this Solidarity, let me thank all of you, the participants of those strikes. I bow my head as a representative of the next generation that benefits from the outcome of your persistence, faith and solidarity - said Dr. Andrzej Sznajder, Director of the Katowice Branch of the Institute of National Remembrance.
The exhibition consists of a national part and regional and local parts presenting the emergence of Solidarity in almost every corner of Poland. The presentation of this cycle of exhibitions is coordinated under the slogan: “White and red route: This is where Solidarity was born”. The routes of all regional exhibitions will converge at the central exhibition which will be held in Warsaw on 28 August 2020. The descriptions of the exhibition are presented in Polish and English. The great victory of the Polish trade union Solidarity, both in the past and today, is a result of the involvement of millions of – mostly anonymous – individuals.
