The 1980 Lenin Shipyard Protests

Chapter 4 of Victor Sebestyen’s ‘Revolution 1989’ looked at the 1980 protests of workers in communist Poland.

When Anna Walentynowycz, a ‘Hero of Socialist Labor’, was unfairly fired from her job of 30 years at the Lenin Shipyard, she and her fellow labourers decided to take a stand. 

On August 14^th 1980 after spread the news of the strike by distributing flyers throughout the costal town, Anna and her co-workers, along with the shipyard’s chiefs, waited anxiously to see who would show. At 6am, the first protestors arrived. One hundred workers began marching through the shipyard many holding signs calling for Anna to be reinstated. By 6.30am there were around 500 and they headed towards the exit of the shipyard to enter the city.

Here they paused remembering it was here where workers were killed for protesting 10 years earlier. The respected, Klemens Gniech, the shipyard’s director began to talk over the speakers encouraging the protestors to stop and negotiate.

After some hesitation the protesters decided they would strike and occupy the shipyard. Genich sent his car to collect Walentynowycz and negotiations began. The success of the strike has be narrowed down to the following reasons:
 
- the workers were protected as they could not be attacked on the streets
- it was too difficult and costly for the military to intervene at
- the management were unable to employ ‘blackleg’ labor (a black leg labourer is someone who continues to work, lessening the impact of the strike)
- important machinery was somewhat taken hostage
- it boosted morale among protestors as they all stood together

The strike and occupation was not limited to the Lenin shipyard but spread to nearby towns with around 50,000 in the Gdansk region on strike. The shipyard made negotiations, which were accepted, and the end of the strike was announced. However on sharing the news of an agreement, the crowds disagreed. They did not want to ‘sell out’, they wanted to continue the strike, and so they did.

This is an example of how a peaceful demonstration can pave the way for extraordinary change, in this case, freeing Poland from their communist rule.

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