Summer 1981 hunger demonstrations in Poland
Encyclopedia
In mid-1981, amid widespread economic crisis and food shortages, thousands of Poles
, mainly women and their children, took part in several hunger demonstrations, organized in cities and towns across the country. The protests were peaceful, without rioting, and the biggest one took place on July 30, 1981 in Łódź. The situation in Poland was serious enough that it prompted Adam Michnik
to write, "Poland faces hunger uprisings'".
. The creation of Solidarity, the first independent mass political movement in the Eastern Bloc
, raised the hopes of millions of Poles, and in the mid-1980s, Solidarity was by far the biggest non-religious organization of the country, with around 10 million members. However, at the same time, the economic crisis was so serious and food shortages in Poland were so common, that in several cities the so-called hunger demonstrations (or hunger processions) took place. The biggest protests occurred in Łódź, the city which suffered in particular from meat shortages.
According to the Rzeczpospolita
daily, summer of 1981 was the “bottom of the crisis”. Virtually all products were lacking, including hay, meats, coffee, laundry detergents, sugar and cigarettes. In Warsaw
, buses of the public transit authority, had no spare tires and the company announced that only main routes would be kept, adding that the public has to get used to the situation, in which "there is shortage of meat, soap, cigarettes and the decent transportation system". The situation was summarized by a grim Solidarity poster that appeared on Polish streets in early summer 1981. It showed a black skull with a crossed knife and fork under it. The first result of the ninth party congress: a cut in food rations, the poster said, referring to the 20 percent reduction in meat allotments .
According to the statistics, released at the end of July 1981, meat supplies had fallen 17% in the first six months of the year, and the government of Poland tried to control the situation by limiting meat allotments for the population of the country. It was announced, that starting in August 1981, some 16 million citizens would be able to purchase up to 3 kilograms of meats monthly, instead of 3.7 kilograms before (provided that there was any meat on the market). This announcement raised angry comments, Solidarity demanded control of food production, and there were rumors that the government was keeping meat away from the public. People were spending days, if not weeks, in lines to buy necessary products. In many cases, special Queue Social Committees were formed, which nominated the Head of the Queue - a person who drew up a list of those waiting, and at appointed times, checked the names. Those who did not show up, lost their place in the line.
. Some 2000 people participated in it, and it was the first street protest in Poland since August of 1980, as Solidarity had previously been trying to limit its actions to factories. The demonstration in Kutno was organized by the local Solidarity office, Interfactory Founding Committee (Miedzyzakladowy Komitet Zalozycielski) . The demonstrators in Kutno carried banners proclaiming: We are tired of being hungry, We are tired of queueing and We demand life on the level of a civilised country, carrying empty pots and pans.
In the following days, demonstrations were organized in numerous cities across whole country, such as Częstochowa
, Białystok, Tarnów
, Tomaszów Mazowiecki
, Olsztyn
, Tarnowskie Góry
, Konin
, Kraków
, Piotrków Trybunalski
, Pabianice
, Szczecin
, Kalisz
and the biggest one in Łódź. Most of participants were women and their children, with men walking on the sides and trying to protect the demonstrators. As Jacek Kuroń
later said:
“Those crowds wielding banners broke the principle of not leaving factories to take to the streets. They created an atmosphere of such tension that the government probably panicked”. .
. Łódź was the city in which food shortages were common and chronic. In mid-1981, the only rationed foodstuffs still available there were butter and flour.
It has been estimated that between 30,000, and 50,000 women and children marched on that day along Łódź's main artery, Piotrkowska Street
. A reporter of the Życie Warszawy
daily described the black procession in Łódź as “Something sublime, yet at the same time depressing. The demonstration takes place in silence, with a feeling of mourning. Most participants are women of different ages, who sing religious hymns, such as Boże, coś Polskę (God Save Poland) or patriotic songs, including the Rota
. The banners read: We want to eat, The hungry of all countries - unite, Our children are hungry, We have no strength to work.
James M. Markham of The New York Times
wrote on July 30, 1981: "As planned, policemen halted cross traffic along the route of two and a half miles as the angry placards were borne toward City Hall. They proclaimed: Bread, Hunger, Who Wants to Starve Us? We Are Hungry, The Hungry Will Eat the Authorities and Enough of Lying Explanations. The biggest applause was for the last placard in the procession: How Do You Eat Ration Coupons? With a Knife and Fork? Knots of people broke into applause, holding their hands above their heads. A few older people cried".
Jerzy Kropiwnicki of Łódź's office of Solidarity was one of the main organizers of the protests. This is his recollection of the demonstration:
"In those years, Łódź became famous in Poland with the so-called hunger march, frequently shown on public TV during the Martial law
. The communist propaganda was trying to convince the Poles that food shortages were directly connected with strikes. However, back in mid-1981, when the situation in Łódź became tragic and there was no guarantee for one to purchase a piece of cheese or a fish, we realized that we could not control the workers any longer. Therefore, instead of another strike, we organized a street protest. It all began with a demonstration of vehicles belonging to the Państwowa Komunikacja Samochodowa
and several construction companies, which blocked the center of the city. A few days later, along Piotrkowska Street, the biggest demonstration in the history of Łódź started. Some estimates claim that there were 50,000 participants, even though we wanted women only to take part in it. The men walked on the sides, and the handicapped were in front".
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, mainly women and their children, took part in several hunger demonstrations, organized in cities and towns across the country. The protests were peaceful, without rioting, and the biggest one took place on July 30, 1981 in Łódź. The situation in Poland was serious enough that it prompted Adam Michnik
Adam Michnik
Adam Michnik is the editor-in-chief of Gazeta Wyborcza, where he sometimes writes under the pen-names of Andrzej Zagozda or Andrzej Jagodziński. In 1966–1989 he was one of the leading organizers of the illegal, democratic opposition in Poland...
to write, "Poland faces hunger uprisings'".
Background
The summer of 1981 was a very turbulent time in Communist PolandPeople's Republic of Poland
The People's Republic of Poland was the official name of Poland from 1952 to 1990. Although the Soviet Union took control of the country immediately after the liberation from Nazi Germany in 1944, the name of the state was not changed until eight years later...
. The creation of Solidarity, the first independent mass political movement in the Eastern Bloc
Eastern bloc
The term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact...
, raised the hopes of millions of Poles, and in the mid-1980s, Solidarity was by far the biggest non-religious organization of the country, with around 10 million members. However, at the same time, the economic crisis was so serious and food shortages in Poland were so common, that in several cities the so-called hunger demonstrations (or hunger processions) took place. The biggest protests occurred in Łódź, the city which suffered in particular from meat shortages.
According to the Rzeczpospolita
Rzeczpospolita (newspaper)
Rzeczpospolita is a Polish national daily newspaper, with a circulation around of 160,000. Issued every day except Sunday. Rzeczpospolita was printed in broadsheet format, then switched to compact at October 16, 2007...
daily, summer of 1981 was the “bottom of the crisis”. Virtually all products were lacking, including hay, meats, coffee, laundry detergents, sugar and cigarettes. In Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, buses of the public transit authority, had no spare tires and the company announced that only main routes would be kept, adding that the public has to get used to the situation, in which "there is shortage of meat, soap, cigarettes and the decent transportation system". The situation was summarized by a grim Solidarity poster that appeared on Polish streets in early summer 1981. It showed a black skull with a crossed knife and fork under it. The first result of the ninth party congress: a cut in food rations, the poster said, referring to the 20 percent reduction in meat allotments .
According to the statistics, released at the end of July 1981, meat supplies had fallen 17% in the first six months of the year, and the government of Poland tried to control the situation by limiting meat allotments for the population of the country. It was announced, that starting in August 1981, some 16 million citizens would be able to purchase up to 3 kilograms of meats monthly, instead of 3.7 kilograms before (provided that there was any meat on the market). This announcement raised angry comments, Solidarity demanded control of food production, and there were rumors that the government was keeping meat away from the public. People were spending days, if not weeks, in lines to buy necessary products. In many cases, special Queue Social Committees were formed, which nominated the Head of the Queue - a person who drew up a list of those waiting, and at appointed times, checked the names. Those who did not show up, lost their place in the line.
First demonstrations
First recorded hunger demonstration took place on July 25, 1981 in the central town and a crucial railroad junction of KutnoKutno
Kutno is a town in central Poland with 48,000 inhabitants and an area of 33,6 km2. Situated in the Łódź Voivodeship , previously in Płock Voivodeship . It is the capital of Kutno County....
. Some 2000 people participated in it, and it was the first street protest in Poland since August of 1980, as Solidarity had previously been trying to limit its actions to factories. The demonstration in Kutno was organized by the local Solidarity office, Interfactory Founding Committee (Miedzyzakladowy Komitet Zalozycielski) . The demonstrators in Kutno carried banners proclaiming: We are tired of being hungry, We are tired of queueing and We demand life on the level of a civilised country, carrying empty pots and pans.
In the following days, demonstrations were organized in numerous cities across whole country, such as Częstochowa
Czestochowa
Częstochowa is a city in south Poland on the Warta River with 240,027 inhabitants . It has been situated in the Silesian Voivodeship since 1999, and was previously the capital of Częstochowa Voivodeship...
, Białystok, Tarnów
Tarnów
Tarnów is a city in southeastern Poland with 115,341 inhabitants as of June 2009. The city has been situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship since 1999, but from 1975 to 1998 it was the capital of the Tarnów Voivodeship. It is a major rail junction, located on the strategic east-west connection...
, Tomaszów Mazowiecki
Tomaszów Mazowiecki
Tomaszów Mazowiecki is a town in central Poland with 67,159 inhabitants . Situated in the Łódź Voivodeship , it was previously part of Piotrków Trybunalski Voivodeship...
, Olsztyn
Olsztyn
Olsztyn is a city in northeastern Poland, on the Łyna River. Olsztyn has been the capital of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship since 1999. It was previously in the Olsztyn Voivodeship...
, Tarnowskie Góry
Tarnowskie Góry
Tarnowskie Góry is a town in Silesia in southern Poland, near Katowice. Borders on the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union - metropolis with the population of 2 millions. Located in the Silesian Highlands....
, Konin
Konin
Konin is a city in central Poland.Konin may also refer to:*Emperor Kōnin , emperor of Japan who reigned 770–781**Kōnin , a Japanese era name for the years 810–824...
, Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
, Piotrków Trybunalski
Piotrków Trybunalski
Piotrków Trybunalski is a city in central Poland with 80,738 inhabitants . It is situated in the Łódź Voivodeship , and previously was the capital of Piotrków Voivodeship...
, Pabianice
Pabianice
Pabianice is a town in central Poland with 69 648 inhabitants . Situated in the Łódź Voivodeship, it is the capital of Pabianice County...
, Szczecin
Szczecin
Szczecin , is the capital city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland. It is the country's seventh-largest city and the largest seaport in Poland on the Baltic Sea. As of June 2009 the population was 406,427....
, Kalisz
Kalisz
Kalisz is a city in central Poland with 106,857 inhabitants , the capital city of the Kalisz Region. Situated on the Prosna river in the southeastern part of the Greater Poland Voivodeship, the city forms a conurbation with the nearby towns of Ostrów Wielkopolski and Nowe Skalmierzyce...
and the biggest one in Łódź. Most of participants were women and their children, with men walking on the sides and trying to protect the demonstrators. As Jacek Kuroń
Jacek Kuron
Jacek Jan Kuroń was one of the democratic leaders of opposition in the People's Republic of Poland. Kuroń was a prominent Polish social and political figure; educator and historian; an activist of the Polish Scouting Association; co-founder of the Workers' Defence Committee; twice a Minister of...
later said:
“Those crowds wielding banners broke the principle of not leaving factories to take to the streets. They created an atmosphere of such tension that the government probably panicked”. .
The demonstration in Łódź
The biggest demonstration took place in Łódź, on July 30, 1981, and was organized by a group of local activists of Solidarity, such as Andrzej Slowik, Grzegorz Palka and Jerzy KropiwnickiJerzy Kropiwnicki
Jerzy Janusz Kropiwnicki is a Polish right-wing politician, member of Law and Justice party.He was leader of small party Christian-National Union . He was a president of the city of Łódź from 2002 until 2010...
. Łódź was the city in which food shortages were common and chronic. In mid-1981, the only rationed foodstuffs still available there were butter and flour.
It has been estimated that between 30,000, and 50,000 women and children marched on that day along Łódź's main artery, Piotrkowska Street
Piotrkowska Street
Piotrkowska Street , the main artery of Łódź, Poland, is one of the longest commercial thoroughfares in Europe, with a length of 4.9 km. It is one of the major tourist attractions of the city...
. A reporter of the Życie Warszawy
Zycie Warszawy
Życie Warszawy is a right leaning Polish newspaper published in Warsaw. It was founded in October 1944 as an initiative of Polish Workers' Party. Currently it is published by Dom Prasowy Sp. z o.o. and owned by Michał Sołowow....
daily described the black procession in Łódź as “Something sublime, yet at the same time depressing. The demonstration takes place in silence, with a feeling of mourning. Most participants are women of different ages, who sing religious hymns, such as Boże, coś Polskę (God Save Poland) or patriotic songs, including the Rota
Rota (poem)
Rota is an early 20th-century Polish poem and anthem, once proposed to be the Polish national anthem.-History:Rotas lyrics were written in 1908 by Maria Konopnicka...
. The banners read: We want to eat, The hungry of all countries - unite, Our children are hungry, We have no strength to work.
James M. Markham of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
wrote on July 30, 1981: "As planned, policemen halted cross traffic along the route of two and a half miles as the angry placards were borne toward City Hall. They proclaimed: Bread, Hunger, Who Wants to Starve Us? We Are Hungry, The Hungry Will Eat the Authorities and Enough of Lying Explanations. The biggest applause was for the last placard in the procession: How Do You Eat Ration Coupons? With a Knife and Fork? Knots of people broke into applause, holding their hands above their heads. A few older people cried".
Jerzy Kropiwnicki of Łódź's office of Solidarity was one of the main organizers of the protests. This is his recollection of the demonstration:
"In those years, Łódź became famous in Poland with the so-called hunger march, frequently shown on public TV during the Martial law
Martial law in Poland
Martial law in Poland refers to the period of time from December 13, 1981 to July 22, 1983, when the authoritarian government of the People's Republic of Poland drastically restricted normal life by introducing martial law in an attempt to crush political opposition to it. Thousands of opposition...
. The communist propaganda was trying to convince the Poles that food shortages were directly connected with strikes. However, back in mid-1981, when the situation in Łódź became tragic and there was no guarantee for one to purchase a piece of cheese or a fish, we realized that we could not control the workers any longer. Therefore, instead of another strike, we organized a street protest. It all began with a demonstration of vehicles belonging to the Państwowa Komunikacja Samochodowa
Panstwowa Komunikacja Samochodowa
Przedsiębiorstwo Komunikacji Samochodowej is a major Polish enterprise dealing with public transport.-History:...
and several construction companies, which blocked the center of the city. A few days later, along Piotrkowska Street, the biggest demonstration in the history of Łódź started. Some estimates claim that there were 50,000 participants, even though we wanted women only to take part in it. The men walked on the sides, and the handicapped were in front".
