Historical calendar: an anniversary of the Polish PRL service under Czesław Kiszczak's alleged Bydgoszcz provocation against "Solidarity".
Today in our calendar we will look at the circumstances of this event.
The formation of the Independent Local Professional Union "Solidarity" was a major blow to the communist block's current monolith. Since then, alongside the authoritative government with monoparty at the head, there was an independent structure in the PRL with its own culture, science, media, a different strategy of values.
Polish-speaking communists did not cope with this situation. Moreover, they were under constant force from Moscow to deal with the opposition. As early as September 1980, the Kremlin forced a change in the position of First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party. The game, which was charged with agreeing to conclude the celebrated August Agreements, was replaced by Stanisław Kania. For the following months, the Soviets pressed on him, demanding the forceful suppression of “contrevolution”. However, Kania did not see the anticipation of safely fulfilling this task. He was besides weak to send an army.
Members of the Political Bureau stated: “We have no organization – she goes to the another side.” In fact, Poles started to leave the PZPR and power “Solidarity”. "Solidarity" cells began to form in the Civic Militia. In specified a situation, as early as the autumn of 1980, the Ministry of Defence, led by Wojciech Jaruzelski, was prepared to introduce martial law as a "final solution".
By the beginning of 1981, Jaruzelski's position was strengthened. In February he became Prime Minister of the Polish People's Republic, while maintaining the current portfolio of the Minister of National Defence. utilizing the real dictatorial power, he began to implement the alleged strategy of episode confrontations. By provoking conflicts with “Solidarity” he led to a temporary increase in strike action. In the long run, however, this worked in his favor, as it tormented activists and caused them to decline activity.
The provocation in Bydgoszcz from 19 March 1981 proved crucial in the implementation of this tactic. The pretext to the conflict was a long-standing dispute over the registration of the "Solidarity" of Individual Farmers. A delegation of “Solidarity” was invited to the session of the Provincial National Council in Bydgoszcz, but it was yet not allowed to speak. Moreover, union activists who wanted to present the rations of the strikers were bullied and forcibly removed from the gathering area by state services.
The answer to the violent action of power was strikes that spilled across the country. Unfortunately, the leader of “Solidarity” National Consultative Commission with Lech Walesa, Bronisław Geremek and Adam Michnik at the head, mastered by socialists and agentura, she did not set a deadline for a general strike. Moreover, she issued a curiosity message that the Bydgoszcz case was a provocation... to Jaruzelski's government. In this way, she accelerated the weakening of the enthusiasm of private union members.
Previous entry from our calendar is available Here..
