I compose what I saw and besides remember from 1980 to 1981. I was then a 40-year-old designer in a plan office in Warsaw, an engineer.
The strongest memory of martial law was not the day of December 13 of the memorable year. That was over a year later! I was shocked. erstwhile I remember this day, despite the passing of time, the shock returns.
Coal-free power plants
And it was January 1983. We meet in a professional group of friends, colleagues and good friends. A conventional yearly gathering after the fresh Year to make fresh Year's wishes and discuss what interesting events. A year before we met – for known reasons.
A twelve people. On the table traditionally: coffee, tea, cookies – without alcohol. Talks about things, a lot about the current state of war. During the course of 1 associate fires: – Did you know that on 13 December 1981, Polish power plants had a coal supply for 2 or 3 days?
And that's erstwhile I'm in shock. I'm looking at my friends. For a minute everyone quieted down, nobody spoke – me too. I don't know what they're thinking. The subject is not continued. After a longer time, 1 of the themes of the erstwhile discussion is resumed. After a fewer minutes – as usual, the gathering ends, everyone says goodbye.
Disaster Spectre
Why my shock? Most important: a colleague – an electrical engineer who touched on the subject – He knew what he was saying! We knew each another and we knew he was 1 of the dispatchers at the National Power Disposition. In the current planet I do not request to explain what this institution and position means – I mention interesting to the Internet.
I immediately realised: December 1981 and a fewer weeks later, this is simply a period of strong frost – to below -200C. CHP plants (and power plants) hypothetically stand for deficiency of coal. My imagination gives me images of cold cities. Cold radiators, no electricity, no gas – too. Ovens in homes (such as in 1939) do not exist. You won't chop up the benches and trees in the park or even the furniture to warm the apartment! The remainder you can figure out...
It is known that erstwhile the temperature in the apartments falls below +50C, first small children and older people start dying, sick people die in hospitals... No transport, no stores. In this frost, mass escapes begin from the large cities to the nearest towns and villages... This image – erstwhile I remember it, it bothers me to this day!
All to Solidarity
In those days, power plants had to accumulate 3 months of coal before the winter season. It's my own cognition of many years in industry, where I've worked since the mid-1960s. What caused this to go wrong?
It was a unusual (personal!) but logical chronological series of events. Start: August 1980 – Solidarity explodes. Euphoria. More than 10 million members have an immediate relationship. Solidarity cells are being created everywhere. In the task office where I work, almost 100% of the employees belong to Solidarity. Me, too.
To give this powerful movement any organizational framework, Poland is divided into regions. The largest and most combative is my region – the Mazovia Solidarity Region.
"We will not give Russian coal"
Since the registration of this trade union, various spectacular actions have been conducted throughout the country by Solidarity – mainly, increasingly common and longer strikes. Mines strike especially often. The union is strong (more than 10 million members). Silent slogan: “We will not give Russian coal”. True: a crucial amount of Polish coal was then sent to the russian Union.
The Mazovia Region is ahead! The loudest action – public transport buses block the roundabout
at the central point of the capital. specified a strike! It is loud throughout the country and abroad. And... the authorities for a fewer weeks, they don't respond decisively! The authorities are negotiating. Finally, Solidarity peacefully ends the strike. It's the summertime of 1981.
Impact on the Ministry of Interior
Smaller strikes and demonstrations throughout the country continue. However, there are respective weeks before another spectacular, large action. It is her: a strike breaks out (last days of November 1981) at the Higher Officer Fire School in Warsaw. It is an entity straight subordinate to the Ministry of Interior (MSW) – a powerful complex of buildings in Bielany in Warsaw. ‘Students’ are uniformed and subject to peculiar rules.
With the atmosphere increasing in Poland for respective months: strikes, demonstrations, postulates (i.e. demands on authorities), it was most likely not besides hard to agitate these young people. Flags were displayed on the buildings, postulates were issued and classes stopped taking place – due to the fact that the strike!
It was a direct hit at the Home Office. The authorities responded quickly: after a fewer days
(2 December) the buildings are surrounded by militia units, helicopters with counter-terrorism landing on the roof. Young people don't resist. Students get orders to go home, get tickets to go by train – organizers (probably) are arrested.
Plan of the large Demonstration
A fewer days later, it gathers (I don't know what this organizational body was formally called) Board of the Mazovia Region with delegates of individual local organizations. Here I had a “first hand” account, due to the fact that 1 of the delegates at this gathering was a associate of my household (further).
His account: the proceedings were stormy. Main subject – how to respond to the elimination of the strike at the Higher Officer Fire School. Any another topics, sometimes uncomfortable, were blocked. For example, the question: where the money collected for cans disappeared, during the mentioned public transport strike at the roundabout in Warsaw. There were no answers.
The conclusion of the gathering was only one: the answer in the main subject is the decision to organize a large anti-government in Warsaw demonstration on December 17, 1981. Organizers presume that at least 400 1000 participants should arrive – besides from another regions of Poland. I think the full Warsaw knew about this demonstration. Interesting – I tried to find something on the Internet. I may not know how to usage the net very well, but I found nothing!
Hungarian scenario
The above message of facts caused me to ask myself any questions that I do not know the answers to. Below, the most crucial of them.
Question one: what would happen if this demonstration happened on December 17? It is known that there would then be thousands of demonstrators and thousands (how many?) of militias facing each other. The militia most likely (partly?) unarmed, and demonstrators, possibly individually – armed. After all, in Poland (as in the full world), abroad peculiar services operated and operated. Can provocation be ruled out? Even on the contrary: if any service had an interest in bringing about a crisis in Poland, it was the perfect moment! Just a small "someone" would shoot, or "someone" would throw the password and the crowd would go to government buildings and... We could have had a replay of the 1956 uprising in Budapest. but in a much more horrible version!
For the evidence and the truth: Budapest ’56 was not just a fight between Hungarians and the russian Army. The beginning is killing Hungarians each another (among another things, the celebrated case then, hanging on a woman's lantern – due to the fact that she was a cleaning woman in any office!). The russian Army waited there (unless respective days) for Hungarians to kill each other, and only later was ordered to act. In Poland we could have Budapest ‘56 not only in Warsaw but besides in many major cities.
Tragic variation compared to Budapest ‘56 – in Poland there was a winter with temperatures below -200C and the deficiency of coal in power plants. That's why I sometimes get tormented by the imagination of thousands of freezing people.
The authorities knew about the deficiency of coal – hence at the beginning of the martial law there was action in Silesia: unlocking from the strikes of mines.
Unanswered Question
Question two: did the Solidarity authorities know about the situation at the power stations? possibly not all of them? My intuition tells me that they had to know due to the fact that they had accurate and up-to-date information from their union activists about what was happening in the workplaces throughout Poland.
Is it possible that then the decision-makers in Solidarity (those who knew) agreed with the consequences of the demonstration planned for December 17, 1981 – specified as I described?
I think historians in 200 years will know the answers. due to the fact that it is said that these 200 years is simply a time erstwhile past no longer has a crucial impact on current policies.
Mr Wojciech Dvorak
