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Where did the name Solidarność come from?

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The decision to strike
Jacek Kuroń Social activist
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A plan! Like I say, we didn't plan anything with the one exception of the shipyard! I remember we had one meeting in July of Robotnik when Bogdan said, 'Are we going to make a move with the shipyard?' We said, 'Probably not.' Every step of the way needs a guiding... we have to wait a while because we're going to have to put forward far-reaching demands and that's when the shipyard will take off. That's when Ania Walentynowicz got fired and there was all that trouble around her, that she wasn't allowed into work because of a decision taken by the arbitrating commission, she was taken away until finally, they decided to strike. They informed us of their decision, they prepared leaflets, those two boys from K2 and K3 came in with a banner and called out to K3: We're on strike! People stopped what they were doing and walked out carrying the banner saying STRIKE, and they moved off towards the management offices. I had a call from... first, Gwiazda rang me and said, 'They're on strike' but after a while Ala Pieńkowska who worked in the shipyard's health centre in the surgery right across the way from there says, 'I can see them, they're singing, now they're singing the National Anthem.' A moment later, I... we'd contacted all the agencies and so then I got a call from Reuters, it was Reuters saying, our man in Interpress, Tacki, who's a very decent man and is friends with us tells us there is no strike. So I said, 'Fine, choose for yourself who you want to believe - Interpress or us.' If Ala hadn't seen all of this through the window, then who knows if I'd have believed this story. After this, there was an endless stream of press releases, Alka rang, she can see everything - great.

Plan! Więc jak mówię nic żeśmy nie planowali z tą jedną właśnie różnicą STOCZNI! Odbyła się pamiętam taka narada Robotnika w lipcu, kiedy Bogdan mówi: "Ruszać tą stocznię?" Mówimy: "Chyba nie". Trzeba... każdy kolejny etap potrzebuje prowadzącego tego, poczekać trzeba jeszcze trochę, bo trzeba będzie znowu wysunąć do przodu dalej idące żądania i to wtedy ruszy stocznia. A w tym czasie wyrzucono Anię Walentynowicz, odbywały się z nią te wszystkie draki, nie wpuszczano jej do pracy mimo decyzji komisji arbitrażowej, wywlekano ją i wreszcie oni się zdecydowali zastrajkować. I o tym, że się zdecydowali, nas zawiadomili. Przygotowali ulotki, ci dwaj chłopcy z K2... z K3 weszli z tym transparentem, zawołali na K3: "Strajkujemy!" Ludzie przerwali pracę, wyszli z transparentem "STRAJK" i ruszyło to pod załogę, pod dyrekcję. Zadzwoniła do mnie... naprzód Gwiazda powiedział: "Strajkują" i po chwili Ala Pieńkowska, która w ośrodku zdrowia pracowała w stoczniowym, w tym... przychodni stoczniowej na wprost tego i mówi: "Widzę, przemawia Pani Ania, śpiewają... teraz śpiewają, Jeszcze Polska śpiewają". I chwilę potem ja... myśmy podali wszystkim agencjom i zaraz dzwoni Rojter, teraz właśnie Rojter i mówi: "Nam... nasz człowiek z Interpresu Tacki, zaprzyjaźniony z nami bardzo porządny, mówi, że tam nie ma żadnego strajku". Ja mówię: "Dobra, proszę Pana, to Pan musi se wybrać, komu Pan chce wierzyć: nam czy Interpresowi". I gdyby nie to, że ta Ala tak przez okno widziała, to kto wie czy bym nie... uwierzył w tą historię. I potem przychodzą nieustannie komunikaty. Alka dzwoni, widzi to wszystko – świetnie.

The late Polish activist, Jacek Kuroń (1934-2004), had an influential but turbulent political career, helping transform the political landscape of Poland. He was expelled from the communist party, arrested and incarcerated. He was also instrumental in setting up the Workers' Defence Committee (KOR) and later became a Minister of Labour and Social Policy.

Listeners: Jacek Petrycki Marcel Łoziński

Cinematographer Jacek Petrycki was born in Poznań, Poland in 1948. He has worked extensively in Poland and throughout the world. His credits include, for Agniezka Holland, Provincial Actors (1979), Europe, Europe (1990), Shot in the Heart (2001) and Julie Walking Home (2002), for Krysztof Kieslowski numerous short films including Camera Buff (1980) and No End (1985). Other credits include Journey to the Sun (1998), directed by Jesim Ustaoglu, which won the Golden Camera 300 award at the International Film Camera Festival, Shooters (2000) and The Valley (1999), both directed by Dan Reed, Unforgiving (1993) and Betrayed (1995) by Clive Gordon both of which won the BAFTA for best factual photography. Jacek Petrycki is also a teacher and a filmmaker.

Film director Marcel Łoziński was born in Paris in 1940. He graduated from the Film Directing Department of the National School of Film, Television and Theatre in Łódź in 1971. In 1994, he was nominated for an American Academy Award and a European Film Academy Award for the documentary, 89 mm from Europe. Since 1995, he has been a member of the American Academy of Motion Picture Art and Science awarding Oscars. He lectured at the FEMIS film school and the School of Polish Culture of Warsaw University. He ran documentary film workshops in Marseilles. Marcel Łoziński currently lectures at Andrzej Wajda’s Master School for Film Directors. He also runs the Dragon Forum, a European documentary film workshop.

Tags: Robotnik, National Anthem, Reuters, Interpress, Anna Walentynowicz, Alicja Pieńkowska

Duration: 1 minute, 55 seconds

Date story recorded: 1987

Date story went live: 12 June 2008