The Birth of Poland's Free Trade Union Solidarity (475)

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0:52As people, we would march peacefully through that Headquarters of Solidarity office that was in Gdansk. The police brought those water cannons, those batons, those big shields. They called us to disperse and some of us would get whack over the shoulder, over the head. One morning in August 1980, the noise of 10 ,000 shipyard workers suddenly stopped. Something extraordinary was happening. As a young shipbuilding student, Bogdan finds himself in Gdansk's Lenin shipyard as workers down tools and the movement that will become Solidarity begins to take shape. What follows is a remarkable journey through the final decade of communist Poland.

1:43Bogdan recalls student occupation strikes, the shock of martial law, encounters with riot police and his unconventional escape from military conscription. Then in summer 1989, Bogdan and his wife board a flight for Canada with borrowed money, a few possessions and no certainty about what comes next. This is a deeply personal story of resistance, freedom and starting again. I'm delighted to welcome Bogdan Marcewski to our Cold War conversation. So this shipbuilding engineering program, as part of that, you happen to be in August 1980 in the same shipyard that Lech Walesa is in at the time that Solidarity, the Polish Free Trade Union, is founded.

2:40Can you describe the shipyard, what it was like to be there, and what you hear on what happens? So I remember we started the shipbuilding practicum before the first year of school began in October. We were expected to learn how to do the welding, some basic ropes of the trade so that we would be placed in some barracks like a workshop with some tools to carve out stuff from steel to to do simple things and we had no idea what was coming because we have been going there for about two weeks or maybe at least one week we were having fun we were doing cutting out shapes using steels like with that torch and then for us it was a fun time and then one day this is the morning of the 14 we hear because usually there's a noise there's just 10 000 people the the cranes the machineries you can hear the vibration all around when you show up on the shipyard.

3:59And then all of a sudden, it's like a deafening quiet. Something, as if something happened. So we stopped working, and we peeked through the door and the windows that there was some march formation. People are walking in columns. they organized themselves and we were like what is going on the instructor was very scared at the time that guy who was taking care of us he was like he was probably in my mind like the very useful idiot that would be following the orders taking orders from the the commies so he kept us he said get away from the window don't look close the door don't open the door but we were able to notice that they were walking and holding those banners like we demand more money we demand bread some signs would say simple sort of a connection to we need a life that you can sustain we need anna valentinovich to be brought back to work because she was fired and after several hours because we didn't do anything he couldn't do there was no telephones right there was nothing like a quick communication someone came to the door talked to him on the outside and they decided to gather us and they said let's go and they walked us through some through the plant and say we will be boarding the bus the coach buses showed up and they put us in and they took us out from the shipyard to some nearby town or a village they had some nationalized farmlands and they had some i remember tulips bulbs we needed to sort that stuff so they kept us away outside from the event and the next day when we showed up to because they didn't tell us don't come back etc they didn't know this is the second day and we have no idea that this is going to be a national strike unfolding there's like a police like those militia that sort of communist police outside there are people a lot of like a press not a lot of press but people with some microphone and all those cassettes if you remember there were like tape recorders by the inside the bag and some microphone trying to get some information and the next day in the morning we showed up in the shipyard we went through the gate the strike was still creating momentum getting momentum they let us in but directly they said let's go and board the bass so they kept us for the second day on the same farm sorting those tulip bulbs whatever we were just wasting time but in the meantime we knew because it's word of mouth only there's nothing no communication official uh report of events nothing is clearly known they are probably panicking the people who are forming the strike they don't know whether they're going to be pacified nobody knows because the 10 years ago people were dying right police was shooting at them but this time they didn't go on the street they decided to stay within the boundaries of the shipyard and that was a different strategy that helped them to sustain to gain the momentum and to not expose themselves to attack direct attack because there were like brick walls you can see people sitting on top of those those walls gates were crowded but from the behind so no workers would be going outside at the time that i remember so the third day they told us not to return and that this is the second day where leg valenza jumped the fence because he returned because he was fired before that he returned back to the shipyard and then the momentum grew and grew and we were in the dorm close by to stochnyang dance to the shipyard and then the third day we're bumming around doing absolutely nothing not knowing what is going to happen there's no internet where you can go and start looking at some information right you're sitting you're warning as a young person you have no idea what is happening and then they announced through pa that we need to go home so each of us we boarded trains and went back to our towns And I remember coming back to Sloops, some places where they would manufacture some equipment for machinery for farmers.

9:51They stopped. Their gate was covered with some banners. And it was a very scary, but at the same time, moment of hope that young people felt, their parents felt. And it was like a wave of, even though you're not really participating on the ground right there, but you feel that something is about to happen. And so it was a very emotional moment in my life during those particular days when I was able to see it happening. And then I was able to witness from my hometown the signing of that agreement by the end of August of 1980. Because by that point, the communist regime couldn't keep the breadth of what was going on under wraps.

11:00And so they were forced to negotiate with Valenza and allow for the first time ever in communist Eastern Europe, a free trade union, an independent free trade union. And as I'm learning right now, there were already some decisions made that the first General Secretary, Edward Gehrig, will be replaced because this is unheard of event. There's nowhere in the Communist bloc where they allowed negotiation and then they cut deal with the workers. they had to make some concessions there was no like we're gonna quash you guys and you're gonna go back to work and then things will get back to normal that was the tipping point and to this day it was like if that didn't unfold on the scale national scale probably where the system could have been extended for much longer who knows i i certainly believe that the formation of solidarity is the first break in the communist bloc it's the first sign that a communist government cannot control its population.

12:33And yeah, Gorbachev and his appearance obviously helps to accelerate that later in the decade. But that and the Polish Pope as well, John Paul. Yes, he was elected before the events, right? I remember I had a TV already. This is year 78 or 79. I can't remember exactly. But they televised the event where the Pope spoke, and then he spoke in Polish. So that was a very heartwarming time for us. We were very proud. I believe almost anyone in the nation was so touched by his appearance, by the fact that he was elected. And we didn't make that connection at the time that the system will be going down because of the Pope.

13:30Later, we've learned that his involvement was also very fundamental in making the system diluted and then brought down to its knees eventually. Did you become a member of Solidarity? no because i was a student so when we returned back in october so then universities and students were changing the name of the union because it was from the socialist unions of students it became independent like those labor unions. So that was also another moment in history where they didn't like that. The commies were against because they knew that the people with higher education would gain more independence by just establishing association for students that it's not government-tight body system.

14:38It's more separated, more autonomy. So we believe that during that time, we would be able to speak freely, given the circumstances, or speak more of our mind than we were allowed to do that prior to those events. And then And the year 1980 ended, and then the following year, we're back at the shipyard doing the second year practicum. And going back to school in 81, all of a sudden there was like a wildfire of strikes at universities in Poland. because we were following through that path based on the agreement from 1980 that we want independent association for students and autonomy for universities so that the government has no direct power over us to control the way they used to control.

15:46So we started occupational strikes following the model, the strategy of the workers. We would sit in buildings. We would sleep there. We would get our times where you are asked to watch the doors. You do your guard's duty. And then people would be delivering food. I remember all of a sudden from West Germany, there was delivery of the containers with food. Because you have to organize the logistics as well, right? You keep people, thousands of people in buildings, so you have to organize that. And then all of a sudden, the press, the printing underground press where you do, This is all the way of making copies with some alcohol, acetone.

16:44I can't remember the names of those devices. And then we would spread that among ourselves first, learn the news written by whoever was able to come up with some factual information. And then when the strikes ended, this is already the fall of 81. This is just before they start nailing us down with the martial law. And I was like, pardon my French, oh shit moment. They got us again. And we felt initially that we didn't make it. Are we going back to the same era of the communists? because all those arrests, right, all those people from the top down, they were infiltrated and they just round them up leaving us with no direction because the population with no people in charge, there was a lot of confusion.

17:56So what are we going to do? I want to just give a quick bit of context here for those that aren't familiar with the history of Poland in the 1980s. The 13th of December 1981, the Polish communist government declared martial law in Poland. And the idea of this was to try and counter political opposition and particularly the Solidarity Movement. It resulted in mass arrests. And Bogdan will go on to describe his experiences of this period. but despite of that in Gdańsk in particular every 13 of each month for the next year at least when the marshal was established we would gather without any special sort of command from the top as people we would march peacefully through that Headquarter of Solidarity office that was in Gdańsk, Wrzeszcz close to the Gdańsk major city.

19:02We would gather at the Sobieski monument. We would go to church, and people were showing resistance, and they attacked us. The police would brought those water cannons, those batons, those big shields. They called us to disperse, And some of us would get whack over the shoulder, over the head. Some of them they were able to capture. I remember I was stopped with another group by the close to the shipyard location. And they searched us. They would bring us into the inside of the lorry, well, a big truck. And those brutal guys, they would just grab our pockets. What do you have? They were looking for some pretext to nail you because you were maybe holding a paper that was not allowed, some print of materials or sort.

20:01At the time, we were lucky not to have anything. So on the way out, they would just whack us on the back. And you go, oh, man, it's painful, but we are not locked up. It was the resistance didn't die. Initially, it was a very sad moment because we were listening at the dorms on the radio, the speech of Wojciech Jaruzelski, that he's making the right decision. This is the best way forward. We have to bring back the normality to our life, etc. All this propaganda stuff. And initially, it was scary. seeing those so many soldiers in addition to police. They would bring some tanks, some mechanized vehicles that apparently couldn't move far, but the sheer view of that.

21:02You're walking down the street and people with guns, people with those batons and shields and helmets, it didn't look inviting. right? And you want to make sense of this in your mind in the moment that you can, based on your already experience and understanding of the situation. It stays with you, I think, based on my lived experience throughout your life. You see it. You understand it differently over time as you're maturing, right? As you're learning more and more about those events by discovering new materials. But at the time, it was a very difficult experience for us, young people. You've described that really vividly.

21:59I really appreciate you sharing those accounts. Cold War history deserves to be remembered. And by listening to the next few adverts, you help us to do exactly that. Thank you. Kelly Clarkson here with Wayfair. I know holiday magic starts at home and Wayfair makes it easy. They have everything from Christmas trees and mantle decor to outdoor lighting and inflatables that I'll use year after year. Head to Wayfair.com today. Wayfair, every style, every home. Star Wars, The Mandalorian and Grogu is now streaming on Disney+. What are you waiting for? Hop on. The must-see galactic adventure comes home on Disney+.

22:37This is the way. Our only chance is to work together. I love this kid. Always wear your seatbelt. Star Wars The Mandalorian and Grogu. Now streaming on Disney+. Read PG-13. Now you must be about the age now to be conscripted into the Polish army. Does that happen to you? so the second after the strikes the martial law and i'm losing my focus i say i don't know if i can continue in this program because i'm not interested frankly i have no interest in any mechanical house stuff or blueprints i remember blueprints that we had to had some project i'm thinking, why am I doing those drawings for? I don't care.

23:32I want to get on that ship and leave this place. So my interest in school is not going, I'm dropping out. I'm not sharing that with my parents, but I know that there is an army waiting for me. So I took the sabbatical for a year, And I wanted to, I said to myself, I'm going to, in the meantime, rediscover myself and go back to school at some point. Because I'm in a year of, I have immunity from the army. Because I'm technically a student. And my parents found out, because I eventually started sharing with them that I'm not longer interested. And my dad said, you're going to go to the army and they're going to teach you how to become a man because it's time for you to grow up.

24:32That's his perspective. Thankfully, my mom said, we'll find something. So she came up with the idea through talking to customers at stores. This is like the conversation she shares and people would chip in with their ideas. And then she came home with the following plan, that you could be working as unqualified teachers in places where there's shortage of teachers, like small places outside of towns. And then she said, if you sign up there, then you have a time to regroup and get your mind together. At least you will be saved, because once the sabbatical is over, you're no longer free. They're going to send you a letter.

25:24So I did listen to her advice and I applied, and that is the moment when I'm saying, I love to work with young people. I brought a guitar, because they said they need a music and math teacher. so I was teaching them calm ground songs because the curriculum was saying some stupid stuff like some socialist hymns of sorts I said I'm not going to do that and the principal, she was at the time a grandmother so she was preoccupied with going to towns and buying things for babies because everything is like rationed Food is rationed, but stuff like baby clothes, you can't buy just you go. You have to go on trips, etc.

26:16So when we had the May 1st Academy, the assembly in school, this is the holiday, the labor holiday, right? The socialist, communist idea, the May 1st is sort of a marching time when people will march, and we had to sing. So I don't know if May 1st, I don't remember, and 84 is the school day. If it's not, then it could have been before that. And I was teaching kids camp songs, and we were singing one song that is a satire on the communist system. And we played that. And I don't know if she was out of her mind at the time or so preoccupied with her personal life. She didn't call me. I said, I'm going to do it no matter what.

27:14I'm not going to be singing some allegiance to the commies. We're going to be singing rebellion song. And we did. And everything went quiet. And I said, yes, you have a lot of freedom as a teacher. You can actually steer in a certain direction. Because the curriculum is just a sort of a general way of, okay, you bring this to the classroom. But there is no political agenda woven into the program. It was probably expected. I have no idea. I wasn't briefed on that. I felt myself that I'm free enough to provide this to our kids. And my students at the time, they didn't want boring things. Camp songs, you could relate, right?

28:08The songs that they would probably be singing later in life, I was able to teach them. And I developed my interest at the time. Even though I had teachers in the family already, I was despising them. I said, I'm not going to be like you guys because sitting in the classroom and then talking all day. And I knew that this is my, I can spend my life in the classroom. So I'm back to school. I signed up for a concurrent teaching program, mathematics. And I had to pass again the exam. That was a dreading moment, but I had to say, okay, I have to review my program. And boom, I did that way. And when I graduated, they opened the door.

29:00Commies gave us passport. So I took advantage and I said, now I'm ready to start my life in different geographical area. somewhere where I don't have to continue with this regime. So just want to take you back there. You managed to completely dodge military service by signing up for that further five-year teaching maths, as we call it in the UK program. and then in 1988 you are allowed to travel to the west can you tell me about that experience your first time visiting the west more and more the government was losing the grip because there was a first wave of people were allowed to get passports in 1980 after they signed the agreement There was a huge wave of polls that were able to apply through the internal police service.

30:12They were in charge of that. And they got their passport and a lot of people stayed. And over the years, you could learn that there is a way, if you're lucky maybe, or maybe if you get to know someone, you probably apply and they give you the passport. The passports at the time were divided in two separate offices. There was an office for, we call them, Democratic Socialist Bloc, the good people. And then there was another door that says Western plus Yugoslavia. Back in the days, Yugoslavia was like a, they couldn't put a finger on it. They are with us, but the Tito is against us. They packed them together with the rotten West, we used to call it, right?

31:04The bad guys. So going to East Germany or Czech or Romania, I had a passport that was easy to get. So no questions like, you want to go to visit our places? Yes, of course. So I did visit Romania in 88. and I was so scared because this is still the regime, the Ceausescu regime is there. You could see empty stores. I was interrogated by a police there because I brought some cigarettes to trade off for some other stuff, maybe beans or dollars, US dollars. I can't remember. But I remember we formed a group of four to travel there to do some trading so we can bring some cash, U.S. dollars usually, or some hard currency.

31:58And then police was, because we were not welcome to do some trades, they interrogated us. They took our passport, but they released us. Thankfully, nothing happened. When I came back, I was literally saying, thank you, God, that I came back home to my regime because their regime is far more drastic. And then I keep hearing that you can apply for the Western, and you may be lucky. So two places in the West, Austria and West Berlin, no visa required. So once you get a passport, you can go and travel there. I'm at the mathematics program at the time. Me and my buddy said, okay, let's go. we've heard that one of our friends went to Greece to work there in summer.

32:51He was lucky. He bought himself a pair of boots. He was like he could earn some extra money. And we figured, why don't we go and maybe to Austria and visit West Berlin just to see the places. And last minute he bailed out. I applied for the passport. They gave me the passport. They asked me, why am I going? What I'm going to do there? You know, those dreadful questions. They always push you to the ground as far as they can so that you never have a chance to feel good. Everything you should do is always a suspect of sort. Why? Who are you meeting with? Et cetera. But then eventually I got the passport.

33:36So I traveled. I took the train, I went to Bratislava, and I wanted to cross the border. I said, I can go now and see the Western world first time in my life. So I'm walking across the border, and the guy on the astral side says, you can't walk in. I said, what do you mean you can't walk in? You have to be traveling with the car. I said, shit, I have no car. I'm just with my backpack. How am I going? I'm so close. Come on, dude. But the Bratislava border with Austria, you would go to some... I don't think there are some towns immediately. I don't remember seeing. I see, like in my mind, like green scenery, right?

34:33so I'm walking back and I'm thinking no that's crazy so I'm start knocking on cars that are in the queue to pass the gate from Czechoslovakia and I see one white Toyota car and I knock on the door and say I was able to speak German because I took German classes in high school So I asked him, can you do me a favor and just get me through the border? He said, sure. Sit. Get in the car. So he took me. Now I'm officially, they asked me, do you have a passport? The Austrian people, the border crossing patrol, do you have some money on you? I had$200 borrowed from my sister. so she was the only in family that had that kind of money just to put things in perspective my monthly salary as a teacher was 15 us dollars per month so her salary because she was already graduated teacher music teacher she would be earning 16 dollars per month so to lend me 200 dollars, we're talking about a lot of money, like years of one year of salary equivalent at least.

35:55So I showed him$200, he let me in. And we are driving, and the guy says, so where are you going? I say, I want to go to Vienna, and then maybe if I'm lucky, I'm going to hitchhike and then go somewhere through Yugoslavia, maybe to Greece, because they didn't give me visa to Greece, but I was, in my mind, I believe when I show up maybe at the border in Greece, they're going to let me in. Maybe I'm going to work there. Who knows? We'll see. My buddy didn't tag along with me. I said, forget it. I'm so excited to go. I have my passport. I can't leave that opportunity. But my mom said, you need to come back.

36:38Don't be stupid this time because this is your second university. Get your degree, you dumbass. He was very straight with me. So I said, Mom, don't worry, I'm coming back. So we are driving to Vienna, and he's talking, like, how is life in Poland? And I say, I hate those Russians, those commies. And he stopped the car, and he pulled a Russian passport and said, get out from the car. I say what? what's going on? I can't believe I see a Russian guy driving to Vienna I was thinking like for them it's impossible so he had two passports I don't know at the time whether he was part of something or not who knows then I backtracked and I said no I hate the system Russian people are wonderful I'm trying to bring back the situation to be normalized so that he can continue giving me the right to Vienna eventually he fell for it he said okay, sit back and then we were talking, then we stopped he bought me a beer so there was a nice conversation I didn't ask him, I was confused I was thinking like, how is that possible?

38:06because I never have seen a situation like that. Two passports in my head, no experience prior to that, no knowledge of any kind. But anyway, he was nice. He gave me the lift. He invited me to his flat. He gave me a dinner, and I said, I'm going to take the hitchhike on the highway, and then no one took me from that highway. So I slept under the bridge in some bushes. It's summertime, so I didn't care much about it. And I said, we'll figure it tomorrow. And the next day I woke up. Nobody robbed me. I'm so lucky that I'm alive. I said, why don't I stay in Vienna? And I went to hostel, youth hostels.

38:54I knew that we had that chain in Poland, so I knew that they would have that in Europe as well. at the time would be five US dollars per night. And I met some guys from Japan, Canada, US, they were biking, they were doing trips around Vienna. And I was just mesmerized by the fact that I see colors, I see billboards. I'm like a monkey in the candy store looking around and I I've admired this beautiful architecture. And I went to a church on Katrin Strasser. I remember reading somewhere before I left that Andrei Gromyko, that minister of— Foreign minister. Yes, minister. I remember reading someone's paper that he would learn English going to churches.

39:48And I found it at the time like a hypocritical, like he's a commie. He despised faith. Now he goes to church to learn language. But it's a brilliant idea. So I went to church. There was a mass in English, some Hungarian event I can remember. And I decided to roam around and just soak up the freedom. I visit just not only beautiful museums, but life in the city. It was so nice, so refreshing. I said, my God, I have to return somehow and change my condition of my life. Somehow it's going to happen. And I didn't get to go south. Then I board a train and I go to see Berlin. Because I used to visit Berlin Wall from the other side.

40:45The gray, the scary, like you don't laugh, you don't smile. You see the Brandenburg Gate from the east side. It is just a monument. And then, boom, and there was deafening silence. I went to that TV tower in East Berlin. And usually the east side would be empty. People would be staring at the West Berlin. I remember that vividly. See, everybody's longing for that life. Nobody cares to admire the beautiful scenery of the East Berlin. Everybody is like wanted to almost rip that window and fly through the gate, through the wall on the other side. So the first time I saw the West Berlin graffiti, I saw beautiful like life in West Berlin.

41:42because my train took me to East Berlin and I knew my sister said, you can walk through the gate. So I went through one of the checkpoint. It's not Checkpoint Charlie when I'm going into West Berlin. And some guy is talking to me, stay here, you're from Poland, some German dude. So just tugged along. And I said, I just want to see it. I just want to see. And for the first time I have witnessed And people would have a walking-up observation deck. They could look freely at the other side, and we couldn't from the east side. We were not a lot even—I don't know if you could touch the wall. There was no one there.

42:26There was quiet. It's gray, sort of a gray or stucco kind of version. Very dooming and glooming from our side. But the West Side was very different. And I walked up and I took a look and I said, wow, these people are very different. Like the reality is just 200 meters apart, very different world. I'm thinking, what is going on? Why can't I be part of that? But I don't want to stay because I remember, okay, I have to finish my stupid university at the time. I said, I almost tempted to stay, but I promised my mom that I'm going to do it. And later it helped me because I was able to do a teaching job here in Canada, right?