Związki zawodowe w Polsce Ludowej – od dobrych początków do totalnej klęski

Abstract

The paper presents the situation of trade unions in communist Poland; from the end of hostilities until the transition period they remained in conflict with the state. The reason for such a long conflict was the place of the trade union movement in the political organization of the Polish society. The trade union movement had survived the period of occupation underground; and with the cessation of hostilities awaited the declaration of people’s authorities that it would be integrated into the democratic changes and that, acting in the economic field, it would be an important part of the new political system. Meanwhile, the people’s government had a different concept of the trade union movement, namely, that it was to play a crucial part not in the economic but in the political system; it was to be an organization for the purpose of productional mobilization of workers rather than a workers’ association defending the workers’ interests. For this reason, the people’s government, on the basis of the Soviet experience, subjected the trade union movement to the Stalinist indoctrination, which it had to struggle with until the end of the Polish People’s Republic and – at times of recurring economic crises - demand a proper place in the society’s economic organization. Only the dissolution of the Central Council of Trade Unions and then of the Communist Party created the conditions in the country for the existence of trade unions independent of political parties.