Anna Walentynowicz
Encyclopedia
Anna Walentynowicz (ˈanna valɛntɨˈnɔvit͡ʂ; August 13, 1929 – April 10, 2010) was a Polish free trade union
activist. Her firing in August 1980 was the event that ignited the strike at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk that very quickly paralyzed the Baltic coast and a giant wave of strikes
in Poland
. The Interfactory Strike Committee [MKS] based in the Gdańsk shipyard eventually transformed itself into Solidarity trade union, of which she became a prominent member. By September more than million workers were on strike in support of the twenty one demands, making it the largest strike ever. Walentynowicz, whose name became synonymous with the strike became an organizing slogan [Bring Anna Walentynowicz Back to Work!] in the early days of the Gdansk strike, is now widely regarded as "mother of independent Poland."
as Anna Lubczyk in what is now Ukraine
in 1929, Anna Walentynowcz was orphaned during the Second World War and repatriated into Poland. She began working in the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk
, Poland
in 1950, first as a welder
, later as a crane
operator. Recognized as a "Hero of Socialist Labor" or Stakhanovite
for her hard work, Walentynowicz became disillusioned with the communist system, especially after the bloody events in December 1970 on the Baltic Coast. While she was an activist and a member of a socialist youth organization, she was never formally a member of the communist party. She was a devout Catholic who believed in social justice and standing up against oppression, in her later years deeply moved by the teachings of John Paul II with whom she developed a personal relationship. She really began her quest for justice by speaking out publicly when one of her supervisors stole money from the workers' bonus fund to win lottery. Instead of reprimanding the corrupt supervisor, the system turned on her--she was harassed by secret police.
The exemplary worker and Hero of Socialist Labor turned a vocal dissident because the so-called workers state did not care about the workers. Walentynowicz joined the newly formed WZZ or Free Trade Unions of the Coast
in 1978, and in the early 1980s came to symbolize the opposition movement, along with her colleagues from the WZZ, Lech Wałęsa
, Andrzej Gwiazda
, Bogdan Borusewicz
, Alina Pienkowska
, the Wyszkowski brothers and Andrzej Kołodziej. As editor of the Polish samizdat
(bibuła) Robotnik Wybrzeża (The Coastal Worker), she distributed an underground newsheet at the shipyard; she often challenged the authorities, and it was not uncommon for her to openly challenge her superiors. For participation in the illegal trade union
she was fired from work on August 7, 1980, 5 months before she was due to retire. This management decision enraged the workers, who staged a strike action
on August 14 defending Anna Walentynowicz and demanding her return.
In early reportage from the Gdansk strike by Western press, which was permitted into the shipyard, Anna Walentynowicz is mentioned earlier than Lech Wałęsa. It was the women of the shipyard, especially Anna Waletynowicz and Alina Pienkowska, who are credited in most eye-witness accounts for transforming a strike over bread and butter issues into a solidarity strike in sympathy with other striking establishments in the Gdansk region. The Gdańsk Agreement
was signed in August recognizing the right to organize free trade unions independent of the Party for the first time in the Communist bloc. When the Solidarity trade union was registered shortly after the Gdansk Agreement, it had nearly ten million members, the world's largest union to date.
Walentynowicz has criticized Wałęsa for taking too much individual credit, and not sufficiently acknowledging that the Solidarity union triumph was a group effort involving millions, even suggesting with some merit that his "cult of personality" at times greatly damaged the movement. It is well documented that Walesa-inspired effort to cleanse the informant "Bolek" file during his presidency dealt a serious blow to lustration efforts in Poland.
While remaining active and outspoken after the fall of communism in 1989 Walentynowicz distanced herself from the labor union and various political parties
including those allied with Solidarity. She felt Solidarity elites have abandoned the workers and ordinary people, not living up to the core Solidarity values of social justice. She felt that the moral revolution that brought freedom to Poland had been co-opted by self-interested individuals who reneged on their promises. In 2000 she declined an honorary citizenship of the city of Gdańsk
. In 2003 she asked for compensation from the government for her 1980s persecution, eventually receiving part of the sum. Walentynowicz cared little about herself and mostly donated all that she had to those who needed help.
On December 13, 2005 Walentynowicz accepted the Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom in Washington
on behalf of the first free trade union Solidarity from the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation
and was personally honored along with John Paul II and General Edward Rowny
, Chief US Nuclear Arms Control Negotiator with the Soviets.The columnist Georgie Anne Geyer
called her the Rosa Parks
of Solidarity and in her column compared her to the likes of Indira Gandhi
and Corazon Aquino
. During her visit she met with vice president Linda Chavez Thompson and other leaders of AFL-CIO
. In a meeting at the State Department, she presented a relief sculpture of John Paul II as a gift to President George W. Bush
and the American people, which was accepted by Paula Dobriansky
, Undersecretary of State for Global Affairs, who has been recognized for her support of the Solidarity Union.
Andrzej Wajda
's film sequence, Man of Marble
and Man of Iron
, is based loosely on Anna Walentynowicz's life with its central motif of a Hero of Socialist Labor turned dissident, prompting some to call her "woman of iron." She also appeared as herself in four movies, the best known being Man of Iron
. The Volker Schlöndorff
movie Strike
is a fictionalized version of her story.
Walentynowicz died in a plane crash
near Smolensk on April 10, 2010, along with President of Poland, Lech Kaczyński
, First Lady Maria Kaczyńska
, and many other prominent Polish leaders. A plaque on her house in Wrzeszcz, a borough of Gdańsk, has recently been dedicated and the city of Gdynia named an intersection after her.
Sławomir Cenckiewicz
, "Anna Solidarność," Zysk, 2010.
Tomasz Jastrun, Życie Anny Walentynowicz [underground publication from 1985 available as an audiobook]
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
activist. Her firing in August 1980 was the event that ignited the strike at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk that very quickly paralyzed the Baltic coast and a giant wave of strikes
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. The Interfactory Strike Committee [MKS] based in the Gdańsk shipyard eventually transformed itself into Solidarity trade union, of which she became a prominent member. By September more than million workers were on strike in support of the twenty one demands, making it the largest strike ever. Walentynowicz, whose name became synonymous with the strike became an organizing slogan [Bring Anna Walentynowicz Back to Work!] in the early days of the Gdansk strike, is now widely regarded as "mother of independent Poland."
Life
Born in RivneRivne
Rivne or Rovno is a historic city in western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Rivne Oblast , as well as the administrative center of the surrounding Rivne Raion within the oblast...
as Anna Lubczyk in what is now Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
in 1929, Anna Walentynowcz was orphaned during the Second World War and repatriated into Poland. She began working in the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk
Gdansk
Gdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
in 1950, first as a welder
Welder
A welder is a tradesman who specializes in welding materials together. The materials to be joined can be metals or varieties of plastic or polymer...
, later as a crane
Crane (machine)
A crane is a type of machine, generally equipped with a hoist, wire ropes or chains, and sheaves, that can be used both to lift and lower materials and to move them horizontally. It uses one or more simple machines to create mechanical advantage and thus move loads beyond the normal capability of...
operator. Recognized as a "Hero of Socialist Labor" or Stakhanovite
Stakhanovite
In Soviet history and iconography, a Stakhanovite follows the example of Aleksei Grigorievich Stakhanov, employing hard work or Taylorist efficiencies to over-achieve on the job.- History :...
for her hard work, Walentynowicz became disillusioned with the communist system, especially after the bloody events in December 1970 on the Baltic Coast. While she was an activist and a member of a socialist youth organization, she was never formally a member of the communist party. She was a devout Catholic who believed in social justice and standing up against oppression, in her later years deeply moved by the teachings of John Paul II with whom she developed a personal relationship. She really began her quest for justice by speaking out publicly when one of her supervisors stole money from the workers' bonus fund to win lottery. Instead of reprimanding the corrupt supervisor, the system turned on her--she was harassed by secret police.
The exemplary worker and Hero of Socialist Labor turned a vocal dissident because the so-called workers state did not care about the workers. Walentynowicz joined the newly formed WZZ or Free Trade Unions of the Coast
Free Trade Unions of the Coast
Free Trade Unions of the Coast were a government-independent trade union in the People's Republic of Poland.This trade union was founded in Gdańsk on 29 April 1978 by Andrzej Gwiazda, Krzysztof Wyszkowski and Antoni Sokołowski...
in 1978, and in the early 1980s came to symbolize the opposition movement, along with her colleagues from the WZZ, Lech Wałęsa
Lech Wałęsa
Lech Wałęsa is a Polish politician, trade-union organizer, and human-rights activist. A charismatic leader, he co-founded Solidarity , the Soviet bloc's first independent trade union, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, and served as President of Poland between 1990 and 95.Wałęsa was an electrician...
, Andrzej Gwiazda
Andrzej Gwiazda
Andrzej Gwiazda in Gdańsk engineer and prominent opposition leader, who participated in Polish March 1968 Events and December 1970 Events; one of the founders of Free Trade Unions, Member of the Presiding Committee of the Strike at Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk in August 1980, Vice President of the...
, Bogdan Borusewicz
Bogdan Borusewicz
Bogdan Michał Borusewicz, is the Speaker in the Polish Senate since 20 October 2005. Borusewicz was a democratic opposition activist under the Communist regime, a member of the Polish parliament for three terms and first Senate Speaker to serve two terms in this office.Borusewicz briefly served...
, Alina Pienkowska
Alina Pienkowska
Alina Pienkowska was a Polish free trade union activist and a Senator for Gdańsk...
, the Wyszkowski brothers and Andrzej Kołodziej. As editor of the Polish samizdat
Samizdat
Samizdat was a key form of dissident activity across the Soviet bloc in which individuals reproduced censored publications by hand and passed the documents from reader to reader...
(bibuła) Robotnik Wybrzeża (The Coastal Worker), she distributed an underground newsheet at the shipyard; she often challenged the authorities, and it was not uncommon for her to openly challenge her superiors. For participation in the illegal trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
she was fired from work on August 7, 1980, 5 months before she was due to retire. This management decision enraged the workers, who staged a strike action
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
on August 14 defending Anna Walentynowicz and demanding her return.
In early reportage from the Gdansk strike by Western press, which was permitted into the shipyard, Anna Walentynowicz is mentioned earlier than Lech Wałęsa. It was the women of the shipyard, especially Anna Waletynowicz and Alina Pienkowska, who are credited in most eye-witness accounts for transforming a strike over bread and butter issues into a solidarity strike in sympathy with other striking establishments in the Gdansk region. The Gdańsk Agreement
Gdansk Agreement
The Gdańsk Agreement was an accord reached as a direct result of the strikes that took place in Gdańsk, Poland...
was signed in August recognizing the right to organize free trade unions independent of the Party for the first time in the Communist bloc. When the Solidarity trade union was registered shortly after the Gdansk Agreement, it had nearly ten million members, the world's largest union to date.
Walentynowicz has criticized Wałęsa for taking too much individual credit, and not sufficiently acknowledging that the Solidarity union triumph was a group effort involving millions, even suggesting with some merit that his "cult of personality" at times greatly damaged the movement. It is well documented that Walesa-inspired effort to cleanse the informant "Bolek" file during his presidency dealt a serious blow to lustration efforts in Poland.
While remaining active and outspoken after the fall of communism in 1989 Walentynowicz distanced herself from the labor union and various political parties
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
including those allied with Solidarity. She felt Solidarity elites have abandoned the workers and ordinary people, not living up to the core Solidarity values of social justice. She felt that the moral revolution that brought freedom to Poland had been co-opted by self-interested individuals who reneged on their promises. In 2000 she declined an honorary citizenship of the city of Gdańsk
Gdansk
Gdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...
. In 2003 she asked for compensation from the government for her 1980s persecution, eventually receiving part of the sum. Walentynowicz cared little about herself and mostly donated all that she had to those who needed help.
On December 13, 2005 Walentynowicz accepted the Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom in Washington
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
on behalf of the first free trade union Solidarity from the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation
Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation
The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation is a non-profit educational organization in the United States, established as a result of an Act of Congress in 1993 with the purpose to commemorate "the deaths of over 100,000,000 victims in an unprecedented imperial communist holocaust"...
and was personally honored along with John Paul II and General Edward Rowny
Edward Rowny
Lieutenant General Edward L. Rowny, born in Baltimore, Maryland on April 3, 1917, was a U.S. Army general and an ambassador, chief U.S. negotiator in arms reduction talks with the Soviet Union, and one of the originators of the helicopter as a platform for combat...
, Chief US Nuclear Arms Control Negotiator with the Soviets.The columnist Georgie Anne Geyer
Georgie Anne Geyer
Georgie Anne Geyer is an American journalist and columnist for the Universal Press Syndicate. Her columns focus on foreign affairs issues and appear in approximately 120 newspapers in North and South America. She is the author of several books, including a biography of Fidel Castro.Geyer was born...
called her the Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was an African-American civil rights activist, whom the U.S. Congress called "the first lady of civil rights", and "the mother of the freedom movement"....
of Solidarity and in her column compared her to the likes of Indira Gandhi
Indira Gandhi
Indira Priyadarshini Gandhara was an Indian politician who served as the third Prime Minister of India for three consecutive terms and a fourth term . She was assassinated by Sikh extremists...
and Corazon Aquino
Corazon Aquino
Maria Corazon Sumulong Cojuangco-Aquino was the 11th President of the Philippines and the first woman to hold that office in Philippine history. She is best remembered for leading the 1986 People Power Revolution, which toppled Ferdinand Marcos and restored democracy in the Philippines...
. During her visit she met with vice president Linda Chavez Thompson and other leaders of AFL-CIO
AFL-CIO
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, commonly AFL–CIO, is a national trade union center, the largest federation of unions in the United States, made up of 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 11 million workers...
. In a meeting at the State Department, she presented a relief sculpture of John Paul II as a gift to President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
and the American people, which was accepted by Paula Dobriansky
Paula Dobriansky
Paula Jon Dobriansky is an American foreign policy expert who has served in key roles as a diplomat and policy maker in the administrations of five U.S. presidents, both Democrat and Republican. She is a specialist in the areas of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union as well as...
, Undersecretary of State for Global Affairs, who has been recognized for her support of the Solidarity Union.
Andrzej Wajda
Andrzej Wajda
Andrzej Wajda is a Polish film director. Recipient of an honorary Oscar, he is possibly the most prominent member of the unofficial "Polish Film School"...
's film sequence, Man of Marble
Man of Marble
Man of Marble is a 1976 Polish film directed by Andrzej Wajda. It chronicles the fall from grace of a fictional heroic Polish bricklayer, Mateusz Birkut , who became the Stakhanovite symbol of an over-achieving worker, in Nowa Huta, a new socialist city near Kraków...
and Man of Iron
Man of Iron
Man of Iron is a 1981 film directed by Andrzej Wajda. It depicts the Solidarity labour movement and its first success in persuading the Polish government to recognize the workers' right to an independent union....
, is based loosely on Anna Walentynowicz's life with its central motif of a Hero of Socialist Labor turned dissident, prompting some to call her "woman of iron." She also appeared as herself in four movies, the best known being Man of Iron
Man of Iron
Man of Iron is a 1981 film directed by Andrzej Wajda. It depicts the Solidarity labour movement and its first success in persuading the Polish government to recognize the workers' right to an independent union....
. The Volker Schlöndorff
Volker Schlöndorff
Volker Schlöndorff is a Berlin-based German filmmaker who has worked in Germany, France and the United States...
movie Strike
Strike (2006 film)
Strike is a Polish language film produced by a mainly German group, released in 2006 and directed by Volker Schlöndorff. The film is broadly a docudrama...
is a fictionalized version of her story.
Walentynowicz died in a plane crash
2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash
The 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash occurred on 10 April 2010, when a Tupolev Tu-154M aircraft of the Polish Air Force crashed near the city of Smolensk, Russia, killing all 96 people on board...
near Smolensk on April 10, 2010, along with President of Poland, Lech Kaczyński
Lech Kaczynski
Lech Aleksander Kaczyński was Polish lawyer and politician who served as the President of Poland from 2005 until 2010 and as Mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 22 December 2005. Before he became a president, he was also a member of the party Prawo i Sprawiedliwość...
, First Lady Maria Kaczyńska
Maria Kaczynska
Maria Kaczyńska was the First Lady of Poland from 2005-10 as the wife of Lech Kaczyński, late President of Poland.-Early and personal life:Born as Maria Helena Mackiewicz in Machowo to Lidia and Czesław Mackiewicz. Her father fought in the Vilnius Armia Krajowa , while an uncle fought in the...
, and many other prominent Polish leaders. A plaque on her house in Wrzeszcz, a borough of Gdańsk, has recently been dedicated and the city of Gdynia named an intersection after her.
Quotes
- From a brochure handed out to workers in Lenin Shipyard on August 14:
External links
- Anna Proletarian, short bio
- Solidarnosc – re-creating a legacy, article has a selection of information related to Anna
- Polish news: ANNA WALENTYNOWICZ APPEAL
- http://www.victimsofcommunism.org/media/article.php?article=1527 and:http://www.jbanc.org/1980medal.html Anna Walentynowicz accepts Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom
- Anna Walentynowicz on IMDb.com
Further reading
- Shana Penn, Solidarity's Secret : The Women Who Defeated Communism in Poland, University of Michigan Press, 2005, ISBN 0-472-11385-2
Sławomir Cenckiewicz
Sławomir Cenckiewicz
Sławomir Cenckiewicz is a Polish historian and journalist. A former employee of the Institute of National Remembrance, he is currently the main historical consultant of the Wprost weekly. He gained much media attention following the 2008 publication of a book "SB a Lech Wałęsa", suggesting Lech...
, "Anna Solidarność," Zysk, 2010.
Tomasz Jastrun, Życie Anny Walentynowicz [underground publication from 1985 available as an audiobook]