Anna Walentynowicz

Anna Walentynowicz (b. August 13, 1929 in Równe) is a Polish free trade union activist. Her firing in August 1980 was the event that led to the strike in the Gdansk Shipyard that paralyzed the Baltic coast and led to the giant wave of strikes in Poland and eventually the creation of Solidarity, of which she became a prominent member. By September nearly a million workers were on strike in support of the twenty one demands, making it the largest strike ever.

Born in 1929 and orphaned during the Second World War, Anna Walentynowicz began working in the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland in 1950, first as a welder, later as a crane operator. Walentynowicz soon became disillusioned with the Polish communist party (PZPR) as she saw that workers were not allowed to organize and their concerns were not addressed. She began her campaign for justice when one of her bosses stole money from the employees and used it to participate in a lottery.

She was a member of the Free Trade Unions of the Coast in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and she also came to symbolize the opposition movement visually by appearing as a stout female worker in many propaganda posters. As editor of the Polish samizdat ("bibuła") Robotnik Wybrzeza ('The Coastal Worker'), she brazenly distributed the illegal newspaper in person at the shipyard, often handing it directly to her bosses. For participation in the illegal trade union she was fired from work on 7 August 1980, 5 months before she was due to retire. This management decision enraged the workers, who staged a strike action on 14 August. In the aftermath of the strike, Anna Walentynowicz and Lech Wałęsa were returned to work, the Gdańsk Agreement was signed and soon afterward the Solidarity trade union was formed.

Several years later Anna left Solidarity, criticizing Wałęsa's policies. After the fall of communism in 1989 she still distanced herself from the union and various political parties allied with Solidarity. 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. In January 2005 she received the Truman Reagan Medal of Freedom in Washington on behalf of Solidarity from the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation.

She also appeared as herself in four movies, the most famous of those being Man of Iron by Andrzej Wajda. The movie Strike [cite web
last =
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title = Strajk - Die Heldin von Danzig
work = IMDB
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url = http://imdb.com/title/tt0440978/
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accessdate = 2007-06-22] is a fictionalized version of her story. [cite web
last = Hickley
first = Catherine
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title = `Strike' Film Honors Shipyard Heroine Who Fought Communism
work = Bloomberg.com
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date = 2007-03-08
url = http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=aVmHZrXT7C6g&refer=muse
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Quotes

:From a brochure handed out to workers in Lenin Shipyard on 14 August:

cquote|To the workers of the Gdansk Shipyard

We turn to YOU colleagues of Anna Walentynowicz. She has worked at the shipyard since 1950. Sixteen years as a welder, later as crane operator in W-2 section, awarded bronze, silver and in 1979 Gold Cross of Merit (Krzyz zaslugi). She had always been a model worker, what is more one who reacted to every wrong an injustice.

This has resulted in her activism in independent of management trade union movement. Walentynowicz received a disciplinary notice of firing on August 7 for "major infraction of worker's responsibilities." We would like to remind you that Anna Walentynowicz has only five months to retirement. This matter demonstrates that the administration of the shipyard does not care about public opinion or legal procedure, which it violates forcing people to bend with its whims. Anna Walentynowicz has been a thorn in their side, because she is a model activist devoted to others. She is a thorn in their side because she defends others and is capable of organizing her colleagues... We appeal to you, defend the crane operator Walentynowicz. If you don't, many of you may find themselves in the same miserable situation.

Signed Founding Committee of Independent Trade Unions and the editorial board of THE COASTAL WORKER: Bogdan Borusewicz, Joanna Duda-Gwiazda, Andrzej Gwiazda, Jan Karandziej, Maryla Płońska, Alina Pieńkowska, Lech Wałęsa

References

*

External links

* [http://www.logtv.com/films/anna/ Anna Proletarian] , short bio
* [http://www.heritageradio.net/cms2/reflections-single-view/article/solidarnosc-a-re-creating-a-legacy/ Solidarnosc – re-creating a legacy] , article has a selection of information related to Anna
* [http://www.polishnews.com/text/politics/anna_walentynowicz_appeal.html 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]
* [http://imdb.com/name/nm0907373/ Anna Walentynowicz on IMDb.com]
* [http://www.polishcenterdc.org/gallery/gallery.aspx?ID=4 The American Center of Polish Culture, The Women of Solidarity gallery] has pics of Anna Walentynowicz

Further reading

* Shana Penn, "Solidarity's Secret : The Women Who Defeated Communism in Poland", University of Michigan Press, 2005, ISBN 0-472-11385-2