Police Force Used Against Workers

Poland's labour force has been squeezed by this new class and "bought off" cheaply. Twelve hour days and "voluntary" labour on Saturday and Sundays have become common. This super-exploitation is only possible because the Polish people are deprived of many democratic rights. All those who demand changes are subject to repression by the social-fascist regime (socialist in words, but fascist in acts). Leaders of free trade unions have been imprisoned or shot (49 workers were killed and a further 1165 wounded in a protest over price hikes in Gdansk in December 1970). In the latest police brutality in Bydgoszcz, Solidarity members were kicked, punched and beaten by police, resulting in 27 members being taken to hospital and a 68 year old farmer being flown to Warsaw for emergency treatment.

This incident illustrates the use of state force to suppress workers; as has been the case in the past. In 1956, 1970 and 1976, force was used to quash protest over rising food prices, shortages of basic commodities and the suppression of workers' rights to organise.