Recent from talks
June 1976 in Polish protests
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
June 1976 in Polish protests
The June 1976 protests were a series of protests and demonstrations in the Polish People's Republic that took place after Prime Minister Piotr Jaroszewicz revealed the plan for a sudden increase in the price of many basic commodities, particularly food (butter by 33%, meat by 70%, and sugar by 100%). Prices in Poland were at that time fixed, and controlled by the government, which was falling into increasing debt.
The protests started on 24 June and lasted until 30 June, the largest violent demonstrations and looting taking place in Płock, the Warsaw suburb of Ursus, and particularly Radom. The protests were brutally quelled by the government using tanks and helicopters, but the plan for the price increase was shelved; Polish leader Edward Gierek backed down and dismissed Prime Minister Jaroszewicz. This left the government looking both economically foolish and politically weak, a very dangerous combination. The 1976 disturbances and the subsequent arrests and dismissals of militant workers brought the workers and the intellectual opposition to the regime back into contact. In the aftermath, a group of intellectuals founded the opposition organization Workers' Defence Committee (Komitet Obrony Robotników, KOR), whose aim was to fight official repression of the protesting workers.
During the VII meeting[vague] of the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR), in December 1975, secretary general Edward Gierek, recognizing the poor condition of the Polish economy, stated that "…the problems of structure of prices of basic food products needs further analysis". This utterance was an informal announcement of planned increase of food prices, which had artificially been kept at levels set in 1971, and whose increase was necessary for economic reasons. However, the Communist government of Poland wanted to prepare the citizens for the changes, and therefore a massive propaganda campaign was started in the mass-media. It is claimed that the government of the Soviet Union opposed the plans.
The purpose of the campaign was to show the nation that price increase was a necessary step, caused by similar trends in world markets. In early June 1976, Polish press, both national and local, began printing news about rising unemployment in Western Europe and North America, as well as rising food prices in the capitalist world. Sometimes, the news presented in Polish press was rather unusual, as when Trybuna Ludu announced that Iceland was handling a food crisis by switching to a fish diet, something that wasn't true. Also, Central Committee of the PZPR urged mass-media to avoid the phrase "price increase".
On 24 June 1976, prime minister Piotr Jaroszewicz gave a speech, which was broadcast live on TV. As advised by the party, he did not mention the increase directly. Instead, he talked about a continuation of the post-December 1970 policies. On the next day, a transcript of the speech was republished in newspapers, and on the same morning, strikes broke out. The propaganda announced the following increases, to be introduced on 27 June:
The price increases were the result of policies of the government, which promoted the so-called "building of socialism", condoned by Edward Gierek. The increase in consumption, noted in the first half of the 1970s, was financed by credits from Western Europe, and party apparatchiks, who were not acquainted with economics, undertook several failed initiatives. Furthermore, the communist approach to the economy resulted in over-employment and low productivity. Also, close economic ties with Soviet Union resulted in Poland financing[further explanation needed] the Soviet arms race with the United States.
The government predicted that the increases would be answered by protests, so it secretly announced Operation Summer 76, headed by director of Security Services, General Boguslaw Stachura. In several cities, special investigative groups were created whose task was to find and incarcerate the most active demonstrators. Also, additional space was created in jails. On 23 June, the day before Jaroszewicz's speech, all police units participating in the operation were ordered to stay alert. Also, in mid-June, opposition activists (potential leaders of protests), were called up by the army for military exercises.
Of all the street demonstrations of the protest of June 1976, by far the biggest ones took place in central city of Radom. Altogether, some 20,000 people protested in the streets, resulting in a long fight with the police. Even though the government had predicted demonstrations, nobody considered Radom to be the center of them. Therefore, only 75 additional paramilitary police officers were dispatched to Radom, with larger forces concentrated in Warsaw, Kraków, Szczecin, Gdańsk, and Upper Silesia.
Hub AI
June 1976 in Polish protests AI simulator
(@June 1976 in Polish protests_simulator)
June 1976 in Polish protests
The June 1976 protests were a series of protests and demonstrations in the Polish People's Republic that took place after Prime Minister Piotr Jaroszewicz revealed the plan for a sudden increase in the price of many basic commodities, particularly food (butter by 33%, meat by 70%, and sugar by 100%). Prices in Poland were at that time fixed, and controlled by the government, which was falling into increasing debt.
The protests started on 24 June and lasted until 30 June, the largest violent demonstrations and looting taking place in Płock, the Warsaw suburb of Ursus, and particularly Radom. The protests were brutally quelled by the government using tanks and helicopters, but the plan for the price increase was shelved; Polish leader Edward Gierek backed down and dismissed Prime Minister Jaroszewicz. This left the government looking both economically foolish and politically weak, a very dangerous combination. The 1976 disturbances and the subsequent arrests and dismissals of militant workers brought the workers and the intellectual opposition to the regime back into contact. In the aftermath, a group of intellectuals founded the opposition organization Workers' Defence Committee (Komitet Obrony Robotników, KOR), whose aim was to fight official repression of the protesting workers.
During the VII meeting[vague] of the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR), in December 1975, secretary general Edward Gierek, recognizing the poor condition of the Polish economy, stated that "…the problems of structure of prices of basic food products needs further analysis". This utterance was an informal announcement of planned increase of food prices, which had artificially been kept at levels set in 1971, and whose increase was necessary for economic reasons. However, the Communist government of Poland wanted to prepare the citizens for the changes, and therefore a massive propaganda campaign was started in the mass-media. It is claimed that the government of the Soviet Union opposed the plans.
The purpose of the campaign was to show the nation that price increase was a necessary step, caused by similar trends in world markets. In early June 1976, Polish press, both national and local, began printing news about rising unemployment in Western Europe and North America, as well as rising food prices in the capitalist world. Sometimes, the news presented in Polish press was rather unusual, as when Trybuna Ludu announced that Iceland was handling a food crisis by switching to a fish diet, something that wasn't true. Also, Central Committee of the PZPR urged mass-media to avoid the phrase "price increase".
On 24 June 1976, prime minister Piotr Jaroszewicz gave a speech, which was broadcast live on TV. As advised by the party, he did not mention the increase directly. Instead, he talked about a continuation of the post-December 1970 policies. On the next day, a transcript of the speech was republished in newspapers, and on the same morning, strikes broke out. The propaganda announced the following increases, to be introduced on 27 June:
The price increases were the result of policies of the government, which promoted the so-called "building of socialism", condoned by Edward Gierek. The increase in consumption, noted in the first half of the 1970s, was financed by credits from Western Europe, and party apparatchiks, who were not acquainted with economics, undertook several failed initiatives. Furthermore, the communist approach to the economy resulted in over-employment and low productivity. Also, close economic ties with Soviet Union resulted in Poland financing[further explanation needed] the Soviet arms race with the United States.
The government predicted that the increases would be answered by protests, so it secretly announced Operation Summer 76, headed by director of Security Services, General Boguslaw Stachura. In several cities, special investigative groups were created whose task was to find and incarcerate the most active demonstrators. Also, additional space was created in jails. On 23 June, the day before Jaroszewicz's speech, all police units participating in the operation were ordered to stay alert. Also, in mid-June, opposition activists (potential leaders of protests), were called up by the army for military exercises.
Of all the street demonstrations of the protest of June 1976, by far the biggest ones took place in central city of Radom. Altogether, some 20,000 people protested in the streets, resulting in a long fight with the police. Even though the government had predicted demonstrations, nobody considered Radom to be the center of them. Therefore, only 75 additional paramilitary police officers were dispatched to Radom, with larger forces concentrated in Warsaw, Kraków, Szczecin, Gdańsk, and Upper Silesia.
Recent media