Radom, June 25, 1976

The 33rd anniversary of workers’ protest and their brutal suppression is being commemorated in the central city of Radom today.

The main ceremonies start in the evening with a mass said under the monument commemorating June 1976 riots.

On 25 June 1976 workers in Poland started protesting against sudden and steep hikes in the price of food. Strikes and demonstrations were staged in Plock, Ursus and Radom. All forms of protests were considered illegal under communist rule in Poland and the demonstrations ended in when they were brutally suppressed by militia forces.

In Radom, two protesting workers were killed and over 200 were wounded.

The communists explained away the demonstrations as ‘insignificant hooligan actions’, while government repression began against the workers. Mass arrests and dismissals followed. The participants of the protests could not find jobs in any place in the country, while those considered as leaders of the demonstrations were sentenced to 10 year imprisonment.

It was after the protests and the communist crackdown that the Workers Defence Committee (KOR) was formed by a group of intellectuals, such as the late Bronislaw Geremek, which began to build bridges with workers against the totalitarian system. Four years later the Solidarity trade union was born. (adb/pg)