June 1976 protests
[2] 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.
The purpose of the campaign was to show the nation that price increase was a necessary step, caused by similar trends in world markets.
[4] 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.
The increase in consumption, noted in the first half of the 1970s, was financed by credits from Western Europe,[5] and party apparatchiks, who were not acquainted with economics, undertook several failed initiatives.
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.
Therefore, only 75 additional paramilitary police officers were dispatched to Radom, with larger forces concentrated in Warsaw, Kraków, Szczecin, Gdańsk, and Upper Silesia.
The biggest one went towards the main gate of the Factory of Heating Equipment (Zaklady Sprzetu Grzejnego), and the second group headed towards Radom Manufacturer of Leather "Radoskor".
The demonstration, which quickly grew, headed towards the center of the city, walking past the gates of additional companies — Wood Manufacturer and Rolling Stock Maintenance Works ZNTK Radom.
At about 10:00 a.m., the crowd, led by young men waving Polish flags, appeared in front of Radom Voivodeship's office of the PZPR.
Fifteen minutes later, deputy Minister of Internal Affairs General Boguslaw Stachyra ordered transfer of ZOMO units from Łódź, Warszawa, Kielce and Lublin.
By 16:00, around 20,000 people fought 1543 police officers, who used live ammunition, water cannons and tear gas, and finally announced a state of emergency.
There were 198 wounded, and the police, commanded by deputy chief of the country, General Stanislaw Zaczkowski, who was hurriedly transported to Radom, arrested 634 demonstrators.
The most famous one took place when desperate workers of the Ursus Factory destroyed a main railway track, which stopped rail traffic.
In Plock, the third center of demonstrations, the strike broke out in one of the biggest Polish companies, Masovian Refinery and Petrochemical Plant (now PKN Orlen).
A party official gave a speech, and in the evening of that day, street fights began, with the demonstrators throwing rocks, and destroying a fire truck.
[9] Apart from Radom, Ursus and Plock, there were strikes and street demonstrations in several other cities, such as Gdansk, Elbląg, Grudziądz, Poznań, Radomsko, Starachowice, Szczecin, Warsaw and Wrocław.
[9] In Warsaw proper, even though no demonstrations were recorded, several major factories, such as FSO Warszawa, Radio Works of Marcin Kasprzak went on a short strike.
The intellectuals, shaken by the plight of the helpless demonstrators, decided to help them legally as well as materially, since many people were dismissed and had no means to support their families.
Three months later, on 23 September, Komitet Obrony Robotników (Committee for the Defense of the Workers, KOR) was created by Jacek Kuron and Jerzy Andrzejewski.
[10] Also, in early September 1976, General Conference of Polish Episcopate urged the government to stop all repressions and make it possible for fired workers to return to their workplaces.
In late June 1976, party propaganda organized mass demonstrations in major stadiums, during which "anti-hooligan" slogans were chanted.
