“To Produce Coal and to Earn” – Miners Crews of Katowice Voivodeship in 1982 against the Reality of Martial Law

On the basis of large source material the article presents issues facing coal miners' crews of Katowice Voivodeship during the actions against miners' strikes from December 1981 till the turn of 1982, i.e. till the suspension of the martial law. As coal was at the same time both the main fuel powering the Polish energetic system and one of the key export goods, authorities wanted to ensure safe operation of the mines and growth of output of the pre-cious rock. The restrictive regulations of martial law also supported that goal – miners were forced to work six days a week and bound to their workplaces by militarisation of the mines. On one hand no tolerance for resistance on the other financial bonuses for Saturday work (tripled wage, opportunity to buy attractive yet virtually unobtainable in the market goods) influenced actual growth of coal output (a rise from 163 million t in 1981 to 189 million t in 1982). The authorities, however, were not able to gain total control over miners' attitudes. There were many proofs of that: leaflets of delegalised “Solidarity” circulated in the mines, anti-regime graffiti, organised help for interned and arrested union activists and the living memory of nine miners shot dead in “Wujek” coal mine in Katowice, casualties of pacifica-tion process of the strike in that mine in December 1981. The place often visited by repre-sentatives of the workers and youth became a symbol of resistance and opposition. When “Solidarity” was delegalised, the organisation of new trade unions inspired and controlled by communist party members and mine managements met with suspicion and mistrust from the side of the workers.