Activity of branch sections of the Solidarity Trade Union in 1980–1981 on the example of the “Solidarity” National Coordinating Commission of Theatre Workers

Abstract

In the initial part of the paper, the history of trade unions in the Polish theatre has been outlined. Also, the situation in the theatre environment in the second half of the 1970s has been presented. In that time, the first symptoms of the conflicts, which later influenced the activity of the theatre section of “Solidarity”, appeared. Actors participated in the “Solidarity” movement since the very beginning. They took part in strikes in the coastal cities Gdańsk and Gdynia in August 1980, after which Committees of the new trade unions were established in most theatres in Poland. A need for coordination of the Committees appeared, and therefore, on the 10 November 1980, the theatre section of “Solidarity” was established. It dealt with the following issues: conditions of employment, theatre education reform, theatre’s self-government, work on Saturdays, and the theatre reform. However, its actions proved to be a failure, whose main reason was the split inside the section caused by the conflict between one part of the theatre “Solidarity” with the SPATiF (Association of Polish Theatre and Film Artists) authorities. A description of the mentioned conflict forms an essential part of the present paper.