Jarosław Broda, The August Strike in Depot VII in Wrocław Through the Eyes of an Opposition Activist

Abstract

The text presented here is an account by Jarosław Broda, one of the leading dissident activists in Wroclaw under communism, along with commentary. The narrator recalls events that took place in Wroclaw Bus Depot Number Seven in August 1980. This is an interesting source of information about the mood of those who were on strike, including the collaboration between the workers and the dissident activists who supported them, as well as the functioning of an underground printing press and the importance of the wave of August strikes to the democratic transition that would later take place in Poland.

Keywords

• strike
• wroclaw
• samizdat
• pro-democratic opposition
• august 1980
• inter-factory strike committee
• gdansk agreement