Celebration of the 42nd anniversary of the signing of the August Agreements without Lech Walesa

Lech Walesa will be missing from the celebrations of the 42nd anniversary of the August signing, which are being held in Gdansk. “He is the biggest symbol of these celebrations. He gathered the people here,” – Deputy Speaker of the Sejm Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska (PO) said on Wednesday after laying wreaths at Solidarity Square.

Ceremonies to commemorate the 42nd anniversary of the signing of the August Agreements are being held in Gdansk on Wednesday. After 9 a.m., a delegation of Civic Coalition parliamentarians and representatives of the KO in the Gdansk city council laid flowers in front of the monument to the Fallen Shipyard Workers 1970 in Solidarnosc Square.

Those observing the ceremony were surprised by the absence of Lech Wałęsa, who, as MEP Henryka Krzywonos-Strycharska pointed out, would also be absent during the symbolic opening of Gate No. 2 of the Gdańsk Shipyard at 11 a.m., which the former president had been “opening” for years. “It’s difficult, that’s what Lechu decided and we have no other choice,” Krzywonos-Strycharska stated.

– It is a pity that Walesa is not here. He promised us that we would always be together. We don’t argue even if we don’t have our own opinion. We are like a good family. When help is needed, we stand side by side and that is how it should be,” added Krzywonos-Strychalska.

Jerzy Borowczak, former oppositionist, now KO MP, said that President Wałęsa is undergoing tests in hospital.

– I don’t miss him that much, because I know how he thinks and how he feels,” he noted .

Krzywonos-Strycharska added that they “will be alone” during the ceremony. Lech Wałęsa, is to be replaced by his wife during the symbolic opening of Gate No. 2 of the Gdańsk Shipyard.

– Wałęsa will come, Danka Wałęsa. Perhaps this is a symbol that will show that women are also strong and that she had her role at the time sitting at home raising her children,” said the former oppositionist.

According to Kidawa-Błońska, the celebrations without Lech Wałęsa will not be the same as in previous years.

– Lech Wałęsa has always been there. He is the greatest symbol of these celebrations. He gathered people here,’ she noted. – I am very sorry that he is not here. This is a symbolic time,” the Deputy Speaker added.

In Gdańsk on Wednesday, a number of celebrations are planned to commemorate the 42nd anniversary of the signing of the August Agreements. Separate celebrations are being organised by the city of Gdańsk and the Solidarity Trade Union.

The city of Gdansk is organising an event entitled: “How the Round Table of Local Governments will destroy local communities”. The European Solidarity Centre will host debates between local government officials, trade unions and municipal employees.

The debate will be followed at around 11 a.m. by the symbolic opening of Gate No. of the Gdansk Shipyard and the laying of wreaths in front of the monument to the Fallen Shipyard Workers 1970.

On the other hand, the NSZZ Solidarność (Solidarity) is organising, among other things, a ceremony on that day to award the Crosses of Freedom and Solidarity for services to Poland’s independence and sovereignty or for respecting human rights in the People’s Republic of Poland. The celebrations will also include a meeting of the Board of the Gdansk Region of the NSZZ “Solidarność” with the participation of, among others, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.

After the NSZZ “Solidarność” Board meeting, its representatives will lay flowers near Gate No. 2 of the Gdansk Shipyard. Later, a solemn Mass will be held in the Basilica of St. Brygida

42 years ago, at 5 p.m. in the BHP hall of the Gdańsk Shipyard, an agreement was signed between the Government Commission and the Interfactory Strike Committee representing more than 700 work establishments from all over Poland; the government delegation agreed, among other things, to the following The government delegation agreed, among other things, to the creation of new, independent, self-governing trade unions, the right to strike, the construction of a monument to the victims of December 1970, broadcasts of Sunday masses on Polish Radio and restrictions on censorship; a provision was also adopted stating that the new trade unions would recognise the leading role of the PZPR in the state; the signing ceremony was broadcast by TVP. The agreement, signed by MKS chairman Lech Wałęsa and Deputy Prime Minister Mieczysław Jagielski, consequently led to the establishment of the Solidarity Trade Union – the first legal trade union organisation independent of the authorities in communist countries.

Source: PortalMorski.pl