Alina Barbara Pienkowska (12 January 1952 – 17 October 2002; her surname is often misspelt as ''Pieńkowska'') was a Polish free
trade union
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...
activist and a
Senator
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
for Gdańsk (1991–1993, Solidarity Parliamentary Club). She was involved in the creation of
Solidarity
''Solidarity'' is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. It is based on class collaboration.''Merriam Webster'', http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictio ...
, of which she was a member of its organizing committee.
Biography
Pienkowska's father worked in the
Lenin Shipyard
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...
and had joined in the shipyard workers'
protest of December 1970. In 1980 she was a young, widowed mother (of a son, Sebastian) working as the shipyard nurse. She had been one of the founders of the underground
Free Trade Unions of the Coast in the 1970s.
She wrote health-related articles for the underground journal, ''The Coastal Worker'', mostly related to shipyard safety and rising accident rates. The
August 1980 strike started on the 14th over the firing of
Anna Walentynowicz
Anna Walentynowicz (; ; 15 August 1929 – 10 April 2010) was a Polish free trade union activist and co-founder of Solidarity, the first non-communist trade union in the Eastern Bloc. Her firing from her job at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk in Aug ...
. All of the phone lines into the shipyard were cut except to the clinic, and as the nurse, Pienkowska was instrumental in communicating to the outside world about the strike that ultimately spread to the Baltic coast and the giant wave of
strike
Strike may refer to:
People
* Strike (surname)
Physical confrontation or removal
*Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm
*Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...
s in
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
. Her first call was to
Jacek Kuroń
Jacek Jan Kuroń (; 3 March 1934 – 17 June 2004) was one of the democratic leaders of opposition in the People's Republic of Poland. He was widely known as the "godfather of the Polish opposition," not unlike Václav Havel in Czechoslovakia. Ku ...
of the
Workers' Defence Committee (KOR) in
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
. The press described her as a "firebrand", and she herself admitted to being moderated by Kuroń in order to avoid
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
intervention.
On the third day of the strike, on 16 August 1980, management granted Lenin Shipyard workers their working and pay demands.
Lech Wałęsa
Lech Wałęsa (; ; born 29 September 1943) is a Polish statesman, dissident, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who served as the President of Poland between 1990 and 1995. After winning the 1990 election, Wałęsa became the first democratica ...
and others announced the end of the strike. Pienkowska was outraged because of her close connection to the many workers outside the shipyard striking in solidarity with the shipyard workers. She told Wałęsa, "You betrayed them. Now the authorities will crush us like bedbugs."
As workers were beginning to leave, Pienkowska grabbed a loudspeaker and made a passionate speech about the responsibility to keep the strike going to make sure that the other factories which had in the meantime started solidarity strikes with the shipyard would not be left exposed. She and Walentynowicz managed to close the gates, but many workers went home, only to return by the next day (often at the insistence of their wives). The strike was salvaged. Pienkowska was then among the authors of the
21 demands of the
Interfactory Strike Committee
Inter-Enterprise Strike Committee (or ''Inter-Factory Strike Committee'', pl, Międzyzakładowy Komitet Strajkowy, MKS) was an action strike committee formed in Gdańsk Shipyard, People's Republic of Poland on 16 August 1980. It was led by Lec ...
, 17 August 1980, which led to the
Gdańsk Agreement
The Gdańsk Agreement (or ''Gdańsk Social Accord(s)'' or ''August Agreement(s)'', pl, Porozumienia sierpniowe) was an accord reached as a direct result of the strikes that took place in Gdańsk, Poland. Workers along the Baltic went on strike in ...
, of which she was a signatory.
Pienkowska secretly married
Bogdan Borusewicz
Bogdan Michał Borusewicz (; born 11 January 1949) was the Marshal in the Senate of Poland, Polish Senate from 20 October 2005 to 11 November 2015. Borusewicz was a democratic opposition activist under the History of Poland (1945-1989), Communist ...
during the period of
martial law
Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory.
Use
Marti ...
. He spent five years in hiding, visiting her from time to time. While still in hiding, Bogdan, disguised as a woman, attended the baptism of their daughter Kinga. Wałęsa kissed "her" hand as was customary for a Polish male, either to play along with the ruse or because he did not recognize Borusewicz.
Pienkowska worked as the shipyard nurse until 1991, when she was elected Senator for one term. She and her husband later joined the
Freedom Union, the party led by
post-Communist Poland's first freely elected Prime Minister,
Tadeusz Mazowiecki
Tadeusz Mazowiecki (; 18 April 1927 – 28 October 2013) was a Polish author, journalist, philanthropist and Christian-democratic politician, formerly one of the leaders of the Solidarity movement, and the first non-communist Polish prime min ...
.
In 1998 she became a member of the city council in Gdańsk and was active in local politics and in health issues until the end of her life.
Death
Pienkowska died on 17 October 2002, aged 50, reportedly from cancer.
On 3 May 2006, she was posthumously awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of
Polonia Restituta
The Order of Polonia Restituta ( pl, Order Odrodzenia Polski, en, Order of Restored Poland) is a Polish state order established 4 February 1921. It is conferred on both military and civilians as well as on foreigners for outstanding achievement ...
posthumously at the same ceremony in which Walentynowicz received her posthumous
Order of the White Eagle.
Andrzej Wajda
Andrzej Witold Wajda (; 6 March 1926 – 9 October 2016) was a Polish film and theatre director. Recipient of an Honorary Oscar, the Palme d'Or, as well as Honorary Golden Lion and Honorary Golden Bear Awards, he was a prominent member of the ...
said that Pienkowska had been the model for a character in his film ''
Man of Iron
''Man of Iron'' ( pl, Człowiek z żelaza) is a 1981 film directed by Andrzej Wajda. It depicts the Solidarity labour movement and its first success in persuading the Polish government to recognize the workers' right to an independent union.
Th ...
'', based on events in the shipyard, who speaks her words:
The main character of the 2006 film ''
Strike
Strike may refer to:
People
* Strike (surname)
Physical confrontation or removal
*Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm
*Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...
'' recreates many of Pienkowska's actions and words.
References and sources
"We Want a Decent Life" by Stephen Smith, ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'', Monday, 29 December 1980.
Milestones(obituary), ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'', Monday, 11 November 2002.
Legendary Labor Activist Alina Pienkowska Dies 24 October 2002,
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...
.
Alina Pienkowska, a Force Behind Solidarity, Dies at 50by Michael T. Kaufman, New York Times, 28 October 2002.
Alina Pienkowska The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
, 30 October 2002.
Alina PienkowskaKlub Parlamentarny NSZZ "Solidarność" website of
Senate of the Republic of Poland
The Senate ( pl, Senat) is the upper house of the Polish parliament, the lower house being the Sejm. The history of the Polish Senate stretches back over 500 years; it was one of the first constituent bodies of a bicameral parliament in Europe ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pienkowska, Alina
1952 births
2002 deaths
Polish dissidents
Polish nurses
Solidarity (Polish trade union) activists
Members of the Senate of Poland 1991–1993