Student demands
The protesters demanded, among other things, the registration of the Independent Students' Association, the abolition of censorship in publications in the People's Republic of Poland and the compulsion to teach Russian at universities, the right to travel freely abroad, a reduction in military service for students, the introduction of independence of universities in scientific and didactic matters, the extension of studies to five years, respect for the autonomy of universities by the Citizens' Militia (MO) and the Security Service (SB), accountability for the events of December 1970, the release of political prisoners and the introduction of new history textbooks.
As early as August 1980, the student community of Gdansk put forward a demand for the establishment of a new student organisation in the People's Republic of Poland, i.e. the Independent Students' Association. The Founding Committee of the Independent Students' Association was established in Warsaw on 10 September and similar independent initiatives were emerging at universities across Poland in the autumn of that year.
The Delegates' Meeting of the Founding Committees of Independent Students' Organisations in Warsaw was held at the Warsaw University of Technology on 18-19 October. During the meeting the National Founding Committee of the Independent Students' Association was elected. An application for the registration of an Independent Self-Governing Trade Union of Students called the Independent Students' Association (NZS) was submitted to the Provincial Court in Warsaw on 20 October. The court rejected the application, and in response, protest actions began at universities on 13 November.
In Lodz, as early as 6 January 1981, an action called "Solidarne czekanie" [Solidary waiting] began at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Lodz – students occupied the faculty building after classes. The Faculty of Economics and Sociology joined their action on 8 January and on 11 January a sit-down strike began at the then Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry.
Negotiations with a delegation from the Ministry of Science, Higher Education and Technology at the Faculty of Philology of the University of Lodz ended in nothing on 21 January. They were broken off and on the evening of the same day, the two leaders of the protesting Lodz students Wojciech Walczak and Wiesław Urbański announced a sit-down strike at the University of Lodz.
The strike started in Lodz
In fact, the strike action began on 29 January. At the time, the protest of students from Lodz and their demands were an act of extraordinary courage and a phenomenon in the former communist bloc countries. On the part of the government of the People's Republic of Poland, negotiations with the students were conducted by an Interdepartmental Commission, chaired by the Minister of Science, Higher Education and Technology, Prof. Janusz Górski (Rector of the University of Lodz in the years 1972 to 1975). On the Independent Students' Association side, the Inter-University Covenant Committee participated in the talks. The building of the Faculty of Philology at the University of Lodz constituted the headquarters of the strikers. The talks broke down on 15 February because the authorities did not agree to register the NZS without making changes to the statute (they demanded, among other things, that it recognises the leading role of the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR) and restricts the right to strike).
As a result, solidarity strikes broke out at other universities over the next two days. They took place at the Academy of Medicine in Poznań, AGH University of Krakow, University of Warsaw, Jagiellonian University. The students were also actively supported by the university's academics and administrative staff, as well as ordinary inhabitants of Lodz who turned up outside the university building every day.
After almost a month of the protest, on 17 February 1981, the court registered the first independent organisation in the communist bloc countries – the Independent Students' Association. Minister Górski signed the so-called Lodz Agreement with the students, which ended the strike in Lodz and strikes at other universities in Poland on 18 February. As a result, universities in the People's Republic of Poland gained autonomy, students gained an independent organisation, and the authorities agreed to meet more than 50 other demands of the protesters, including allowing the choice of foreign language courses, extending the duration of studies, and at the same time shortening the military service of students.
Edit: Communications and PR Centre, University of Lodz