A-Infos (en) May 1 in Poland

On May 1 this year there seemed to be more small and medium-sized marches than 
usual in different cities throughout Poland. Anarchists organized marches in 
Poznan and in Warsaw. --- The march in Poznan drew about 200-300 people and 
went from the Cegielski plant on a march through town. In Cegielski there has 
been a conflict between workers and the management over pay and a few days 
earlier there were some protests in front of the factory. Unfortunately few of 
the people who worked there came, probably prefering to enjoy the long weekend. 
Protestors demanded a self-managed republic and told the government to go to 
work for 600 zloties a month (150 euros). Speakers demanded a 30% wage increase 
for everybody. (Surely there's more to say, but not being there, I just rely on 
the info in the anarchist press. I was at the Warsaw march, so I can say more 
about it.)

The march in Warsaw drew some fewer people (150) and was cursed with a few 
problems with broken equipment and police - it even snowed during the 
demonstration. So things started late and some people left early, meaning that 
the demonstration did not "accidentally" run into the demonstration of the left 
parties (SLD, SDPL) and sell-out union OPZZ. Perhaps that saved us; there had 
been rumours and the radio announced that they were expecting riots in Warsaw 
so a large group of police were staked out around the corner from the demo.

The march planned to visit a few sites: the McDonalds recruitment center, the 
Ministry of Finance, the Labour Court and the Ministry of Labour. At McDonalds, 
we protested against not only the working conditions there, but against the 
growing amount of McJobs being created. At the Minister of Finanse, we spoke 
about the Thatcherite economics of our Minister, criticizing draconian budget 
cuts and the false idea that cutting taxes and passing on the social security, 
health care and pension burdens to workers will create new jobs. There were 
some big funny pictures of our Finance Minister and she was cut into pieces in 
the action.

There was a problem with snow and with both technical equipment and the 
permission to move down the street with our crazy vehicle which delayed the 
march, so two protest stops were cut so we could attempt to catch up with the 
red bourgeoise who were going to have a picnic; anarchists organized a picnic 
next to them. Unfortunately, the politicians were all hiding inside their party 
HQ celebrating the anniversary of Poland's accession to the EU, so they didn't 
get a chance to get a piece of anarchist "birthday cake" or to have a chat with 
us. But there was a lively exchange with the few body-builder trade union 
bureaucrats who stayed at the picnic behind some rows of police and private 
security. Anarchists criticized their type of bureaucratic, sell-out unionism 
and were called "fucking socialists" by the unionists.

It seems like both demos had a nice atmosphere, although there were some 
nervous moments at the beginning in Warsaw. In general, it seems like the 
movement is in a low period throughout Poland, partly because of a large 
emigration, and partly (I think) because of a tendency to look for larger, more 
general left and liberal initiatives. So it was nice that the tradition of May 
Day is still alive and was remembered by anarchists.
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