Word: gdynia
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...strikes, bundled in his customary duffel coat: tumultuous applause. After a minute of silence, the city's church bells began to peal, and ship sirens wailed from the port, a keening cry that sent shivers through the crowd. The names of those who died at Gdansk and Gdynia in 1970 were read aloud, with the-workers shouting back after each one: "Yes, he is still among us!" Walesa lit a memorial flame, which at once burned brightly despite a light drizzle. Said he: "This monument was erected for those who were killed, as an admonition to those in power...
Similar calls for restraint were heard at commemorative ceremonies last week in Gdynia and Szczecin, the other flash points of the 1970 revolts. The observances themselves could have been construed as a challenge to Moscow, but the Kremlin was apparently prepared to swallow them, for the sake of helping the Polish Communist Party reassert its authority. After weeks of roller-coaster crisis, leaders of the party and Solidarity, the foundation of Poland's independent unions, appear to have reached at least a temporary meeting of minds. One White House aide, delighted that the threat of an immediate Soviet invasion...
...Wojciech Gruszecki, 44, who has been advising Poland's private farmers, has a doctorate in chemical engineering. Says he: "At a certain age, every citizen should give something to his society and his nation." That age came early for Andrzej Kolodziej, who helped organize the walkout at the Gdynia shipyard. "They couldn't believe I was only 21 years old," he said last week. "I had to show them my identity card...
...mood of defiance quickly broadened. Fresh strikes erupted in the neighboring ports of Gdynia and Sopot, spreading from there to the major shipbuilding center of Szczecin, near the East German border, and to the industrial city of Elblag, only 30 miles from the Soviet Union...
Neither the arrests nor Gierek's appeals to reason appeared to bring the strikes any closer to a settlement. In the grimy, red-brick conference hall of Lenin Shipyard, Gierek's speech was greeted with derision. "He said nothing new at all," said a dockworker from Gdynia. "He talked to us as if we were children." Many workers ignored the speech entirely, basking shirtless in the sun and playing cards during the live broadcast...