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101 Document No. 12: Solidarity National Coordinating Commission Statement on Union Registration October 24, 1980 This statement by Solidarity’s National Coordinating Commission followed a Warsaw court ruling to delay registration of the union. The authorities, ever indecisive about how to handle Solidarity, tried to postpone a decision by creating barriers such as refusing to legalize the organization, and insisting that the union accept the authority of existing institutions such as the party (see next document). For many within the country’s leadership the easiest decision was to try to dissolve Solidarity and take on a number of smaller unions instead. The NCC did nothing to make the party’s conundrum any easier, remaining firm in its demands and calling for a general strike if registration were not granted by November 12. The Polish Supreme Court finally complied on November 10. STATEMENT The National Coordinating Commission of the Independent Self-governing Trade Union Solidarity, assembled in Warsaw on October 24, 1980, states the following: Today the Voivodeship Court of Justice, after an open hearing, issued a decision based on which the registration of our Union was declared, [but] at the same time it introduced amendments to our statute in an arbitrary and unilateral way. The Court crossed out the paragraphs of our statute which referred to the right to strike and added statements in the nature of a political declaration. These changes were made despite the unequivocal declaration of the wishes of authorized representatives of the Union. We have been waiting for the registration of our Union for a month. We consider it to be an obvious and indispensable condition of the post-strike agreements and at the same time [a condition] which flows entirely from existing legislation. The statute submitted by us, fully in accord with the law, was subjected to unlawful mutilation in a way that is without precedent in the history of Polish Justice and without the consent of the Founding Committee . We consider this fact outrageous. At the hearing, the representatives of our Union clearly stated our stance for the record, which is that the bilateral commitments concluded in the agreement of August 31, 1980, in gdańsk should be fully and mutually respected. The arbitrary change of our statute by the Court is a unilateral impairment of that agreement, of all principles of the social accord, and of the dialogue between the authorities and society. It is also a violation of the fundamental principle of trade union freedom, guaranteed both in the 87th Convention of the International Labor Organization and in Polish legislation. Finally, it is an expression of the decline of the Court’s author- 102 ity and its independence. We do not and will not agree to interference of this kind, which violates the principle of independence and self-government of our Union. We have declared many times that we want to decide our own affairs. We firmly reiterate that now. In our work we will adhere to the Statute which we agreed to, without the amendments introduced by the Court. At the same time, we disagree on legal grounds with the decision of the Voivodeship Court of Justice which in part introduced changes to our Statute, and we declare that we will not accept [the amendments ]. We demand full respect for the law. The Court decision strikingly draws attention to the issue of legal violations, which were omitted in declarations on the renewal of public life. The conduct of the Court makes the fight for observance of law and judicial independence an issue of direct interest to our Union. The authorities bear full responsibility for sustaining social tensions around the issue of Solidarity’s registration. Warsaw, October 24, 1980 National Coordinating Commission NSZZ Solidarity [Source: U Źródeł Solidarności. Czerwiec-Październik 1980 (Warszawa: Centrum Dokumentacji I Analiz NSZZ “Solidarność,” [underground publication], 1984), pp. 81–82. Translated by Aleksandra Niemirycz.] ...

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