June 1976 – Arguments and Reflections after 25 Years

The next volume that appeared in the series of “Post-Conference Materials” is an attempt to illustrate one of the socio-political crises of the Polish People’s Republic, known as June 1956. Workers' riots which originally had a purely economic basis were transformed into social and political protests. In 24 provinces, in 97 production sites, strikes broke out. Over 71 000 people participated in the riots. In Radom, Ursus and Płock street demonstrations took place. In Radom alone the Ministry of Internal Affairs employed 1543 policemen and special motorised militia forces (ZOMO) and a few hundred of civil Ministry officials to pacify the revolts.
The authors of the book analyze the reasons for, course and repercussions of the events. They have a close look at the activities of the state apparatus as well as the at the reactions of the society. The volume includes fifteen reports of witnesses and participants of the events - both on the part of the oppressors and the repressed.