An uncompromising organiser of August Solidarity
On 16 August 1980, after initiating the Elmor strike, he went to the Gdańsk Shipyard and joined the Inter-enterprise Strike Committee.
Andrzej Gwiazda was an electronics engineer and trade union organiser who helped build Gdańsk’s independent labour movement in the late 1970s. He co-founded the Coastal Free Trade Unions and supported clandestine publishing, preparing worker organisation outside state control. On 16 August 1980, after initiating a strike at Elmor, he reached the Gdańsk Shipyard and joined the leadership of the Inter-enterprise Strike Committee, co-authoring the 21 demands that shaped early Solidarity. Interned and imprisoned after martial law, he later broke with Lech Wałęsa’s negotiating course and became a leading opponent of the Round Table compromise.
Career Timeline
- 1966–1973Assistant, Institute of Cybernetics, Gdańsk University of Technology
- 1973–1981Engineer, Elmor electrical and automation works
- 1978–1980Co-founder and editor, Coastal Free Trade Unions
- 1980Presidium member, Inter-enterprise Strike Committee, and co-author of the 21 demands
- 1980–1981Vice-chairman, Solidarity Gdańsk region and National Coordinating Commission
- 1986–1989Leader, Solidarity National Commission Working Group
- 1989–1997Co-publisher and editor, Poza Układem
- 2007–2011Member, Institute of National Remembrance council