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- 21 October - 4 November - Strike of female workers in a textile factory in Żyrardów, caused by severe food shortages in this town.
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- 28 October - One-hour pre-emptive strike declared by „Solidarity” nationwide in view of the Union and society being in a state of danger.
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J. W. (a worker in the Żyradów linen factory, the solitary mother of two children, a member of „Solidarity”):
I live in a factory dwelling, like a hundred years ago […]. 21 square meetings including kitchen. An outside lavatory in the yard, a tile stove in the corner, a water tap in the corridor. One child at school, the other one in the pre-school class. One of them doing homework, the other one plays and disturbs. So do I, because I wash and cook in the same room. The elder son, the eleven-year-old, looks after the six-year-old, walks him to the pre-school class and back home.
The children wear canvass shoes in this rainy weather. I cannot buy any shoes, not even wellingtons. I myself wear fabric boots and torn tights. I know that meat is in short supply, but what about soap, shoes, clothes? After all, everybody works. We all work although our strength has drained away.
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 Queues in front of shops and empty shelves were a day-to-day nightmare of those times (photo: ADM/PAP).
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 In the autumn of 1981 food supply collapsed on an almost national scale. The rationing system practically ceased to exist (Collection of the Museum of Independence).
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EN
