INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-POLAND:
MOLLY IS CORRECTED:
A BRIEF HISTORICAL PRELUDE:
Thunder roared from the skies. Lightning forked from cloud to cloud and down into the innocent streets of Rome. Winds howled, ripping roofs from houses and shattering windows. It was July 18th, 1870, the last official day of meetings of Vatican Council I, presided over by Pope Pius IX. While he had begun his papal career as a liberal reformer he later became an arch conservative after having had to flee Rome during the Italian version of the revolutions of 1848. He later returned behind French bayonets in 1849 (lent by Louis Napoleon in what may have been one of the earlier examples of why nobody should trust "progressive politicians"- if the latter isn't an oxymoron). When Pius returned under the protection of his French friends he was a changed man. The liberal reformer had become someone best described, with only a little exaggeration as 'Atilla the Pope'.




So here we were at Vatican I, prepared since 1864 and opened on December 8, 1869. Prior to this Pius had attempted to define the 'Immaculate Conception' of Mary as infallible doctrine, but this controversial move was stymied by the fact that "Papal Infallibility' was, at the time, a common opinion rather than an accepted article of faith for the Catholic Church. Amongst other things to be considered (many of which never were) at Vatican I was the formal acceptance of Papal Infallibility by an Ecumenical Council.




Opinions differ as to the divisions amongst the bishops at this council. Official Catholic histories say that there was little disagreement as to the content of the declaration, only differing opinions about whether it was "opportune" to proclaim the doctrine at the time. Sources from the 'Old Catholics' who split from the Church of Rome over this issue have an entirely different view. They point out that the council was "stacked" with an artificial majority of Italian bishops, many of whose dioceses make the present Vatican City look like the late USSR in terms of geographical extent. They also point out the large number of bishops who decamped before the final vote so as not to be seen publically as opposing the Pope. In the end the ultramontanists carried the matter by an overwhelming majority, even though probably 20% of the bishops were opposed.




Thus we return to that day in 1870 as Pius read out his declaration of infallibility to the backdrop of a guttering candle and the rain poring in through a storm broken Vatican window. "I am infallible"."How do you know this ?" "Because I say so and I am infallible"




Pius later went on to die a miserable death, afflicted by erysipelas (which Molly is most familiar with as a zoonotic disease of pigs). As he aged open sores appeared on his legs, sores that refused to heal. By the time of 1877 his lesions had worsened to the point that he was immobile and had to be carried from place to place. He died on February 7, 1878 after the longest recorded Papacy in Church history, 31 years, 7 months and 23 days. Later efforts to elevate his status in Church history resulted in his being declared "venerable" in 1965 and "beatified"(the stage below official sainthood) in 2000 by, who else, Pope John Paul II who was the most busy body saint maker in Church history. Vatican I was supposed to be reconvened in the Fall of 1870, but history intervened. On September 20, 1970 the forces of the Kingdom of Italy captured Rome, and the dominion of the Papal States was ended forever. On October 20, 1870 Pius suspended the council "indefinitely".

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Here we leave regular history and enter into a Molly fantasy, titled, in tribute to the late radio journalist Paul Harvey..."The rest of the story".




When those who were opposed to the declaration of Papal Infallibility left the council the story was not over. The Holy Spirit moved amongst them, and he revealed that there would some day be a fount of eternal wisdom by the name of 'Mollymew'. It was further revealed by divine dispensation that only Mollymew could be considered "infallible". The opponents of ultramontanism planned to return to Vatican I when it resumed, and they trusted in the grace of the Lord that this new revelation would sweep all before it as the Holy Spirit would touch the souls of the assembled good bishops. Unfortunately it was not to be, as secular events (see above) intervened. "And now you know...the rest of the story". Keep telling them well in the Great Beyond Harvey.

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Thus we have the sad case of today. Mollymew is still a pretender to infallibility, but until this is declared by a General Council of the Church the reality is somewhat different.

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So, back to reality. Back in May(see our archives) I reported a demonstration in the Polish city of Wroclaw, undertaken by the Polish Union of Syndicalists. I have received replies to this article from Poland objecting to some of the mistakes I made. Let us say that despite the support of the dissident bishops at Vatican I I make no claim to infallibility. The source of my major mistake was the-now corrected- faulty listing of the ZSP (Union of Syndicalists) Warsaw link as that of the 'Workers' Initiative'. This has been corrected, and recognizing the "competition" between the two organizations in Poland I can fully understand the reaction that this mistake provoked. Here is the first reply.
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About something what puzzled you:‏
Dear Molly,
I am writing about your blog, (it's very interesting!) specifically post "Starbucks Picketed by Polish Syndicalists". Unfortunately you were confused some things in this text.




I am sympathizer of ZSP but not member because there is no group yet in my city. ZSP is Union of Syndicalists. I was at last picket by Starbucks in Warsaw.




ZSP is not member of IWA but made application. That's not main mistake. Main mistake is you give address for Warsaw ZSP blog and say it is blog of Workers' Initiative!!! It is a very bad mistake(I fully agree, and it has been corrected in the Links section of this blog-Molly), you can see yourself:http://www.zspwawa.blogspot.com/ If you look at this page, you can see easily that it is page of ZSP and even has name in title.




Wroclawska Sekcja Alternatywna is site made by alternative lifestyle anarchists from Wroclaw. It is not connected to ZSP. However, ZSP from Wroclaw put the information about their actions there too. I think there was a link to it because on person from this service made photographs. I don't think there are any English texts on that service.




It is impossible that what you call non-AIT site of Workers' Initiative reports action because in general they do not report actions of ZSP in sectarian way. They also did not want to go to Starbucks action in Warsaw. WI don't exist in Wroclaw. They exist in Warsaw but are small group of lifestyle anarchist squatters and students who don't do anything.




I think it is not confusing, just you confused something, I don't know why.




Laura and Zaczek from the ZSP in Warsaw and Xavier from the ZSP in Wroclaw speak English very good. You can ask them to explain if you still confused something. There is also English on CIA website http://www.cia.bzzz.net/, but it isn't regular.
In Solidarity,
Marek


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And here is another reply from 'Laure' in Poland.
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This is Laure from Warsaw.:
A friend of mine pointed out that you made a mistake on your blog and I believe he wrote to you about it. It concerned pickets at Starbucks held on May 17 in Warsaw and Wroclaw.




The address you gave (www.zspwawa.blogspot.com) is the address of ZSP Warsaw, as the name implies. It's not the address of Workers' Initiative.




The page which has the photos, WSA, is just a general page for "alternative stuff" in Wroclaw, and the photos were there because the person who took the photos contributes photos to that service. ZSP Wroclaw doesn't have an English blog and of course WSA site is in Polish.




I hope that clears up any confusion you might have had. I think that the post on A-Infos had all the correct information, so I'm not sure what caused that confusion.




BTW, we didn't put the description there that we are an anti-authoritarian, anti-capitalist initiative, although that is true. This is rather standard practice of A-Infos English-language editor and occasionally they do this in other languages as well. I don't see the point; for me it would make more sense to put a star and describe any groups mentioned that AREN'T anarchist or anti-authoritarian and to assume the rest are. It doesn't bother me though, but you might forward your comment to A-Infos.
Bye!
Laure
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Molly Notes:
As the introduction to this exchange pointed out I have no legitimate claim to infallibility. What I attempt to do in many of the posts here is process them so that they have "value added", whether this may be original attribution, further references or my own comments. In this case I erred grievously, as the commentators above have pointed out. I am grateful to them for pointing out my mistake, and the error in my Links section that led to this (I offen refer to it while writing intros or comments) has been corrected.




Let me assure the comrades of the ZSP that there was no ulterior motive behind this error. Even though regular readers of this blog may know that I am generally in favour of the tactics espoused by the syndicalist unions grouped around what used to be know as 'International Libertarian Solidarity' I am open to facts, and I think I expressed them via my opinion that the ZSP is more active and effective in Poland as opposed to the Workers' Initiative. I await further facts, and I am willing to change my opinion. This blog (and I myself) is totally independent of any organizational affiliations. I call them as I see them.




As to one point raised above...the Workers' Initiative claims a much wider representation than the one correspondent says above. To say the least I am incapable of judging this claim (walk across half a continent, swim a wide ocean and walk across another half continent to get to Poland from where I live). But at least from the admittedly biased article in Wikipedia the WI claims "offices" in four cities in Poland and supporters in many others. Maybe other Polish comrades might want to comment on this.




Another point that should be raised is the "students" description. Here's a dirty little secret that is far too often swept under the 'anarchist rug'. In their initial phase ALL anarcho-syndicalist unions in our modern world have an over-representation of university students. I have little doubt that this applies as much to the ZSP as it does to the WI. Is this a "bad thing" ? No ! Here in Canada close to 20% of the workforce has an university degree. As such they outnumber the "proletariat", as defined by Marx in 'Capital' as workers who produce products which are sold on a more or less free market. Yes, what Marx actually said is something quite different from what his followers imagine. What is important is 1)the retention of anarcho-syndicalists as they move out into the real world and 2)the ability of an anarcho-syndicalist organization to expand beyond this original 'nucleus'. This is a matter of tactics, and generally the tactics espoused by non-AIT affiliated anarcho-syndicalists are more effective. Poland may be a special case because of a general disaffection with the unions that are there. I don't know, but I'd be interested to learn more about it.




Well, it's past 1:30 in the morning, and I grow very tired. I'll try and deal with the 'buzz phrase'"anti-authoritarian, anti-capitalist" in another post. good goddamn night for now-Molly. In closing, please, pretty please with sugar on it, feel free to correct any mistakes I may make, as the two comrades above have. It's a useful tool to refine this site.

INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-POLAND:

STARBUCKS PICKETS BY POLISH SYNDICALISTS:

The following from the A-Infos website puzzled Molly when she went on her usual attribution search (something usually-and especially in one case, almost as a matter of policy- ignored by anarchist websites). The action was apparently undertaken by the AIT associated Union of Syndicalists. For more English language reports of anti-Starbucks actions in Poland see the English language blog of the non-AIT Workers' Initiative-Warsaw. The report is from an independent anarchist news website in Wroclaw Poland, the Wroclawska Sekcji Alternatiwna. I was, however, unable to find any English language material on this subject there. The AIT-associated Polish anarchosyndicalist organization is the Union of Syndicalists. The non-AIT site of the Workers' Initiative also reports ant-Starbucks action. For what it is worth I am willing to venture the opinion that Poland is the only country in the world where, when there are AIT and non-AIT unions present, that the AIT one is more active, larger and more dynamic. I may be wrong. I don't make a pretense of being able to read Polish. The general Polish anarchist news site referred to below is the Centrum Informacji Anarchistcznej. All told very confusing. What I am not confused about is the IWW's Starbucks Union, that has been organizing for some years now.

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Poland, Starbucks Pickets organized by ZSP*:

Today there were two pickets at Starbucks Coffee in Poland - one in Warsaw and one in Wroclaw, the two cities where Starbucks opened their first cafes in Poland last month. May 17 is the 5th anniversary of the founding of the Starbucks workers union, which we spoke about at the pickets.

---- The pickets were organized by ZSP* as solidarity campaigns but also to raise awareness about working conditions in the cafe/restaurant industry and to encourage workers to organize. ---- Some photos of the picket in Wroclaw can be found here: http://www.wsa.org.pl/module.php?op=galery&cmd=366

---- Texts of the Wroclaw leaflet (in Polish) are here http://cia.bzzz.net/wroclaw_pikieta_powitalna_pod_kawiarnia_starbucks Two weeks ago a picket was held in Warsaw, as well as today.

Today's picket also included information about what is going on along "Nowy Swiat" (New World) Street in Warsaw where Starbucks is located. Almost all of the well-known cafes along the street have closed down due to astronomical rents, leaving room only for corporate chains, ultra-exclusive places and money laundering fronts. We just found out that the last of the famous cafes on the street. Cafe Bajka which has been there for 53 years and was the last place on the street where you could get a cheap drink and a meal, is being forced to close since their rent was raised to an astronomical 20,000 zloties a month. (It's a small place, so it's really amazingly high rent.) We could see on the street that other cafes and small shops have closed up and in their place we will have Subway and Haagen Daaz. The price of coffee in Starbucks is similar to in the US, despite the fact that average wages are many times higher. This makes brands like these clearly brands for yuppies (and tourists) who are in the elite. Seeing what is going on with the rapid influx of corporate chain stores along New World St., we renamed it "Brave New World" St.

We have also noticed that Starbucks in Poland has started an extensive greenwashing campaign, which an average consumer might misunderstand and believe the prices are high because they are buying fair trade coffee. Only about 5% of Starbucks coffee is fair trade but they are presenting themselves as the most "ethical" coffee in town

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* An antiauthoritarian anticapitalist syndicate(A Molly sidenote- I really wish that people wouldn't use this rhetoric, ie "antiauthoritarian anticapitalist" to describe themselves. I've seen this two word modifier stuck in front of many nouns such as "initiative", "network" and "project", amongst others in the past few years, and it continues to grate on my nerves. To me it looks like it is usually a "weasel word", used to avoid the use of the dreaded word "anarchist". If it is not such an euphemism then it may even worse. It may refer to a mindset of "fashionable leftism" that has absorbed enough anti this that and the other thing to qualify as a separate political ideology, a closed in group ideology of fashion. If people really do want a modifier then the adjective "libertarian", as in "libertarian socialism" is more than sufficient in any country in the world outside of the USA where "libertarian" has another unfortunate meaning. I have a sneaking suspicion, though I cannot prove it, that this clumsy two word adjective "antiauthoritarian anticapitalist" is of Canadian origin, and that it was coined basically to avoid matters of "consistency" that would be raised if one used the word "anarchist". If this is true then it would be one more example of our "colonial mentality" in that we have to coin a term for politics that have been borrowed from the USA where we Canadians can recognize the difference from anarchism per se and think we have to rename it. (But this, of course, is an entirely different subject from the news above. Sorry for the diversion)

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-POLAND:

POLISH WORKERS VERSUS NESTLÉ:

The following article is from the Polish anarchist news site Centrum Informacji Anarchistycznej. It's particularly apt as the trial for unfair dismissal mentioned below began last Monday. A few notes are in order. The Polish Union of Syndicalists is an anarcho-syndicalist union federation affiliated with the AIT-IWA, the anarcho-syndicalist international. There is another anarcho-syndicalist union in Poland, less active (I believe) and not affiliated with the AIt, the Workers' Initiative. In Poland, like most of Europe and unlike here in North America there are often several unions represented at any one workplace.

The Nestlé Corporation, the largest food company in the world, has a particularly long rap sheet. It is the subject of the longest running boycott operating today. Since 1977 it has been subject to a boycott because of its promotion of infant formula over breast feeding. This action is presently coordinated by the International Nestlé Boycott Committee, and their secretariat is the British International Baby Food Action Network. During the recent melamine in milk scandal in China the Nestlé company was implicated (see Molly's Blog Sept. 25, Sept 26, Sept 28 and Oct 1 of this year). During last year's melamine in pet food events Nestlé, under the Nestlé-Purina label was also involved (See Molly`s Blog March 24 and April 19 2007).

The company has also been the target of other labour campaigns for its abuses of workers' rights. These include Russian workers (See Molly's Blog March 28, 2008 and June 9, 2008), and its operations in the Philippines. The later campaign is being found by the Filipino Union Federation the Kilusang Mayo Uno. All tolf a rather long record, and most of it isn't even described here. For further information consult Nestlé Watch.

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Nestle attempts to break trade-unions in Alima Gerber in Poland:

In September this year, Jacek Kotula, the president of the workplace commission of the “Solidarity” trade-union in Alima Gerber S.A. in Rzeszow, Poland (currently owned by Nestle) has been dismissed on disciplinary grounds. This is one of many cases of contempt for workers’s rights by large corporations operating in Poland. It is not the first time that Nestle workers have to fight with Nestle in order to have their basic rights respected in various Nestle factories spread around the world. Russian workers are still in the process of struggling for the right to negotiate wages.

Below, we present an interview with Mr. Jacek, made by a member of the Union of Syndicalists of Poland (ZSP).

ZSP: The official reason given for your dismissal was a conversation you had with a Polish farmer, in which you informed him that Alima Gerber imports apples from Italy instead of buying it from the local farmers. In the opinion of the management, this conversation was detrimental to the interests of the company. Do you think it was the real reason why you got fired?

"Of course, this was just a pretext to get rid of me. The real reason was my activity and the activity of the workplace trade-union commission of “Solidarity” presided by me for 3 years. Let me just mention that since July 2008 our commission grew by 50% and our activity has expanded to Nestle in Warsaw. I have demanded wage raises of about 140 Euro monthly. Currently, a regular employee earns about 350 Euro after tax.

The employer was not interested in negotiations. I have also proposed to sign an agreement about combating stress-related problems. The management falsely claimed that there are no legal grounds to introduce such a program. I have also presented the facts related to the discrimination of our employees in comparison with another Nestle plant in Poland, where workers earn 50% more than the ones in Rzeszow, while performing similar work.

Since there was no reaction, I have sent a letter about the case to the United Nations. I have indicated the many illegal actions of the management of the factory, confirmed many times by the Work Inspectorate. I have asked the president of Nestle Poland to meet me regarding an important issue I have mentioned in writing. Each time, I was faced with a wall of indifference. In the end, they just got rid of me in the most brutal fashion - by way of a dismissal on disciplinary grounds.

The conversation with the president of the union of farmers of Alima Gerber which I had and the alleged encouragement to negotiate high prices for fruit and vegetables was only a sad pretext to get rid of me after 16 years of work there."

ZSP: How did your colleagues and union members react to the management's decision? Did the local commission act in your defence?

"The decision to dismiss me was a shock for everyone. My colleagues from the Solidarity union gathered signatures on a protest against my dismissal. Two thirds of the workforce signed the protest. The union commission, nor the work council, did accept my dismissal. Despite this, the employer knowingly broke the law by dismissing a union representative protected by the law. This is a clear violation of the worker's rights and the Labour Inspectorate in Rzeszow has initiated a proceeding against the management."

ZSP: How was the dismissal delivered to you?

"After I was informed about the intention to fire me and after I saw the September 5th letter asking the union to accept my dismissal, I felt very sick on psychosomatic grounds and I have spent a week being treated on the cardiology department. In the meantime, the management of Alima Gerber harassed my family several times. The saddest event occurred on September 13th, at 7 AM. Four of my children, aged from 7 to 13, were alone in the house, while my wife was working on a night shift. My children were woken up by the relentless bell ring. When my 12-year old son opened the door, the manager tried to give him the dismissal document.

My son did not want to accept anything from the manager. The manager demanded that an older son be called. But the older son refused to take anything and locked the door. The manager stood at the door until 9 AM, kept ringing and knocking the windows and door. The children were terrified and informed their parents by phone of what has happened. The youngest son kept crying and asking: "why do they want to put daddy in jail?"

After the manager left, the house was under observation until noon by a man in a red car, at about 50 m away from the house. Our neighbours informed us of this fact. After I left the hospital, I went to Bulgaria on September 16th, for a training organized by the European Trade Union Institute from Brussels. The training was earlier approved by the manager of the plant.

I was the only representative from Poland. At the Okecie airport in Warsaw, after luggage check-in, I saw the manager and the Human Resources director going after me. I was shocked to see them there. I ran to passport control and haven't seen them afterwards. After I returned from the training, I was not let into the plant. It was claimed that I was fired... at the airport!"

ZSP: How did the management portray this case to the employees? Were there any attempts to turn employees against you? If so, were those attempts successful?

"The management informed the employees that I am a criminal, because I have acted to the detriment of the company, allegedly advising the farmers to negotiate the highest possible prices for fruit. The management claimed that this was the reason for falling profits and that is why the employees cannot expect any significant raises. The workplace commission was also threatened that its members will have to participate in court hearings. Was this successful? I believe in some sense, yes."

ZSP: When will the trial begin?

"I have filed the case on September 25th in the Labour Court in Rzeszow. The first court hearing will take place on November 10th. I believe I will win, as I did 6 months earlier, when the employer illegally punished me for entering with a workplace security inspector on a night shift. I did nothing wrong. As a matter of fact, the inspector admitted that I acted in the interest of the plant by informing the president of the farmer's union that apples are being imported from Italy. No one can convince me that apples imported from Italy will be cheaper than the apples from near Rzeszow. Besides, the farmers are shareholders of the company. They are not competitors, but members of a family and the plant could not function without them."

ZSP: Dismissals of active union members are quite common in Poland. The political climate for union activity is quite bad. This year several union members have been dismissed in state owned and private companies. The employers seem to act with impunity. How to reverse this negative trend?

"We must highlight cases when the employers break the law. We need to show people the of meanness of some companies which knowingly break the law by firing protected union members. We also need to change the law in order to give real protection to the union activists who are on the front line of the struggle for workers rights. All unions must act together in this area."

ZSP: Temporary work is a common phenomenon. What kind of difficulties did you encounter while trying to fight for equal treatment of temporary workers employed by temp agencies and workers with permanent contracts?

"Our plant has been hiring temporary workers from the Impel agency for three years. These employees performed the exact same work as the permanent employees, for half the wages. They did not receive compensation for working in noisy conditions, their working clothes were not washed and they did not receive meals.

They were discriminated against, which is not allowed by the law on temporary work agencies. We have reported the issue to the management, but to no avail. Two years ago, we informed the Work Inspectorate about the case. The inspection revealed that our suspicions were right. The plant was forced to employ 70 of the temporary workers on permanent contracts, with the same wages as other Alima Gerber workers. A few of the workers filed suits against Impel for discrimination. Their lawyer estimated their losses to over 3300 Euro a year. The case is still pending."

ZSP: The international character of many corporations doing business in Poland allows for international actions of support in case workers rights are being broken. What are your experiences working with other organizations internationally?

"I have excellent experiences, especially with unions from the so-called "old" European Union. There seems to be quite a different union culture there. For example in 2006 I have written a complaint to the Swiss management about the extremely poor wages in our company. I have argued that an employee of our company cannot sustain himself, let alone his family on the wages he receives. We have received support from the European Confederation of Trade Unions in Brussels, from the IUF (International Union of Food workers) from Geneva, the European Worker’s Council and many unions in France, Spain, Italy and Switzerland. A journalist from Basler Zeitung has visited us to write a big feature about the case. Another newspaper, “Input” has written an article about the topic.The western media and organizations are the only real weapon of Polish unionists."

ZSP: Since you have lost your source of income, are you in need of material help? How can union members and people interested in worker's rights help you in your situation?

"I have not received wages since September 16th. I don’t receive any unemployment benefits, since I was fired on disciplinary grounds. Our family subsists on the income of my wife, who is a nurse. I have four children, who still are very much in shock after what happened to me. I have to return a credit from the Social Fund until October 15th. I am in the same situation as many ordinary workers in Alima Gerber, who can only afford some basic necessities despite years of hard work. I believe that the good will prevail. I ask people of good faith only for prayer."

ZSP: Thank you for the interview. We wish you success in your fight for reinstatement in the workplace!

POLAND:

ZSP: SOLIDARITY WITH REPRESSED WORKERS IN AUCHAN SUPERMARKET:

Seems that Molly's Blog has been doing too much heavy duty theoretical slogging lately. Anyways, here's a break from tiny, itty, bitty equations. The following article is reprinted from the Polish anarchist news service Centrum Informaji Anarchistcznej , and it describes a recent solidarity action that one of the Polish anarcho-syndicalist groups, the Union of Syndicalists- Poland (ZSP) held in support of a worker fired at the Auchen Supermarket in Wroclaw. The "clincher" is that the worker in question belonged to the rival anarcho-syndicalist group in Poland, the Workers' Initiative. For the uninitiated (ie most sentient life forms in the universe) this division of the Polish syndicalists mirrors the worldwide division of anarcho-syndicalists into the ILS and AIT camps. The ZSP is the newer group, formed last March/April, and Molly has just added them to her links list (with the English section of their website rather than the Polish one). what Molly finds so inspiring about this action is that, unlike the situation in other countries where AIT and non-AIT anarchosyndicalists are usually sniping at each other- at best- here is an example where people have put aside their organizational loyalties for a more important cause. Molly may also be wrong in another impression she has drawn from reading about these two groups, that in Poland, unlike in most other countries, the AIT group is the more active and dynamic of the pair. Am I wrong ? Polish readers please comment. Anyways...

"On Friday (Jan 11- Molly) the Wroclaw section of the Union of Syndicalists (ZSP) held a solidarity picket for a fired activist of Workers' initiative in front of an Auchan supermarket. The activist was fired from Auchan in Zielona Gora shortly after there was an action demanding better wages and work conditions there.

ZSP members and supporters gave out a few hundred leaflets and had a banner which read 'Enough Repression for Workers' Activism'. After some 40 minutes a security guard tried to verbally intimidate the protesters and asked them to follow him inside the building. The protesters ignored him. About 15 minutes later, all the leaflets were already gone and the activists were ready to go home when the guard came back with eight of his colleagues and the director of security. They tried to threaten the activists which made them resolved to stay.

The activists turned the main entrance of the supermarket into an arena for discussion of exploitation in the market. They also discussed the meaning of freedom of speech and assembly and public spaces. The head of security for some strange reason tried to convince the activists to take their protest to the Volvoidship Office, where she claimed those types of protests belong and, when that failed, claimed that they had the "wrong Auchan" and that supermarket was owned by "a different Auchan". The security guards' boss claimed that "repression of workers was something that existed under Stalinism:\" and that "these days if somebody is repressed, it's his own fault and it means that he's a loser". The ZSp activists tried to ask the security guards how much they earn and how much their bosses earn. The head of security intervened and tried to claim that she earns less than supermarket cashiers. She also said she was a member of the Solidarity Union and claimed that "workers don't need crusaders like you". When she ran out of arguments she decided to offer the ZSP activists immediate employment at Auchan...as security guards !!!

The security people claimed they really need workers as there are too many vacancies. ZSP activists pointed out that this must be a testament to the working conditions in the firm if nobody wants to work there. The activists responded that it is more likely that one day the security guards will join them than that they will join the security guards."

Whooo...Molly's best guess is that the protesters interrupted some serious drinking session here, and that the boss turned into a friendly drunk. It's hard to explain such a bizarre offer any other way. Or maybe the protesters looked like they could indeed handle themselves, and the director tried to take any opportunity that might come her way. Anyways, very strange. Still, the Polish anarcho-syndicalists get full marks for solidarity and initiative.