Responses to Adversity: The Polish Composers Union and Musical Life in the 1970s and 1980s

Abstract

The Polish Composers Union's Executive Board, at a special plenary session, has evaluated the proclamation of the Polish Artists Union, which was the first association of creators to support the striking workers on the coast. Given the new sociopolitical situation in the country, the Executive Board declares its full solidarity with the position of the Artists Union. While expressing satisfaction with news of the conflict's end, the Executive Board simultaneously believes that many of the country's pressing problems, including those concerning its culture, now have a chance for successful resolution.1 These words come from a motion approved by the Polish Composers Union on 1 September 1980, the day after the signing of the Gdańsk Agreement between the Polish government and shipyard workers on the Baltic Coast. As a result of this accord, workers were given the right to create independent unions and the government agreed to end censorship and improve access to the media. Józef Patkowski, then the president of the Composers Union, later described this decree as “the first harbinger of the Composers Union's active participation in the country's political life.”2 This statement is true. In post–World War II Poland, the union had not previously issued declarations or taken other official actions supporting the country's political opposition, nor had it openly supported the government. Prior to September 1980, however, other creative associations in Poland, including the writers and artists unions, had publicly voiced their dissatisfaction with actions undertaken by the regime. Social turmoil had been slowly encompassing the country since at least 1968, when repressive measures had been taken against both Jews and the intelligentsia, and Warsaw Pact troops had invaded Czechoslovakia.3 Composers themselves had been affected the same year, when boycotts by Western musicians had forced the curtailing of the renowned Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music.4 Delays in receiving permission to go abroad and shortages of materials such as paper, recordings, and books were among the hindrances routinely faced by Composers Union members. The union itself was forced to deal on an ongoing basis with governmental agencies that were either unwilling or unable to fulfill the requests of its constituents. Given these obstacles, why did the Composers Union not join its sister creative associations in expressing displeasure with the state of affairs before 1980? Furthermore, what happened in the years after the resolution cited above was issued?