Extraordinary. Stanislaus Lansuski, former Communist deputy in the Polish parliament, tells his story of hunger strike during 1924 when political detainees in Warsaw’s notorious Mokotov prison refused food in solidarity with the hunger strike of left wing prisoners in Serbia.

‘The History of a Hunger Strike’ by Stanislaus Lansuski from The Daily Worker. Vol. 5 No. 256. October 29, 1928.

Prison Memories of a Victim of the Pilsudski Fascist Terror in Poland

AFTER four years of imprisonment the Communist member of the Polish Diet Comrade Stanislaus Lansuski has been released. In these four years the real features of fascist Poland have been revealed. The prisons are being filled to overflowing and the penal system is becoming more and more severe.

The struggle of the revolutionaries is not at an end when the prison gates close behind them. In prison a fierce struggle is carried on for the elementary rights of human beings. Every hour of light, every opening of the windows, every quarter of an hour’s exercise, every five minutes extra on the visits, all these things cost bitter struggles.

The political prisoners who are cut off from the outside world by iron bars, have not many weapons at their disposal in this struggle. Very often they must use desperate remedies. One of these is the hunger-strike.

Hunger Strike.

At the present time a hunger-strike is taking place of the political prisoners in the Warsaw prison of Paviak. One of the demands for which these men are fighting desperately should find a prominent place in the history of the decline of the bourgeoisie. These political prisoners are fighting for the abolition of the so-called “moral and sanitary examination” of the female political prisoners who are treated by the Polish authorities as though they were prostitutes in order to humiliate them.

In his recollections Comrade Lansuski describes the terrors of a hunger strike with unusual simplicity and power. The hunger-strike in question took place in the prison of Mokotov in the summer of 1924.

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In 1924 the Minister of Justice Vyganovski, a notorious reactionary, issued an order abolishing all the rights of the political prisoners. The prisoners answered this attack with a series of hunger-strikes. Although the comrades were not aware of the contents of this order, they could feel the struggle approaching. It is perfectly clear that this struggle was not confined to the prison in Mokotov. It was absolutely necessary for the other prisons in Warsaw, Paviak and Serbia, to participate. We informed the comrades still in freedom and the comrades in the other prisons of the situation in Mokotov and proposed a joint action.

The attack on the political prisoners took place however, before we had received word from the others. On Saturday the 25th of July we learned that the comrades in Paviak and Serbia had already been on hunger-strike for two days. Decisive action was necessary, for it was clear that the authorities were trying to break the resistance of the comrades in Paviak and Serbia first, in order then to attack the political prisoners in Moktov. At the motion of our committee the political prisoners in Mokotov decided unanimously to go on hunger-strike in solidarity with the political prisoners in Paviak and Serbia.

Refuse Supper.

At 4 p.m. the political prisoners then unitedly refused to accept their supper. All the food was taken out of the cells and put into the corridors. Our chairman then went to the Prison Director and informed him that the political prisoners had gone on hunger-strike in solidarity with the political prisoners in Paviak and Serbia and demanded that the Public Prosecutor be informed of the strike.

The 12-day hunger strike in Moktov had begun. The group of political prisoners numbered 70 men. The committee of the political prisoners released one White-Russian comrade from the duty of participating in the hunger-strike owing to the state of his health.

On the very first day of the hunger-strike the prison authorities showed their intentions clearly enough. On this day the light was turned out two hours earlier than usual, i.e. at 8 o’clock. At the same time the windows were closed. In this way the comrades lost at one blow two hours of light and fresh air. The various cells held conferences as to what was to be done. The first proposal was one of our committee to re-open the windows. The locks on the windows were of poor quality and the windows were opened without much difficulty. The spirit of the comrades was confident. Lying on their mattresses they told stories of their experiences, and the older and more experienced comrades told the new ones of former hunger-strikes.

Punish Leader.

The next day the prison authorities refused to permit our chairman to leave his cell in order to prevent the committee from expressing its opinions. The comrades then demanded that they should be let into the courtyard for exercise. Usually political prisoners do not exercise during hunger-strikes. This time however the exercise was necessary in order that the members of our committee could get into touch with each other. The prison authorities did not realize the aim of the exercise at first and agreed readily. No sooner had our committee finished its deliberations than to the great surprise of the warders the comrades commenced to return to their cells. Afterwards the comrades did not go exercising any more although it was terribly close in the cells. The second day passed on the whole quietly.

The following day, Monday, did not pass without incidents. As is known, the third day of a hunger-strike is particularly unpleasant and painful. The hunger-strikers feel very weak and suffer from terrible headaches. The comrades lay on their mattresses. At midday the inspector appeared and ordered 18 comrades to pack up their things. It turned out later on that they had been transferred to Vronki. the same day a number of comrades were also removed from Paviak and Serbia. The authorities wished to break the hunger-strike by transferring a section of the comrades to various prisons in the provinces. The comrades who were left behind gave the comrades who were leaving a warm farewell. The prison walls shook from our singing. The comrades in all the cells joined in the singing. All the comrades were excited and had forgotten their weakness and hunger. When the singing was at an end the comrades fell exhausted onto their mattresses again.

Other Strikes.

The fourth day of the hungerstrike passed without incident. A number of the comrades had high fever. Instead of feeling hungry we all felt weak and had a bitter taste in our mouths. Two of the comrades whose health was poor fell sick. On this day we received news that the hunger-strike in Paviak had been called off. In Serbia the hunger-strike was still going on, as we learned later. We in Mokotov decided to continue the hunger-strike under the slogan of “Restablish all the rights of the political prisoners!” This demand was placed before the prison authorities. The answer was short and sharp and consisted of a reference to the order of Vyganovski. The fight went on. The spirit of the prisoners was good, but the uncertainty of the situation weighed upon them all. Will still other comrades be taken away, this was the question which worried all of us.

The fifth day of the hunger-strike was the most exciting. The inspector appeared again and ordered 10 comrades to pack up their things. All of them were convinced that they were being transported to other prisons. When the comrades were being escorted away accompanied by the singing of those who remained behind, shouting suddenly commenced in the prison yard. “They are placing us in solitary confinement!” “They are chaining us!” “They are beating us!” The strain of the last few days broke like a storm. White with rage and fury the prisoners leaped to the windows and shouted furiously “Let them alone!” “Let them alone!” Then the prisoners commenced to smash at the doors and windows with the privy pails and everything that came into their hands. The shouts of fury and the smashing and cracking of the doors and windows created a terrible noise. A minute later all sorts of things, bottles, spoons, plates, everything the prisoners could lay their hands on went flying out of the cell windows into the courtyard. The storm of noise, the breaking of glass, the smashing of missiles falling from the second floor into the stone prison yard lasted about a quarter of an hour. The cries of anger and indignation from all the cells finally resolved themselves into one furious long drawn out chorus: “The Public Prosecutor! Fetch the Public Prosecutor!”

Noise, Confusion.

The noise and confusion lasted a long time. All round the prison the streets were full of people attracted by the noise. A force of police surrounded the prison. Mounted police drove the groups of people away who had collected round the prison doors.

Finally the prisoners collapsed onto their mattresses from sheer exhaustion, unable to remain on their feet or shout another word. From that day onward the prison authorities commenced to place individual comrades into solitary confinement in order to break their resistance in this fashion. But no one thought of capitulation. All the political prisoners were unanimously in favor of continuing the struggle.

On the sixth day, Thursday, the Public Prosecutor finally appeared. When he entered the cells the comrades were lying on the mattresses. No one thought of getting up. In order to get over the embarrassment he gave them permission to do what they were doing anyhow. He said: “Remain lying gentlemen, you need not attempt to rise.”

The comrades answered with ironical smiles.

The Public Prosecutor continued: “I cannot recognize any rights which are not contained in the prison regulations. I can also not recognize your chairman.”

“In this case we shall hold out to the bitter end,” declared the comrades unanimously.

Another Visit.

After the Public Prosecutor had gone we received another visit, this time from the Prison Inspector who conducted a search, allegedly to take away from us all things “which are not provided for in the prison regulations.” In reality the authorities were searching for concealed food, in order to report this to the press and thus to influence public opinion against us. Of course, nothing of the sort was found. Six of our comrades were already lying in the hospital and two of these were continuing the hunger-strike.:.

On the seventh day another comrade was taken to the hospital by force. Here, he continued the hunger-strike, but he was forcibly fed.

Results of Torture.

On the eighth day, Saturday, the 1st of August, the authorities tried forcible feeding with all the prisoners. This forcible feeding was ordered by the doctor. The comrades were determined to prevent this. Every prisoner was fetched separately by the inspector and a number of warders. The prisoners addressed the warders in order to make propaganda. This made the inspector furious and he caused a number of comrades to be placed in solitary confinement. Our chairman was also put into solitary confinement, because when he was dragged into the passage where the forcible feeding was to take place, he kicked over the coffee pot with his foot. The forcible feeding took place with the utmost brutality. The warders twisted the arms of the prisoners up behind their backs, tore their clothing and beat up a number of them. The comrades defended themselves as well as they could in their weak state and against the weight of numbers. Despite the moral and material pressure upon us, our spirit was still very high and confident.

On the eve of the ninth day of the hunger-strike 20 comrades were still on hunger-strike in their cells, another 20 were on hunger-strike in solitary confinement and 10 comrades were in the prison lazarette where they were being forcibly fed. On the 10th day bad news came from outside. It turned out that the decision to abolish the rights of political prisoners was part of the new policy of the Grabski ministry. From other prisons news had come that the authorities were prepared to go to any length in order to smash the struggle of the political prisoners.

We had no choice. The struggle once begun had to be continued to the end, although there was little hope of victory. The new comrades held themselves heroically. The doctor made continual rounds and ordered that the weaker comrades be forcibly fed two and three times a day.

On the eleventh day of the hunger strike our chairman was released from solitary confinement and put into one of the common cells. At his request the food was removed from the corridors where the political prisoners had placed it on the first day of the hunger-strike. The aim of leaving the food there had obviously been to tempt the hunger-strikers with the sight of food. In consequence of the heat the food began to go rotten and its stench filled the cells. On this day our comrades went out to their relatives in the visiting room in order to learn from them what was happening in the outside world. This was done at the instance of our committee. The news was not particularly consoling. Amongst other news, was the report that the fighting groups of the Polish socialist party had murdered comrade Biely, an old prisoner of Mokotov, at a meeting.

Forcible Feeding.

The hunger-strike continued. The terrible exhaustion of the comrades and the physical pain caused by the forcible feeding began to have their effect. A number of the comrades began to swell from hunger and others turned yellow. Some of the comrades confessed that in their worst moments they suffered from insane and desperate ideas.

On the twelfth day the hunger-strike was broken off. At the proposal of our chairman we commenced to sing the “Internationale.”

The chairman then went to the prison director to inform him that in view of the imminent danger of death threatening the prisoners, they had decided to break off the hunger-strike, but that they had no intention of abandoning their rights and that they would continue the struggle at the first favorable opportunity.

The hunger-strike had ended with a defeat.

The Daily Worker began in 1924 and was published in New York City by the Communist Party US and its predecessor organizations. Among the most long-lasting and important left publications in US history, it had a circulation of 35,000 at its peak. The Daily Worker came from The Ohio Socialist, published by the Left Wing-dominated Socialist Party of Ohio in Cleveland from 1917 to November 1919, when it became became The Toiler, paper of the Communist Labor Party. In December 1921 the above-ground Workers Party of America merged the Toiler with the paper Workers Council to found The Worker, which became The Daily Worker beginning January 13, 1924. National and City (New York and environs) editions exist.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1928/1928-ny/v05-n256-NY-oct-29-1928-DW-LOC.pdf