The **March Events in Poland** (or **March 1968**, **Students' March**
or **Polish 1968 political crisis**) were a a series of student protests
in [Socialist Poland](Socialist_Poland "wikilink") in
[1968](Timeline_of_Libertarian_Socialism_in_Eastern_Asia "wikilink") as
people demanded a socialist democracy, [workers'
control](Workers'_Self-Management "wikilink") and an end to the
governments [anti-semitic](Anti-Semitism "wikilink") policies. It was
part of the many [global revolts and episodes of unrest in the world at
the time](Revolutions_of_1967_-_1975 "wikilink") that also hit
[USSR](USSR "wikilink")-aligned countries.

## Background

Poland had experienced the most unrest out of any USSR-aligned country,
with major protests in 1956 and an underground intellectual movement
arguing for less restrictions in education and on the media.

In 1967, Israel fought a war with Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Jordan. The
USSR and its allies supported the anti-Israeli countries, and Poland
began an "Anti-Zionist" campaign involving purging Jews from the
Communist Party, media and government and the government became
increasingly nationalistic, advocating for a "Polish way to socialism".
The government began to look for Jews in the country and made lists.
Angered by this, a crash in meat production, wage cuts, increase in
working hours, boredom and anger at a lack of liberalisation since 1956
led to an angry population.

Some have argued that the top of the Communist Party were simply trying
to eliminate opposition.

## Events

### Warsaw Protests

Following the cancellation of an old play (the government claimed was
too religious and [Russophobic](Russophobia "wikilink")) a petition was
submitted to parliament by a student protesters. Soon, the Polish
Writers' Union condemned the ban and other restrictions of freedom of
speech, as well as the governments anti-semitism. After the removal of
dissidents from the university of warsaw, a protest at the university
was attacked by police. But soon, universities across the country had
protests. The protesters were socialists (often
[Marxist-Leninist](Marxist-Leninism "wikilink")) but called for
democratisation of the country.

### Across the Country

Protesters were beaten and tortured across the country, and universities
attempted to form a coalition with eachother and get the workers to join
them in a general strike. But this failed. On the 15th of March, a
20,000-strong worker-student alliance in Gdańsk fought 3,700 police into
the night. Despite the protests being centered in universities, it was
mainly composed of young factory workers and high school students.

### Repression

The media heavily slandered the protesters and often claimed them to be
Jewish or agents of imperialism. Thousands of protesters were arrested
and leaders were targeted (although [May Day](May_Day "wikilink")
parades were disrupted) 15,000 Jews left the country and sadly the
government apologised in 1988.