Anniversary celebrations of the Ustrzyki-Rzeszowskie Agreements took place in Ustrzyki Dolne. Signed on February 20, 1981 after the strikes of Bieszczady farmers, the Agreements were to ensure the ownership of land, respect for the rights to freedom of speech and conscience, and equal rights for individual farmers with cooperatives and state farms.
- Everything started here in Ustrzyki. Independent representatives of the countryside, supported by the workers, started a strike that was so effective that it won the rights we all demanded", said Marek Kuchciński. The Marshal also pointed out that the great victory awakened in the inhabitants of Podkarpacie the sense of dignity and faith in their own strength. This faith allowed him to continue his fight against the communist regime through the difficult months of martial law and the years that followed.
The celebrations started with a mass in the church in Ustrzyki, the construction of which was finished thanks to the striking farmers' pressure on the authorities. It was attended by signatories of the Agreement, parliamentarians and representatives of state and local authorities. Determined in their struggle against the communist authorities, the farmers were honoured by laying flowers in front of the monument to Polish soldiers fighting for their homeland.
President Andrzej Duda, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and PiS President Jaroslaw Kaczynski addressed the participants with a letter. The presidential message expressed the conviction that traditional values and patriotic heritage of the Polish countryside are the foundation of our national identity and strengthen the prosperity of an independent and just Poland.
The Prime Minister stressed that as heirs to the heritage of the heroes of 1981 we feel obliged to protect the Polish countryside, to defend Polish land and to effectively look after the interests of Polish farmers in the European Union. - Today, in Europe and worldwide, we are overcoming the effects of the covid 19 crisis. Therefore, I have appealed to the EU leaders to increase spending on the Common Agricultural Policy," argued the head of government.
President Jaroslaw Kaczynski wrote that while praying for the intention of Polish farmers and the Homeland, we thank the activists of the independent peasant movement for everything they did for the cause of Polish freedom and independence, for the cause of the Polish countryside.
The participants of the XXXIX anniversary of the farmers' strike in Ustrzyki Dolne and the signing of the Rzeszowsko-Ustrzyckie Agreements signed a resolution in which they declared their support for Andrzej Duda as the President of the Republic of Poland. "We state that the candidacy of President Andrzej Duda can fulfill the hopes of defending the interests of Poland and further consistent building of social order based on national and independence traditions". - they wrote. It also expressed hope that the president would uphold Christian tradition and guarantee constitutional protection for land and family farms.
