Workers’ Communities of Upper Silesia in the Face of Restructuring Process

The political and socio-economic transformation occurring in Poland from 1989 brought inevitable structural changes in national and regional economy. Katowice Voivodship with the large Upper Silesian Industrial Basin located in the centre is an area of extreme concentration of traditional especially coal-mining, iron and steel industry with their history coming back to the beginning of the 19th century. The transition from the state-owned enterprises to the private ones going rather quickly in commerce, banking, services is extremely difficult in the heavy industry where still prevail the big state enterprises. [introduction