'We don't Make Heroes From the Lumpenproletariat:' Remembering the 1976 Protest in Radom.

This paper describes the struggle to shape and dominate the collective memory of the June 25, 1976 protest in the Polish city of Radom. First, I explain how the Polish Communist state attempted to shape the memory of the event as a criminal riot by stigmatizing the protesting workers' as hooligans. Second, I describe the campaign by the Workers Defense Committee, KOR, to create a counter-narrative of the event. Finally, I describe the continuing efforts by local leaders in Radom to remember and commemorate the protest. The combined effect of these various projects has resulted in pushing the actual participants, the protesting workers, to the symbolic margin of the event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]