Ing. Alan Kubica

"The main driving force was money. Money and flags. Every director wanted to have a flag in his office, and he would go to Prague to the ministry to get it. There they received decorations. On the occasion of Miners' Day, May Day and other such holidays. When the director could appear publicly on television and receive a flag, he was on top of his game. And of course there was money attached to it. Both for the management and the people down there. It went along party lines, of course. Director. Chairman of the Communist Party. Head of the department. That was one bunch under which were the foremen. They all agreed that the director would make sure that the service organizations, like transport, ventilation, and so on, would come to their aid, that they would give them good machinery... And it was up to the foremen to persuade the team. To tell them that they'll dig, and if the record is broken, they'll go to Prague. Of course, everybody knew there was money involved. So they timed it right and started announcing commitments. They started writing in the newspapers, there were posters on every shaft, there was publicity on every shaft, and there was a banner on every step, announcing that they were going for the record. Of course, those who took part were happy because that's where the biggest money was paid. And that was actually what pushed them to make the record. Because they knew that they would get money, and in the end they would buy a pig, get on a bus with the women and go to Ostravice to get sloshed."

"In the 1960s, economist Ota Šik prepared a study that resulted in the designation of economically unviable shafts. Not ideologically, but economically. The whole thing was based on an estimate of coal reserves. Each shaft had its own reserve estimate, which was updated every twenty years. So there was fairly accurate information about what coal reserves could still be mined and under what conditions. ŠIk put it all together. Even at that time, the Ostrava part of the coalfield was not performing positively and was subsidised by mining in the Karviná region. Ota Šik therefore drew up a phasing-out schedule according to which the Ostrava shafts were not to be further developed by deepening them. They were to mine coal in the areas that were ready and then gradually end. Because it was clear that the coal would no longer pay for itself here. But then came 1968. Šik was branded an enemy and the plan was thrown into a shredder. New targets were set again and mining was made the first priority. The regime decided it needed coal and coke, it would subsidise it and there would be no end to it. Moreover, the coke was exported to Austria and the regime needed shillings, so it got going again."