The 12 September coup d'etat was realised to reopen the US bases in Turkey, to implement the 24 January austerity program, to supply the cheap labourpower needed by transnational capital and to destroy the power of the socialist/communist movement within the masses. Following the coup, the exercise of the most fundamental trade union rights and freedoms was prevented. The activities of DİSK (Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey) and affiliated unions and of some autonomous trade unions were suspended. Trade unionists were tortured and arrested. Türk-İş and Hak-İş Confederations supported the coup d'etat. By the 1982 Constitution and the enacted other legislation, the preservation of the restrictions on the trade union rights and freedoms was guaranteed. There was no serious reduction in the number of trade union members in the 1980-1983 period. There was also no important fall in the real wages. The impact of the blow on the working class in Turkey during this dark period is still effective. However, the attacks on the working class during the coup period and during the ensueing Motherland Party rule period led to an important change in the attitudes of the working class, to the development of class consciousness and struggle at the end of the 1980s.