History of Solidarity
Encyclopedia
The history of Solidarity , a Polish non-governmental trade union, begins in August 1980, at the Lenin Shipyard
s (now Gdańsk Shipyards) at its founding by Lech Wałęsa
and others. In the early 1980s, it became the first independent labor union in a Soviet-bloc country. Solidarity gave rise to a broad, non-violent, anti-communist social movement that, at its height, claimed some 10 million members. It is considered to have contributed greatly to the fall of communism.
Poland's communist government
attempted to destroy the union by instituting martial law
in 1981, followed by several years of political repression, but in the end was forced into negotiation. The Roundtable Talks
between the government and the Solidarity-led opposition resulted in semi-free elections in 1989. By the end of August 1989, a Solidarity-led coalition government had been formed, and, in December 1990, Wałęsa was elected
president. This was soon followed by the dismantling of the communist governmental system and by Poland's transformation into a modern democratic state. Solidarity's early survival represented a break in the hard-line stance of the communist Polish United Workers' Party
(PZPR), and was an unprecedented event; not only for the People's Republic of Poland
—a satellite
of the USSR ruled by a one-party
communist regime
—but for the whole of the Eastern bloc
. Solidarity's example led to the spread of anti-communist ideas and movements throughout the Eastern Bloc, weakening communist governments. This process later culminated in the Revolutions of 1989
.
In the 1990s, Solidarity's influence on Poland's political scene
waned. A political arm of the "Solidarity" movement, Solidarity Electoral Action (AWS), was founded in 1996 and would win the Polish parliamentary elections in 1997
, only to lose the subsequent 2001 elections
. Thereafter, Solidarity had little influence as a political party, though it did become the largest trade union in Poland.
In the 1970s and 1980s, the initial success of Solidarity in particular, and of dissident movements in general, was fed by a deepening crisis within Soviet-incluenced societies. There was declining morale, worsening economic conditions (a shortage economy
), and growing stress from the Cold War
. After a brief boom period, from 1975 the policies of the Polish government, led by Party First Secretary Edward Gierek
, precipitated a slide into increasing depression, as foreign debt mounted. In June 1976, the first workers' strikes
took place, involving violent incidents at factories in Płock, Radom
and Ursus
. When these incidents were quelled by the government, the worker's movement received support from intellectual dissidents
, many of them associated with the Committee for Defense of the Workers
, formed in 1976. The following year, KOR was renamed the Committee for Social Self-defence (KSS-KOR).
On October 16, 1978, the Bishop of Kraków, Karol Wojtyła, was elected Pope John Paul II
. A year later, during his first pilgrimage to Poland, his masses were attended by millions of his countrymen. The Pope called for the respecting of nation
al and religious
traditions and advocated for freedom and human rights, while denouncing violence. To many Poles, he represented a spiritual and moral force that could be set against brute material forces; he was a bellwether
of change, and became an important symbol—and supporter—of changes to come.
's government, facing economic crisis, decided to raise prices while slowing the growth of wages. At once there ensued a wave of strikes and factory occupations, with the biggest strikes
taking place in the area of Lublin
. The first strike started on July 8, 1980 in the State Aviation Works
in Świdnik
. Although the strike movement had no coordinating center, the workers had developed an information network to spread news of their struggle. A "dissident" group, the Workers' Defence Committee
(KOR), which had originally been set up in 1976 to organize aid for victimized workers, attracted small groups of working-class militants in major industrial centers. At the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk
, the firing of Anna Walentynowicz
, a popular crane operator and activist, galvanized the outraged workers into action.
On August 14, the shipyard workers began their strike, organized by the Free Trade Unions of the Coast
(Wolne Związki Zawodowe Wybrzeża). The workers were led by electrician Lech Wałęsa
, a former shipyard worker who had been dismissed in 1976, and who arrived at the shipyard late in the morning of August 14. The strike committee demanded the rehiring of Walentynowicz and Wałęsa, as well as the according of respect to workers' rights and other social concerns. In addition, they called for the raising of a monument to the shipyard workers
who had been killed in 1970 and for the legalization of independent trade unions.
The Polish government enforced censorship, and official media said little about the "sporadic labor disturbances in Gdańsk"; as a further precaution, all phone connections between the coast and the rest of Poland were soon cut. Nonetheless, the government failed to contain the information: a spreading wave of samizdat
s , including Robotnik (The Worker), and grapevine gossip
, along with Radio Free Europe
broadcasts that penetrated the Iron Curtain
, ensured that the ideas of the emerging Solidarity movement quickly spread.
On August 16, delegations from other strike committees arrived at the shipyard. Delegates (Bogdan Lis
, Andrzej Gwiazda
and others) together with shipyard strikers agreed to create an Inter-Enterprise Strike Committee
(Międzyzakładowy Komitet Strajkowy, or MKS). On August 17 a priest, Henryk Jankowski
, performed a mass outside the shipyard's gate, at which 21 demands of the MKS
were put forward. The list went beyond purely local matters, beginning with a demand for new, independent trade unions and going on to call for a relaxation of the censorship
, a right to strike, new rights for the Church, the freeing of political prisoners, and improvements in the national health service.
Next day, a delegation of KOR intelligentsia
, including Tadeusz Mazowiecki
, arrived to offer their assistance with negotiations. A bibuła news-sheet, Solidarność, produced on the shipyard's printing press
with KOR assistance, reached a daily print run of 30,000 copies. Meanwhile, Jacek Kaczmarski
's protest song
, Mury
(Walls), gained popularity with the workers.
On August 18, the Szczecin Shipyard
joined the strike, under the leadership of Marian Jurczyk
. A tidal wave of strikes swept the coast, closing ports and bringing the economy to a halt. With KOR assistance and support from many intellectuals, workers occupying factories, mines and shipyards across Poland joined forces. Within days, over 200 factories and enterprises had joined the strike committee. By August 21, most of Poland was affected by the strikes, from coastal shipyards to the mines of the Upper Silesian Industrial Area (in Upper Silesia, the city of Jastrzębie-Zdrój became center of the strikes, with a separate committee organized there). More and more new unions were formed, and joined the federation.
Thanks to popular support within Poland, as well as to international support and media coverage, the Gdańsk workers held out until the government gave in to their demands. On August 21 a Governmental Commission (Komisja Rządowa) including Mieczysław Jagielski arrived in Gdańsk, and another one with Kazimierz Barcikowski
was dispatched to Szczecin. On August 30 and 31, and on September 3, representatives of the workers and the government signed an agreement ratifying many of the workers' demands, including the right to strike. This agreement came to be known as the August or Gdańsk agreement
(Porozumienia sierpniowe). Another agreement was signed in Jastrzębie-Zdrój on September 3. It was called the Jastrzębie agreement (Porozumienia jastrzebskie) and as such is regarded as part of the Gdańsk agreement. Though concerned with labor-union matters, the agreement enabled citizens to introduce democratic changes within the communist political structure and was regarded as a first step toward dismantling the Party's monopoly of power. The workers' main concerns were the establishment of a labor union independent of communist-party control, and recognition of a legal right to strike. Workers’ needs would now receive clear representation. Another consequence of the Gdańsk Agreement was the replacement, in September 1980, of Edward Gierek by Stanisław Kania as Party First Secretary.
, and its famous logo
was conceived by Jerzy Janiszewski
, designer of many Solidarity-related posters. The new union's supreme powers were vested in a legislative body
, the Convention of Delegates (Zjazd Delegatów). The executive branch
was the National Coordinating Commission
(Krajowa Komisja Porozumiewawcza), later renamed the National Commission (Komisja Krajowa). The Union had a regional structure, comprising 38 regions (region) and two districts (okręg). On December 16, 1980, the Monument to Fallen Shipyard Workers
was unveiled in Gdansk, and on June 28, 1981, another monument was unveiled in Poznan, which commemorated the Poznań 1956 protests
. On January 15, 1981, a Solidarity delegation, including Lech Wałęsa, met in Rome with Pope John Paul II
. From September 5 to 10, and from September 26 to October 7, Solidarity's first national congress was held, and Lech Wałęsa was elected its president. Last accord of the congress was adoption of republican
program "Self-governing Republic".
Meanwhile Solidarity had been transforming itself from a trade union into a social movement or more specifically, a revolutionary movement
. Over the 500 days following the Gdańsk Agreement, 9–10 million workers, intellectuals and students joined it or its suborganizations, such as the Independent Student Union (Niezależne Zrzeszenie Studentów, created in September 1980), the Independent Farmers' Trade Union (NSZZ Rolników Indywidualnych "Solidarność", created in May 1981) and the Independent Craftsmen's Trade Union. It was the only time in recorded history that a quarter of a country's population (some 80% of the total Polish work force) had voluntarily joined a single organization. "History has taught us that there is no bread without freedom," the Solidarity program stated a year later. "What we had in mind was not only bread, butter and sausages, but also justice, democracy, truth, legality, human dignity, freedom of convictions, and the repair of the republic." Tygodnik Solidarność
, a Solidarity-published newspaper, was started in April 1981.
Using strikes and other protest actions, Solidarity sought to force a change in government policies. At the same time, it was careful never to use force or violence, so as to avoid giving the government any excuse to bring security forces into play. After 27 Bydgoszcz Solidarity members, including Jan Rulewski
, were beaten up
on March 19, a four-hour warning strike on March 27
, involving around twelve million people, paralyzed the country. This was the largest strike in the history of the Eastern bloc
, and it forced the government to promise an investigation into the beatings. This concession, and Wałęsa's agreement to defer further strikes, proved a setback to the movement, as the euphoria that had swept Polish society subsided. Nonetheless the Polish communist party—the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR)—had lost its total control over society.
Yet while Solidarity was ready to take up negotiations with the government, the Polish communists were unsure what to do, as they issued empty declarations and bided their time. Against the background of a deteriorating communist shortage economy and unwillingness to negotiate seriously with Solidarity, it became increasingly clear that the Communist government would eventually have to suppress the Solidarity movement as the only way out of the impasse, or face a truly revolutionary situation. The atmosphere was increasingly tense, with various local chapters conducting a growing number of uncoordinated strikes as well as street protests, such as the Summer 1981 hunger demonstrations in Poland
, in response to the worsening economic situation. On December 3, 1981, Solidarity announced that a 24-hour strike would be held if the government were granted additional powers to suppress dissent, and that a general strike would be declared if those powers were used.
, the Polish government was under increasing pressure from the Soviet Union to take action and strengthen its position. Stanisław Kania was viewed by Moscow as too independent, and on October 18, 1981, the Party Central Committee put him in the minority. Kania lost his post as First Secretary, and was replaced by Prime Minister (and Minister of Defence) Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski
, who adopted a strong-arm policy.
On December 13, 1981, Jaruzelski began a crack-down on Solidarity, declaring martial law
and creating a Military Council of National Salvation
(Wojskowa Rada Ocalenia Narodowego, or WRON). Solidarity's leaders, gathered at Gdańsk
, were arrested and isolated in facilities guarded by the Security Service (Służba Bezpieczeństwa or SB), and some 5,000 Solidarity supporters were arrested in the middle of the night. Censorship was expanded, and military forces appeared on the streets. A couple of hundred strikes and occupations occurred, chiefly at the largest plants and at several Silesia
n coal mines, but were broken by ZOMO
paramilitary riot police. One of the largest demonstrations, on December 16, 1981, took place at the Wujek Coal Mine, where government forces opened fire on demonstrators, killing 9 and seriously injuring 22. The next day, during protests at Gdańsk
, government forces again fired at demonstrators, killing 1 and injuring 2. By December 28, 1981, strikes had ceased, and Solidarity appeared crippled. The last strike in the 1981 Poland, which ended on December 28, took place in the Piast coal mine in the Upper Silesian town of Bieruń
. It was the longest underground strike in the history of Poland, lasting 14 days. Some 2000 miners began it on December 14, going 650 meters underground. Out of the initial 2000, half remained until the last day. Starving, they gave up after military authorities promised they would not be prosecuted. On October 8, 1982, Solidarity was banned.
The range of support for the Solidarity was unique: no other movement in the world was supported by Ronald Reagan
and Santiago Carrillo
, Enrico Berlinguer
and the Pope, Margaret Thatcher
and Tony Benn
, peace campaigners and NATO spokesman, Christians and Western communists, conservatives, liberals and socialists. The international community
outside the Iron Curtain
condemned Jaruzelski's actions and declared support for Solidarity; dedicated organizations were formed for that purpose (like Polish Solidarity Campaign
in Great Britain). US President Ronald Reagan imposed economic sanctions
on Poland, which eventually would force the Polish government into liberalizing its policies. Meanwhile the CIA together with the Catholic Church and various Western trade unions such as the AFL-CIO
provided funds, equipment and advice to the Solidarity underground. The political alliance of Reagan and the Pope would prove important to the future of Solidarity. The Polish public also supported what was left of Solidarity; a major medium for demonstrating support of Solidarity became masses held by priests such as Jerzy Popiełuszko.
Besides the communist authorities, Solidarity was also opposed by some of the Polish (emigré) radical right, believing Solidarity or KOR to be disguised communist groups, dominated by Jewish Trotskyite Zionists.
In July 1983, martial law was formally lifted, though many heightened controls on civil liberties and political life, as well as food rationing, remained in place through the mid-to-late 1980s.
Almost immediately after the legal Solidarity leadership had been arrested, underground structures began to arise. On April 12, 1982, Radio Solidarity
began broadcasting. On April 22, Zbigniew Bujak
, Bogdan Lis
, Władysław Frasyniuk and Władysław Hardek created an Interim Coordinating Commission (Tymczasowa Komisja Koordynacyjna) to serve as an underground leadership for Solidarity. On May 6 another underground Solidarity organization, an NSSZ "S" Regional Coordinating Commission (Regionalna Komisja Koordynacyjna NSZZ "S"), was created by Bogdan Borusewicz
, Aleksander Hall
, Stanisław Jarosz, Bogdan Lis
and Marian Świtek. June 1982 saw the creation of a Fighting Solidarity
(Solidarność Walcząca) organization.
Throughout the mid-1980s, Solidarity persevered as an exclusively underground organization. Its activists were dogged by the Security Service (SB), but managed to strike back: on May 1, 1982, a series of anti-government protests brought out thousands of participants—several dozen thousand in Kraków, Warsaw and Gdańsk. On May 3 more protests took place, during celebrations of the Constitution of May 3, 1791
. On that day, communist secret services killed four demonstrators – three in Warsaw and one in Wrocław.
Another wave of demonstrations occurred on August 31, 1982, on the first anniversary of the Gdańsk Agreement (see August 31, 1982 demonstrations in Poland
). Altogether, on that day six demonstrators were killed – three in Lubin
, one in Kielce
, one in Wrocław and one in Gdańsk. Another person was killed on the next day, during a demonstration in Częstochowa
. Further strikes occurred at Gdańsk and Nowa Huta between October 11 and 13. In Nowa Huta, a 20-year old student Bogdan Wlosik was shot by a secret service officer.
On November 14, 1982, Wałęsa
was released. However on December 9 the SB carried out a large anti-Solidarity operation, arresting over 10,000 activists. On December 27 Solidarity's assets were transferred by the authorities to a pro-government trade union, the All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions (Ogólnopolskie Porozumienie Związków Zawodowych, or OPZZ). Yet Solidarity was far from broken: by early 1983 the underground had over 70,000 members, whose activities included publishing over 500 underground newspapers. In the first half of 1983 street protests were frequent; on May 1, two persons were killed in Kraków and one in Wrocław. Two days later, two additional demonstrators were killed in Warsaw.
On July 22, 1983, martial law was lifted, and amnesty was granted to many imprisoned Solidarity members, who were released. On October 5, Wałęsa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
. The Polish government, however, refused to issue him a passport to travel to Oslo
; Wałęsa's prize was accepted on his behalf by his wife. It later transpired that the SB had prepared bogus documents, accusing Wałęsa of immoral and illegal activities that had been given to the Nobel committee in an attempt to derail his nomination.
On October 19, 1984, three agents of the Ministry of Internal Security murdered a popular pro-Solidarity priest, Jerzy Popiełuszko. As the facts emerged, thousands of people declared their solidarity with the murdered priest by attending his funeral, held on November 3, 1984. The government attempted to smooth over the situation by releasing thousands of political prisoner
s; a year later, however, there followed a new wave of arrests. Frasyniuk, Lis and Adam Michnik
, members of the "S" underground, were arrested on February 13, 1985, placed on a show trial
, and sentenced to several years' imprisonment.
On March 11, 1985, power in the Soviet Union was assumed by Mikhail Gorbachev
, a leader who represented a new generation of Soviet party members. The worsening economic situation in the entire Eastern Bloc, including the Soviet Union, together with other factors, forced Gorbachev to carry out a number of reforms, not only in the field of economics (uskoreniye
) but in the political and social realms (glasnost
and perestroika
). Gorbachev's policies soon caused a corresponding shift in the policies of Soviet satellites, including the People's Republic of Poland
.
On September 11, 1986, 225 Polish political prisoners were released—the last of those connected with Solidarity, and arrested during the previous years. Following amnesty on September 30, Wałęsa created the first public, legal Solidarity entity since the declaration of martial law—the Temporary Council of NSZZ Solidarność (Tymczasowa Rada NSZZ Solidarność)—with Bogdan Borusewicz
, Zbigniew Bujak
, Władysław Frasyniuk, Tadeusz Janusz Jedynak, Bogdan Lis
, Janusz Pałubicki and Józef Pinior
. Soon afterwards, the new Council was admitted to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions
. Many local Solidarity chapters now broke their cover throughout Poland, and on October 25, 1987, the National Executive Committee (Solidarity)|National Executive Committee of NSZZ Solidarność (Krajowa Komisja Wykonawcza NSZZ Solidarność) was created. Nonetheless, Solidarity members and activists continued to be persecuted and discriminated, if less so than during the early 1980s. In the late 1980s, a rift between Wałęsa's faction and a more radical Fighting Solidarity
grew as the former wanted to negotiate with the government, while the latter planned for an anti-communist revolution.
By 1988, Poland's economy was in worse condition than it had been eight years earlier. International sanctions, combined with the government's unwillingness to introduce reforms, intensified the old problems. Inefficient government-run planned-economy enterprises
wasted labor
and resources
, producing substandard goods for which there was little demand
. Polish exports were low, both because of the sanctions and because the goods were as unattractive abroad as they were at home. Foreign debt and inflation
mounted. There were no funds to modernize factories, and the promised "market socialism
" materialized as a shortage economy
characterized by long queues and empty shelves. Reforms introduced by Jaruzelski and Mieczysław Rakowski came too little and too late, especially as changes in the Soviet Union had bolstered the public's expectation that change must come, and the Soviets ceased their efforts to prop up Poland's failing regime.
In February 1988, the government hiked food prices by 40%. On April 21, a new wave of strikes hit the country. On May 2, workers at the Gdańsk Shipyard went on strike. That strike was broken by the government between May 5 and May 10, but only temporarily: on August 15, a new strike took place at the "July Manifesto" mine in Jastrzębie Zdrój
. By August 20 the strike had spread to many other mines, and on August 22 the Gdańsk Shipyard joined the strike. Poland's communist government then decided to negotiate.
On August 26, Czesław Kiszczak, the Minister of Internal Affairs, declared on television that the government was willing to negotiate, and five days later he met with Wałęsa. The strikes ended the following day, and on November 30, during a televised debate between Wałęsa and Alfred Miodowicz
(leader of the pro-government trade union, the All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions), Wałęsa scored a public-relations victory.
On December 18, a hundred-member Citizens' Committee (Komitet Obywatelski) was formed within Solidarity. It comprised several sections, each responsible for presenting a specific aspect of opposition demands to the government. Wałęsa and the majority of Solidarity leaders supported negotiation, while a minority wanted an anticommunist revolution. Under Wałęsa's leadership, Solidarity decided to pursue a peaceful solution, and the pro-violence faction never attained any substantial power, nor did it take any action.
On January 27, 1989, in a meeting between Wałęsa and Kiszczak, a list was drawn up of members of the main negotiating teams. The conference that began on February 6 would be known as the Polish Round Table Talks
. The 56 participants included 20 from "S", 6 from OPZZ, 14 from the PZPR, 14 "independent authorities", and two priests. The Polish Round Table Talks took place in Warsaw from February 6 to April 4, 1989. The Communists, led by Gen. Jaruzelski, hoped to co-opt prominent opposition leaders into the ruling group without making major changes in the structure of political power. Solidarity, while hopeful, did not anticipate major changes. In fact, the talks would radically alter the shape of the Polish government and society.
On April 17, 1989, Solidarity was legalized, and its membership soon reached 1.5 million. The Solidarity Citizens' Committee
(Komitet Obywatelski "Solidarność") was given permission to field candidates in the upcoming elections. Election law
allowed Solidarity to put forward candidates for only 35% of the seats in the Sejm
, but there were no restrictions in regard to Senat
candidates. Agitation and propaganda continued legally up to election day. Despite its shortage of resources, Solidarity managed to carry on an electoral campaign. On May 8, the first issue of a new pro-Solidarity newspaper, Gazeta Wyborcza
(The Election Gazette), was published. Posters of Wałęsa supporting various candidates, appeared throughout the country.
Pre-election public-opinion polls had promised victory to the communists. Thus the total defeat of the PZPR and its satellite parties came as a surprise to all involved: after the first round of elections, it became evident that Solidarity had fared extremely well, capturing 160 of 161 contested Sejm seats, and 92 of 100 Senate seats. After the second round, it had won virtually every seat—all 161 in the Sejm, and 99 in the Senate.
These elections, in which anti-communist candidates won a striking victory, inaugurated a series of peaceful anti-communist revolutions
in Central
and Eastern Europe
that eventually culminated in the fall of communism.
The new Contract Sejm
, named for the agreement that had been reached by the communist party and the Solidarity movement during the Polish Round Table Talks
, would be dominated by Solidarity. As agreed beforehand, Wojciech Jaruzelski
was elected president. However, the communist candidate for Prime Minister, Czesław Kiszczak, who replaced Mieczysław Rakowski, failed to gain enough support to form a government.
On June 23, a Solidarity Citizens' Parliamentary Club (Obywatelski Klub Parliamentarny "Solidarność") was formed, led by Bronisław Geremek. It formed a coalition
with two ex-satellite parties of the PZPR—ZSL and SD
—which had now chosen to "rebel" against the PZPR, which found itself in the minority. On August 24, the Sejm elected Tadeusz Mazowiecki
, a Solidarity representative, to be Prime Minister of Poland. Not only was he a first non-communist Polish Prime Minister since 1945, he became the first non-Communist prime minister in Eastern Europe for nearly 40 years. In his speech he talked about the "thick line" (Gruba kreska
) which would separate his government from the communist past By the end of August 1989, a Solidarity-led coalition government
had been formed.
in the history of Poland
and in the history of Solidarity. Having defeated the communist government, Solidarity found itself in a role it was much less prepared for — that of a political party — and soon began to lose popularity. Conflicts among Solidarity factions intensified. Wałęsa was elected Solidarity chairman, but support for him could be seen to be crumbling. One of his main opponents, Władysław Frasyniuk, withdrew from elections altogether. In September 1990, Wałęsa declared that Gazeta Wyborcza
had no right to use the Solidarity logo
.
Later that month, Wałęsa announced his intent to run for president of Poland
. In December 1990, he was elected president. He resigned his Solidarity post and became the first president of Poland ever to be elected by popular vote.
Next year, in February 1991, Marian Krzaklewski
was elected the leader of Solidarity. President Wałęsa's vision and that of the new Solidarity leadership were diverging. Far from supporting Wałęsa, Solidarity was becoming increasingly critical of the government, and decided to create its own political party for action in the upcoming 1991 parliamentary elections
.
The 1991 elections were characterized by a large number of competing parties, many claiming the legacy of anti-communism, and the Solidarity party garnered only 5% of the votes.
On January 13, 1992, Solidarity declared its first strike against the democratically elected government: a one-hour strike against a proposal to raise energy prices. Another, two-hour strike took place on December 14. On May 19, 1993, Solidarity deputies proposed a no-confidence motion
—which passed—against the government of Prime Minister Hanna Suchocka
. President Wałęsa declined to accept the prime minister's resignation, and dismissed the parliament.
It was in the ensuing 1993 parliamentary elections
that it became evident how much Solidarity's support had eroded in the previous three years. Even though some Solidarity deputies sought to assume a more left-wing stance and to distance themselves from the right-wing government, Solidarity remained identified in the public mind with that government. Hence it suffered from the growing disillusionment of the populace, as the transition from a communist to a capitalist system failed to generate instant wealth and raise Poland's living standards to those in the West, and the government's financial "shock therapy
" (the Balcerowicz Plan) generated much opposition.
In the elections, Solidarity received only 4.9% of the votes, 0.1% less than the 5% required in order to enter parliament (Solidarity still had 9 senators, 2 fewer than in the previous Senate
). The victorious party was the Democratic Left Alliance
(Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej or SLD), a post-communist left-wing party.
Solidarity now joined forces with its erstwhile enemy, the All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions (OPZZ), and some protests were organized by both trade unions. The following year, Solidarity organized many strikes over the state of the Polish mining industry. In 1995, a demonstration before the Polish parliament was broken up by the police (now again known as policja
) using batons and water guns. Nonetheless, Solidarity decided to support Wałęsa in the 1995 presidential elections
.
In a second major defeat for the Polish right wing, the elections were won by an SLD candidate, Aleksander Kwaśniewski
, who received 51.72% of votes. A Solidarity call for new elections went unheeded, but the Sejm
still managed to pass a resolution condemning the 1981 martial law (despite the SLD voting against). Meanwhile the left-wing OPZZ trade union had acquired 2.5 million members, twice as many as the contemporary Solidarity (with 1.3 million).
In June 1996, Solidarity Electoral Action
(Akcja Wyborcza Solidarność) was founded as a coalition of over 30 right-wing parties, uniting liberal
, conservative
and Christian-democratic forces. As the public became disillusioned with the SLD and its allies, AWS was victorious in the 1997 parliamentary elections
. Jerzy Buzek
became the new prime minister.
However, controversies over domestic reforms, Poland's 1999 entry into NATO, and the accession process to the European Union, combined with AWS fights with its political allies (the Freedom Union
—Unia Wolności) and infighting within AWS itself, as well as corruption
(reflected in the infamous "TKM
" slogan), eventually resulted in the loss of much public support. AWS leader Marian Krzaklewski
lost the 2000 presidential election
, and in the 2001 parliamentary elections
AWS failed to elect a single deputy to the parliament. After this debacle, Krzaklewski was replaced by Janusz Śniadek
(in 2002) but the union decided to distance itself from politics.
In 2006, Solidarity had some 1.5 million members making it the largest trade union in Poland. Its mission statement
declares that Solidarity, "basing its activities on Christian ethics
and Catholic social teachings, works to protect workers' interests and to fulfill their material, social and cultural aspirations."
Gdansk Shipyard
Gdańsk Shipyard is a large Polish shipyard, located in the city of Gdańsk. The yard gained international fame when Solidarity was founded there in September 1980...
s (now Gdańsk Shipyards) at its founding by Lech Wałęsa
Lech Wałęsa
Lech Wałęsa is a Polish politician, trade-union organizer, and human-rights activist. A charismatic leader, he co-founded Solidarity , the Soviet bloc's first independent trade union, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, and served as President of Poland between 1990 and 95.Wałęsa was an electrician...
and others. In the early 1980s, it became the first independent labor union in a Soviet-bloc country. Solidarity gave rise to a broad, non-violent, anti-communist social movement that, at its height, claimed some 10 million members. It is considered to have contributed greatly to the fall of communism.
Poland's communist government
People's Republic of Poland
The People's Republic of Poland was the official name of Poland from 1952 to 1990. Although the Soviet Union took control of the country immediately after the liberation from Nazi Germany in 1944, the name of the state was not changed until eight years later...
attempted to destroy the union by instituting martial law
Martial law in Poland
Martial law in Poland refers to the period of time from December 13, 1981 to July 22, 1983, when the authoritarian government of the People's Republic of Poland drastically restricted normal life by introducing martial law in an attempt to crush political opposition to it. Thousands of opposition...
in 1981, followed by several years of political repression, but in the end was forced into negotiation. The Roundtable Talks
Polish Round Table Agreement
The Polish Round Table Talks took place in Warsaw, Poland from February 6 to April 4, 1989. The government initiated the discussion with the banned trade union Solidarność and other opposition groups in an attempt to defuse growing social unrest.-History:...
between the government and the Solidarity-led opposition resulted in semi-free elections in 1989. By the end of August 1989, a Solidarity-led coalition government had been formed, and, in December 1990, Wałęsa was elected
Polish presidential election, 1990
The 1990 Presidential elections were held in Poland on Sunday, November 25 , and Sunday, December 9 . These were the first direct presidential elections in the history of Poland. Before World War II, presidents were elected by the Sejm, but the Sejm was abolished in 1952. The leader of the...
president. This was soon followed by the dismantling of the communist governmental system and by Poland's transformation into a modern democratic state. Solidarity's early survival represented a break in the hard-line stance of the communist Polish United Workers' Party
Polish United Workers' Party
The Polish United Workers' Party was the Communist party which governed the People's Republic of Poland from 1948 to 1989. Ideologically it was based on the theories of Marxism-Leninism.- The Party's Program and Goals :...
(PZPR), and was an unprecedented event; not only for the People's Republic of Poland
People's Republic of Poland
The People's Republic of Poland was the official name of Poland from 1952 to 1990. Although the Soviet Union took control of the country immediately after the liberation from Nazi Germany in 1944, the name of the state was not changed until eight years later...
—a satellite
Satellite state
A satellite state is a political term that refers to a country that is formally independent, but under heavy political and economic influence or control by another country...
of the USSR ruled by a one-party
Single-party state
A single-party state, one-party system or single-party system is a type of party system government in which a single political party forms the government and no other parties are permitted to run candidates for election...
communist regime
Communist state
A communist state is a state with a form of government characterized by single-party rule or dominant-party rule of a communist party and a professed allegiance to a Leninist or Marxist-Leninist communist ideology as the guiding principle of the state...
—but for the whole of the Eastern bloc
Eastern bloc
The term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact...
. Solidarity's example led to the spread of anti-communist ideas and movements throughout the Eastern Bloc, weakening communist governments. This process later culminated in the Revolutions of 1989
Revolutions of 1989
The Revolutions of 1989 were the revolutions which overthrew the communist regimes in various Central and Eastern European countries.The events began in Poland in 1989, and continued in Hungary, East Germany, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and...
.
Politics of Poland
The politics of Poland take place in the framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister is the head of government of a multi-party system and the President is the head of state....
waned. A political arm of the "Solidarity" movement, Solidarity Electoral Action (AWS), was founded in 1996 and would win the Polish parliamentary elections in 1997
Polish parliamentary election, 1997
The Polish parliamentary election in 1997 to the Sejm and Senate of Poland was held on the 21 September. In the Sejm elections, 47.93% of citizens cast their votes, 96.12% of which were counted as valid...
, only to lose the subsequent 2001 elections
Polish parliamentary election, 2001
Polish parliamentary election in 2001 to Sejm and Senate of Poland were held on the 23rd September. In Sejm elections, 46.29% of citizens cast their votes, 96.01% of those were counted as valid...
. Thereafter, Solidarity had little influence as a political party, though it did become the largest trade union in Poland.
Pre–1980 roots
Shortage economy
Shortage economy is a term coined by the Hungarian economist, János Kornai. He used this term to criticize the old centrally-planned economies of the communist states of the Eastern Bloc...
), and growing stress from the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
. After a brief boom period, from 1975 the policies of the Polish government, led by Party First Secretary Edward Gierek
Edward Gierek
Edward Gierek was a Polish communist politician.He was born in Porąbka, outside of Sosnowiec. He lost his father to a mining accident in a pit at the age of four. His mother married again and emigrated to northern France, where he was raised. He joined the French Communist Party in 1931 and was...
, precipitated a slide into increasing depression, as foreign debt mounted. In June 1976, the first workers' strikes
June 1976 protests
June 1976 is the name of a series of protests and demonstrations in People's Republic of Poland. The protests took place after Prime Minister Piotr Jaroszewicz revealed the plan for a sudden increase in the price of many basic commodities, particularly foodstuffs...
took place, involving violent incidents at factories in Płock, Radom
Radom
Radom is a city in central Poland with 223,397 inhabitants . It is located on the Mleczna River in the Masovian Voivodeship , having previously been the capital of Radom Voivodeship ; 100 km south of Poland's capital, Warsaw.It is home to the biennial Radom Air Show, the largest and...
and Ursus
Ursus (district in Warsaw)
Ursus is a district of Warsaw, one of the 18 such units into which the city is divided. Between 1952 and 1977 it a was separate city, a legacy of which are Ursus' poor road connections with the Warsaw city centre...
. When these incidents were quelled by the government, the worker's movement received support from intellectual dissidents
Intelligentsia
The intelligentsia is a social class of people engaged in complex, mental and creative labor directed to the development and dissemination of culture, encompassing intellectuals and social groups close to them...
, many of them associated with the Committee for Defense of the Workers
Workers' Defence Committee
The Workers’ Defense Committee was a Polish civil society group that emerged under communist rule to give aid to prisoners & their families after the June 1976 protests & government crackdown...
, formed in 1976. The following year, KOR was renamed the Committee for Social Self-defence (KSS-KOR).
On October 16, 1978, the Bishop of Kraków, Karol Wojtyła, was elected Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
. A year later, during his first pilgrimage to Poland, his masses were attended by millions of his countrymen. The Pope called for the respecting of nation
Nation
A nation may refer to a community of people who share a common language, culture, ethnicity, descent, and/or history. In this definition, a nation has no physical borders. However, it can also refer to people who share a common territory and government irrespective of their ethnic make-up...
al and religious
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
traditions and advocated for freedom and human rights, while denouncing violence. To many Poles, he represented a spiritual and moral force that could be set against brute material forces; he was a bellwether
Bellwether
A bellwether is any entity in a given arena that serves to create or influence trends or to presage future happenings.The term is derived from the Middle English bellewether and refers to the practice of placing a bell around the neck of a castrated ram leading his flock of sheep.The movements of...
of change, and became an important symbol—and supporter—of changes to come.
Early strikes (1980)
Strikes did not occur merely due to problems that had emerged shortly before the labor unrest, but due to governmental and economic difficulties spanning more than a decade. In July 1980, Edward GierekEdward Gierek
Edward Gierek was a Polish communist politician.He was born in Porąbka, outside of Sosnowiec. He lost his father to a mining accident in a pit at the age of four. His mother married again and emigrated to northern France, where he was raised. He joined the French Communist Party in 1931 and was...
's government, facing economic crisis, decided to raise prices while slowing the growth of wages. At once there ensued a wave of strikes and factory occupations, with the biggest strikes
Lublin 1980 strikes
The Lublin 1980 strikes were the series of workers’ strikes in the area of the eastern city of Lublin , demanding better salaries and lower prices of food products. They began on July 8, 1980, at the State Aviation Works in Świdnik, a town located on the outskirts of Lublin...
taking place in the area of Lublin
Lublin
Lublin is the ninth largest city in Poland. It is the capital of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 350,392 . Lublin is also the largest Polish city east of the Vistula river...
. The first strike started on July 8, 1980 in the State Aviation Works
PZL
PZL was the main Polish aerospace manufacturer of the interwar period, based in Warsaw, functioning in 1928-1939...
in Świdnik
Swidnik
Świdnik is a town in eastern Poland with 42,797 inhabitants , situated in the Lublin Voivodeship, very near the city of Lublin. It is the capital of Świdnik County.-History:The village of Świdnik is first mentioned in historical records from 1392...
. Although the strike movement had no coordinating center, the workers had developed an information network to spread news of their struggle. A "dissident" group, the Workers' Defence Committee
Workers' Defence Committee
The Workers’ Defense Committee was a Polish civil society group that emerged under communist rule to give aid to prisoners & their families after the June 1976 protests & government crackdown...
(KOR), which had originally been set up in 1976 to organize aid for victimized workers, attracted small groups of working-class militants in major industrial centers. At the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk
Gdansk
Gdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...
, the firing of Anna Walentynowicz
Anna Walentynowicz
Anna Walentynowicz was a Polish free trade union activist. Her firing in August 1980 was the event that ignited the strike at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk that very quickly paralyzed the Baltic coast and a giant wave of strikes in Poland...
, a popular crane operator and activist, galvanized the outraged workers into action.
On August 14, the shipyard workers began their strike, organized by the Free Trade Unions of the Coast
Free Trade Unions of the Coast
Free Trade Unions of the Coast were a government-independent trade union in the People's Republic of Poland.This trade union was founded in Gdańsk on 29 April 1978 by Andrzej Gwiazda, Krzysztof Wyszkowski and Antoni Sokołowski...
(Wolne Związki Zawodowe Wybrzeża). The workers were led by electrician Lech Wałęsa
Lech Wałęsa
Lech Wałęsa is a Polish politician, trade-union organizer, and human-rights activist. A charismatic leader, he co-founded Solidarity , the Soviet bloc's first independent trade union, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, and served as President of Poland between 1990 and 95.Wałęsa was an electrician...
, a former shipyard worker who had been dismissed in 1976, and who arrived at the shipyard late in the morning of August 14. The strike committee demanded the rehiring of Walentynowicz and Wałęsa, as well as the according of respect to workers' rights and other social concerns. In addition, they called for the raising of a monument to the shipyard workers
Monument to fallen Shipyard Workers
The Monument to the fallen Shipyard Workers 1970 was unveiled on 16 December 1980 near the entrance to what was then the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland. It commemorates the 42 or more people killed during the Coastal cities events in December 1970...
who had been killed in 1970 and for the legalization of independent trade unions.
Samizdat
Samizdat was a key form of dissident activity across the Soviet bloc in which individuals reproduced censored publications by hand and passed the documents from reader to reader...
s , including Robotnik (The Worker), and grapevine gossip
Grapevine (gossip)
To hear something through the grapevine is to learn of something informally and unofficially by means of gossip and rumor.The usual implication is that the information was passed person to person by word of mouth, perhaps in a confidential manner among friends or colleagues. It can also imply an...
, along with Radio Free Europe
Radio Free Europe
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is a broadcaster funded by the U.S. Congress that provides news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East "where the free flow of information is either banned by government authorities or not fully developed"...
broadcasts that penetrated the Iron Curtain
Iron Curtain
The concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological fighting and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1989...
, ensured that the ideas of the emerging Solidarity movement quickly spread.
On August 16, delegations from other strike committees arrived at the shipyard. Delegates (Bogdan Lis
Bogdan Lis
Bogdan Lis is a Polish politician, known for his involvement with the anti-communist Solidarity social movement.Born in Gdańsk in 1952, he worked in Port of Gdańsk and Elmor company. Between 1971 and 1972 he was imprisoned for his participation in the anti-governmental coastal cities protests...
, Andrzej Gwiazda
Andrzej Gwiazda
Andrzej Gwiazda in Gdańsk engineer and prominent opposition leader, who participated in Polish March 1968 Events and December 1970 Events; one of the founders of Free Trade Unions, Member of the Presiding Committee of the Strike at Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk in August 1980, Vice President of the...
and others) together with shipyard strikers agreed to create an Inter-Enterprise Strike Committee
Inter-Enterprise Strike Committee
Inter-Enterprise Strike Committee was an action strike committee formed in Gdańsk Shipyard, People's Republic of Poland on 16 August 1980...
(Międzyzakładowy Komitet Strajkowy, or MKS). On August 17 a priest, Henryk Jankowski
Henryk Jankowski
Father Henryk Jankowski was a Polish Roman Catholic priest. Member of Solidarity movement and one of the leading priests supporting that movement in opposition to the communist government in the 1980s, he was also a long serving provost of St. Bridget's church in Gdańsk...
, performed a mass outside the shipyard's gate, at which 21 demands of the MKS
21 demands of MKS
21 demands of MKS were a list of demands issued on 17 August 1980 by the Interfactory Strike Committee . The first demand was the right to create independent trade unions...
were put forward. The list went beyond purely local matters, beginning with a demand for new, independent trade unions and going on to call for a relaxation of the censorship
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
, a right to strike, new rights for the Church, the freeing of political prisoners, and improvements in the national health service.
Next day, a delegation of KOR intelligentsia
Intelligentsia
The intelligentsia is a social class of people engaged in complex, mental and creative labor directed to the development and dissemination of culture, encompassing intellectuals and social groups close to them...
, including Tadeusz Mazowiecki
Tadeusz Mazowiecki
Tadeusz Mazowiecki is a Polish author, journalist, philanthropist and Christian-democratic politician, formerly one of the leaders of the Solidarity movement, and the first non-communist prime minister in Central and Eastern Europe after World War II.-Biography:Mazowiecki comes from a Polish...
, arrived to offer their assistance with negotiations. A bibuła news-sheet, Solidarność, produced on the shipyard's printing press
Printing press
A printing press is a device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium , thereby transferring the ink...
with KOR assistance, reached a daily print run of 30,000 copies. Meanwhile, Jacek Kaczmarski
Jacek Kaczmarski
Jacek Kaczmarski was a Polish singer, songwriter, poet and author.Kaczmarski was a voice of the Solidarity trade union movement in 1980s Poland, for his commitment to a free Poland, independent of Soviet rule. His songs criticized the ruling communist regime and appealed to the tradition of...
's protest song
Protest song
A protest song is a song which is associated with a movement for social change and hence part of the broader category of topical songs . It may be folk, classical, or commercial in genre...
, Mury
Mury (song)
Mury was a sung poetry protest song written by Polish singer Jacek Kaczmarski in 1978. In People's Republic of Poland, in the early eighties of 20th century it became a symbol of the opposition to the communist regime...
(Walls), gained popularity with the workers.
On August 18, the Szczecin Shipyard
Szczecin Shipyard
Szczecin Shipyard or New Szczecin Shipyard was a shipyard in northwestern city of Szczecin, Poland. Formerly known as Stocznia Szczecińska Porta Holding S.A. or Stocznia im. Adolfa Warskiego. The shipyard specialized in the construction of container ships, chemicals transport ships, multi-purpose...
joined the strike, under the leadership of Marian Jurczyk
Marian Jurczyk
Marian Jurczyk is a Polish politician and Solidarity trade union activist.He was a Senator in the Polish Senate from 1997 to 2000, and Mayor of Szczecin from 18 November 1998 to 24 January 2000...
. A tidal wave of strikes swept the coast, closing ports and bringing the economy to a halt. With KOR assistance and support from many intellectuals, workers occupying factories, mines and shipyards across Poland joined forces. Within days, over 200 factories and enterprises had joined the strike committee. By August 21, most of Poland was affected by the strikes, from coastal shipyards to the mines of the Upper Silesian Industrial Area (in Upper Silesia, the city of Jastrzębie-Zdrój became center of the strikes, with a separate committee organized there). More and more new unions were formed, and joined the federation.
Thanks to popular support within Poland, as well as to international support and media coverage, the Gdańsk workers held out until the government gave in to their demands. On August 21 a Governmental Commission (Komisja Rządowa) including Mieczysław Jagielski arrived in Gdańsk, and another one with Kazimierz Barcikowski
Kazimierz Barcikowski
Kazimierz Barcikowski was a Polish politician. Member of Polish United Workers Party, served on the Central Committee of the Party and on Political Bureau. Among his other posts were those of deputy to Sejm and minister of agriculture. Head of government negotiations with striking workers in...
was dispatched to Szczecin. On August 30 and 31, and on September 3, representatives of the workers and the government signed an agreement ratifying many of the workers' demands, including the right to strike. This agreement came to be known as the August or Gdańsk agreement
Gdansk Agreement
The Gdańsk Agreement was an accord reached as a direct result of the strikes that took place in Gdańsk, Poland...
(Porozumienia sierpniowe). Another agreement was signed in Jastrzębie-Zdrój on September 3. It was called the Jastrzębie agreement (Porozumienia jastrzebskie) and as such is regarded as part of the Gdańsk agreement. Though concerned with labor-union matters, the agreement enabled citizens to introduce democratic changes within the communist political structure and was regarded as a first step toward dismantling the Party's monopoly of power. The workers' main concerns were the establishment of a labor union independent of communist-party control, and recognition of a legal right to strike. Workers’ needs would now receive clear representation. Another consequence of the Gdańsk Agreement was the replacement, in September 1980, of Edward Gierek by Stanisław Kania as Party First Secretary.
First Solidarity (1980–1981)
Encouraged by the success of the August strikes, on September 17 workers' representatives, including Lech Wałęsa, formed a nationwide labor union, Solidarity (Niezależny Samorządny Związek Zawodowy (NSZZ) "Solidarność"). It was the first independent labor union in a Soviet-bloc country. Its name was suggested by Karol ModzelewskiKarol Modzelewski
Karol Modzelewski is a Polish historian, writer and politician.He is the adopted son of Zygmunt Modzelewski. Professor at the University of Wroclaw and the University of Warsaw, he was a member of the Polish United Workers Party but was expelled from it in 1964 for opposition to some policies of...
, and its famous logo
Solidarity logo
The Solidarity logo designed by Jerzy Janiszewski in 1980 is considered as an important example of Polish Poster School creations. The logo was awarded the Grand Prix of the Biennale of Posters, Katowice 1981. By this time it was already well known in Poland and became an internationally...
was conceived by Jerzy Janiszewski
Jerzy Janiszewski
Jerzy Janiszewski is a Polish artist, best known for designing the Solidarity logo in 1980.He received a diploma of Gdansk Academy of Fine Arts in 1976. His creations include logotypes, posters, scenogaphies and open-air installations....
, designer of many Solidarity-related posters. The new union's supreme powers were vested in a legislative body
Legislature
A legislature is a kind of deliberative assembly with the power to pass, amend, and repeal laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law. In addition to enacting laws, legislatures usually have exclusive authority to raise or lower taxes and adopt the budget and...
, the Convention of Delegates (Zjazd Delegatów). The executive branch
Executive (government)
Executive branch of Government is the part of government that has sole authority and responsibility for the daily administration of the state bureaucracy. The division of power into separate branches of government is central to the idea of the separation of powers.In many countries, the term...
was the National Coordinating Commission
National Coordinating Commission
National Coordinating Commission , later called the National Commission was the executive branch of the Solidarity trade union...
(Krajowa Komisja Porozumiewawcza), later renamed the National Commission (Komisja Krajowa). The Union had a regional structure, comprising 38 regions (region) and two districts (okręg). On December 16, 1980, the Monument to Fallen Shipyard Workers
Monument to fallen Shipyard Workers
The Monument to the fallen Shipyard Workers 1970 was unveiled on 16 December 1980 near the entrance to what was then the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland. It commemorates the 42 or more people killed during the Coastal cities events in December 1970...
was unveiled in Gdansk, and on June 28, 1981, another monument was unveiled in Poznan, which commemorated the Poznań 1956 protests
Poznan 1956 protests
The Poznań 1956 protests, also known as Poznań 1956 uprising or Poznań June , were the first of several massive protests of the Polish people against the communist government of the People's Republic of Poland...
. On January 15, 1981, a Solidarity delegation, including Lech Wałęsa, met in Rome with Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
. From September 5 to 10, and from September 26 to October 7, Solidarity's first national congress was held, and Lech Wałęsa was elected its president. Last accord of the congress was adoption of republican
Republicanism
Republicanism is the ideology of governing a nation as a republic, where the head of state is appointed by means other than heredity, often elections. The exact meaning of republicanism varies depending on the cultural and historical context...
program "Self-governing Republic".
Revolutionary movement
Revolutionary movement is a specific type of social movement dedicated to carrying out a revolution. Charles Tilly defines it as a social movement advancing exclusive competing claims to control of the state, or some segment of it. An example of a revolutionary movement is the Armenian...
. Over the 500 days following the Gdańsk Agreement, 9–10 million workers, intellectuals and students joined it or its suborganizations, such as the Independent Student Union (Niezależne Zrzeszenie Studentów, created in September 1980), the Independent Farmers' Trade Union (NSZZ Rolników Indywidualnych "Solidarność", created in May 1981) and the Independent Craftsmen's Trade Union. It was the only time in recorded history that a quarter of a country's population (some 80% of the total Polish work force) had voluntarily joined a single organization. "History has taught us that there is no bread without freedom," the Solidarity program stated a year later. "What we had in mind was not only bread, butter and sausages, but also justice, democracy, truth, legality, human dignity, freedom of convictions, and the repair of the republic." Tygodnik Solidarność
Tygodnik Solidarnosc
Tygodnik Solidarność is Polish conservative newspaper. Started and published by the Solidarity movement on 3 April 1981, it was banned by the People's Republic of Poland following the martial law declaration from 13 December 1981 and the thaw of 1989...
, a Solidarity-published newspaper, was started in April 1981.
Using strikes and other protest actions, Solidarity sought to force a change in government policies. At the same time, it was careful never to use force or violence, so as to avoid giving the government any excuse to bring security forces into play. After 27 Bydgoszcz Solidarity members, including Jan Rulewski
Jan Rulewski
Jan Rulewski is a Polish politician, activist of Solidarity; a Member of the Polish Sejm and a Senator .He was in charge of the Bydgoszcz region of Solidarity...
, were beaten up
Bydgoszcz events
Bydgoszcz events refers to a turning point in the early history of the Solidarity movement. Following the registration of the Solidarity by the communist authorities of Poland in 1980, the farmers were also pushing for creation of a separate trade union, independent from the official system of power...
on March 19, a four-hour warning strike on March 27
1981 warning strike in Poland
In the early spring of 1981, the quickly growing Solidarity movement faced one of the biggest challenges in its short history, when during the Bydgoszcz events, several members of Solidarity, including Jan Rulewski, Mariusz Łabentowicz and Roman Bartoszcze, were brutally "pacified" by the...
, involving around twelve million people, paralyzed the country. This was the largest strike in the history of the Eastern bloc
Eastern bloc
The term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact...
, and it forced the government to promise an investigation into the beatings. This concession, and Wałęsa's agreement to defer further strikes, proved a setback to the movement, as the euphoria that had swept Polish society subsided. Nonetheless the Polish communist party—the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR)—had lost its total control over society.
Yet while Solidarity was ready to take up negotiations with the government, the Polish communists were unsure what to do, as they issued empty declarations and bided their time. Against the background of a deteriorating communist shortage economy and unwillingness to negotiate seriously with Solidarity, it became increasingly clear that the Communist government would eventually have to suppress the Solidarity movement as the only way out of the impasse, or face a truly revolutionary situation. The atmosphere was increasingly tense, with various local chapters conducting a growing number of uncoordinated strikes as well as street protests, such as the Summer 1981 hunger demonstrations in Poland
Summer 1981 hunger demonstrations in Poland
In mid-1981, amid widespread economic crisis and food shortages, thousands of Poles, mainly women and their children, took part in several hunger demonstrations, organized in cities and towns across the country. The protests were peaceful, without rioting, and the biggest one took place on July 30,...
, in response to the worsening economic situation. On December 3, 1981, Solidarity announced that a 24-hour strike would be held if the government were granted additional powers to suppress dissent, and that a general strike would be declared if those powers were used.
Martial law (1981–83)
After the Gdańsk AgreementGdansk Agreement
The Gdańsk Agreement was an accord reached as a direct result of the strikes that took place in Gdańsk, Poland...
, the Polish government was under increasing pressure from the Soviet Union to take action and strengthen its position. Stanisław Kania was viewed by Moscow as too independent, and on October 18, 1981, the Party Central Committee put him in the minority. Kania lost his post as First Secretary, and was replaced by Prime Minister (and Minister of Defence) Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski
Wojciech Jaruzelski
Wojciech Witold Jaruzelski is a retired Polish military officer and Communist politician. He was the last Communist leader of Poland from 1981 to 1989, Prime Minister from 1981 to 1985 and the country's head of state from 1985 to 1990. He was also the last commander-in-chief of the Polish People's...
, who adopted a strong-arm policy.
On December 13, 1981, Jaruzelski began a crack-down on Solidarity, declaring martial law
Martial law in Poland
Martial law in Poland refers to the period of time from December 13, 1981 to July 22, 1983, when the authoritarian government of the People's Republic of Poland drastically restricted normal life by introducing martial law in an attempt to crush political opposition to it. Thousands of opposition...
and creating a Military Council of National Salvation
Military Council of National Salvation
The Military Council of National Salvation was a military dictatorship administering the People's Republic of Poland during the period of the martial law in Poland ....
(Wojskowa Rada Ocalenia Narodowego, or WRON). Solidarity's leaders, gathered at Gdańsk
Gdansk
Gdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...
, were arrested and isolated in facilities guarded by the Security Service (Służba Bezpieczeństwa or SB), and some 5,000 Solidarity supporters were arrested in the middle of the night. Censorship was expanded, and military forces appeared on the streets. A couple of hundred strikes and occupations occurred, chiefly at the largest plants and at several Silesia
Silesia
Silesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with smaller parts also in the Czech Republic, and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest city and historical capital is Wrocław...
n coal mines, but were broken by ZOMO
ZOMO
Zmotoryzowane Odwody Milicji Obywatelskiej , were paramilitary-police formations during the Communist Era, in the People's Republic of Poland...
paramilitary riot police. One of the largest demonstrations, on December 16, 1981, took place at the Wujek Coal Mine, where government forces opened fire on demonstrators, killing 9 and seriously injuring 22. The next day, during protests at Gdańsk
Gdansk
Gdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...
, government forces again fired at demonstrators, killing 1 and injuring 2. By December 28, 1981, strikes had ceased, and Solidarity appeared crippled. The last strike in the 1981 Poland, which ended on December 28, took place in the Piast coal mine in the Upper Silesian town of Bieruń
Bierun
Bieruń is a town in Upper Silesia, in southern Poland, about south of Katowice. The town belongs to the Silesian Voivodeship since its formation in 1999, previously to Katowice Voivodeship and, before World War II, was part of the Polish Autonomous Silesian Voivodeship.-Geography:It is located...
. It was the longest underground strike in the history of Poland, lasting 14 days. Some 2000 miners began it on December 14, going 650 meters underground. Out of the initial 2000, half remained until the last day. Starving, they gave up after military authorities promised they would not be prosecuted. On October 8, 1982, Solidarity was banned.
The range of support for the Solidarity was unique: no other movement in the world was supported by Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
and Santiago Carrillo
Santiago Carrillo
Santiago Carrillo Solares is a Spanish politician who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of Spain from 1960 to 1982.- Childhood and early youth :...
, Enrico Berlinguer
Enrico Berlinguer
Enrico Berlinguer was an Italian politician; he was national secretary of the Italian Communist Party from 1972 until his death.-Early career:...
and the Pope, Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
and Tony Benn
Tony Benn
Anthony Neil Wedgwood "Tony" Benn, PC is a British Labour Party politician and a former MP and Cabinet Minister.His successful campaign to renounce his hereditary peerage was instrumental in the creation of the Peerage Act 1963...
, peace campaigners and NATO spokesman, Christians and Western communists, conservatives, liberals and socialists. The international community
International community
The international community is a term used in international relations to refer to all peoples, cultures and governments of the world or to a group of them. The term is used to imply the existence of common duties and obligations between them...
outside the Iron Curtain
Iron Curtain
The concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological fighting and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1989...
condemned Jaruzelski's actions and declared support for Solidarity; dedicated organizations were formed for that purpose (like Polish Solidarity Campaign
Polish Solidarity Campaign
Britain's Polish Solidarity Campaign was a campaign in solidarity with Solidarity and other democratic forces in Poland. It was founded in August 1980 by Robin Blick, Karen Blick, and Adam Westoby, and continued its activities into the first half of the 1990s...
in Great Britain). US President Ronald Reagan imposed economic sanctions
Economic sanctions
Economic sanctions are domestic penalties applied by one country on another for a variety of reasons. Economic sanctions include, but are not limited to, tariffs, trade barriers, import duties, and import or export quotas...
on Poland, which eventually would force the Polish government into liberalizing its policies. Meanwhile the CIA together with the Catholic Church and various Western trade unions such as the AFL-CIO
AFL-CIO
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, commonly AFL–CIO, is a national trade union center, the largest federation of unions in the United States, made up of 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 11 million workers...
provided funds, equipment and advice to the Solidarity underground. The political alliance of Reagan and the Pope would prove important to the future of Solidarity. The Polish public also supported what was left of Solidarity; a major medium for demonstrating support of Solidarity became masses held by priests such as Jerzy Popiełuszko.
Besides the communist authorities, Solidarity was also opposed by some of the Polish (emigré) radical right, believing Solidarity or KOR to be disguised communist groups, dominated by Jewish Trotskyite Zionists.
In July 1983, martial law was formally lifted, though many heightened controls on civil liberties and political life, as well as food rationing, remained in place through the mid-to-late 1980s.
Underground Solidarity (1982–88)
Radio Solidarity
Radio Solidarity is the name of a radio show produced by the anarchist Workers Solidarity Movement, based in Ireland. Its is broadcast on Near 90fm and podcast globally, covering current issues, politics and struggle in Ireland and further afield....
began broadcasting. On April 22, Zbigniew Bujak
Zbigniew Bujak
Zbigniew Bujak was an electrician and foreman in 1980 at the Ursus tractor factory near Warsaw, Poland. He became engaged with trade union activists, and during the strike action, he organized strike committees at the Ursus factory...
, Bogdan Lis
Bogdan Lis
Bogdan Lis is a Polish politician, known for his involvement with the anti-communist Solidarity social movement.Born in Gdańsk in 1952, he worked in Port of Gdańsk and Elmor company. Between 1971 and 1972 he was imprisoned for his participation in the anti-governmental coastal cities protests...
, Władysław Frasyniuk and Władysław Hardek created an Interim Coordinating Commission (Tymczasowa Komisja Koordynacyjna) to serve as an underground leadership for Solidarity. On May 6 another underground Solidarity organization, an NSSZ "S" Regional Coordinating Commission (Regionalna Komisja Koordynacyjna NSZZ "S"), was created by Bogdan Borusewicz
Bogdan Borusewicz
Bogdan Michał Borusewicz, is the Speaker in the Polish Senate since 20 October 2005. Borusewicz was a democratic opposition activist under the Communist regime, a member of the Polish parliament for three terms and first Senate Speaker to serve two terms in this office.Borusewicz briefly served...
, Aleksander Hall
Aleksander Hall
Aleksander Hall was a Polish conservative politician. Activist of Movement for Defense of Human and Civic Rights, later a politician and member of Solidarity Electoral Action. In 2001, he quit politics to focus on research. Author of many books and articles on history, patriotism, etc. He is...
, Stanisław Jarosz, Bogdan Lis
Bogdan Lis
Bogdan Lis is a Polish politician, known for his involvement with the anti-communist Solidarity social movement.Born in Gdańsk in 1952, he worked in Port of Gdańsk and Elmor company. Between 1971 and 1972 he was imprisoned for his participation in the anti-governmental coastal cities protests...
and Marian Świtek. June 1982 saw the creation of a Fighting Solidarity
Fighting Solidarity
Fighting Solidarity was a Polish anti-communist underground organization, founded in 1982 by Kornel Morawiecki in Wrocław in response to the delegalization of Solidarity and government repression of the opposition after martial law was declared in 1981...
(Solidarność Walcząca) organization.
Throughout the mid-1980s, Solidarity persevered as an exclusively underground organization. Its activists were dogged by the Security Service (SB), but managed to strike back: on May 1, 1982, a series of anti-government protests brought out thousands of participants—several dozen thousand in Kraków, Warsaw and Gdańsk. On May 3 more protests took place, during celebrations of the Constitution of May 3, 1791
Constitution of May 3, 1791
The Constitution of May 3, 1791 was adopted as a "Government Act" on that date by the Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Historian Norman Davies calls it "the first constitution of its type in Europe"; other scholars also refer to it as the world's second oldest constitution...
. On that day, communist secret services killed four demonstrators – three in Warsaw and one in Wrocław.
Another wave of demonstrations occurred on August 31, 1982, on the first anniversary of the Gdańsk Agreement (see August 31, 1982 demonstrations in Poland
August 31, 1982 demonstrations in Poland
August 31, 1982 demonstrations in Poland refers to anti-government street demonstrations organized by underground Solidarity to commemorate the second anniversary of the Gdańsk Agreement. The bloodiest protest occurred in southwestern Poland, in the town of Lubin, on August 31, 1982...
). Altogether, on that day six demonstrators were killed – three in Lubin
Lubin
Lubin is a town in Lower Silesian Voivodeship in south-western Poland. From 1975–1998 it belonged to the former Legnica Voivodeship. Lubin is the administrative seat of Lubin County, and also of the rural district called Gmina Lubin, although it is not part of the territory of the latter,...
, one in Kielce
Kielce
Kielce ) is a city in central Poland with 204,891 inhabitants . It is also the capital city of the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship since 1999, previously in Kielce Voivodeship...
, one in Wrocław and one in Gdańsk. Another person was killed on the next day, during a demonstration in Częstochowa
Czestochowa
Częstochowa is a city in south Poland on the Warta River with 240,027 inhabitants . It has been situated in the Silesian Voivodeship since 1999, and was previously the capital of Częstochowa Voivodeship...
. Further strikes occurred at Gdańsk and Nowa Huta between October 11 and 13. In Nowa Huta, a 20-year old student Bogdan Wlosik was shot by a secret service officer.
Lech Wałęsa
Lech Wałęsa is a Polish politician, trade-union organizer, and human-rights activist. A charismatic leader, he co-founded Solidarity , the Soviet bloc's first independent trade union, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, and served as President of Poland between 1990 and 95.Wałęsa was an electrician...
was released. However on December 9 the SB carried out a large anti-Solidarity operation, arresting over 10,000 activists. On December 27 Solidarity's assets were transferred by the authorities to a pro-government trade union, the All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions (Ogólnopolskie Porozumienie Związków Zawodowych, or OPZZ). Yet Solidarity was far from broken: by early 1983 the underground had over 70,000 members, whose activities included publishing over 500 underground newspapers. In the first half of 1983 street protests were frequent; on May 1, two persons were killed in Kraków and one in Wrocław. Two days later, two additional demonstrators were killed in Warsaw.
On July 22, 1983, martial law was lifted, and amnesty was granted to many imprisoned Solidarity members, who were released. On October 5, Wałęsa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
. The Polish government, however, refused to issue him a passport to travel to Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
; Wałęsa's prize was accepted on his behalf by his wife. It later transpired that the SB had prepared bogus documents, accusing Wałęsa of immoral and illegal activities that had been given to the Nobel committee in an attempt to derail his nomination.
On October 19, 1984, three agents of the Ministry of Internal Security murdered a popular pro-Solidarity priest, Jerzy Popiełuszko. As the facts emerged, thousands of people declared their solidarity with the murdered priest by attending his funeral, held on November 3, 1984. The government attempted to smooth over the situation by releasing thousands of political prisoner
Political prisoner
According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a political prisoner is ‘someone who is in prison because they have opposed or criticized the government of their own country’....
s; a year later, however, there followed a new wave of arrests. Frasyniuk, Lis and Adam Michnik
Adam Michnik
Adam Michnik is the editor-in-chief of Gazeta Wyborcza, where he sometimes writes under the pen-names of Andrzej Zagozda or Andrzej Jagodziński. In 1966–1989 he was one of the leading organizers of the illegal, democratic opposition in Poland...
, members of the "S" underground, were arrested on February 13, 1985, placed on a show trial
Show trial
The term show trial is a pejorative description of a type of highly public trial in which there is a strong connotation that the judicial authorities have already determined the guilt of the defendant. The actual trial has as its only goal to present the accusation and the verdict to the public as...
, and sentenced to several years' imprisonment.
Second Solidarity (1988–89)
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
, a leader who represented a new generation of Soviet party members. The worsening economic situation in the entire Eastern Bloc, including the Soviet Union, together with other factors, forced Gorbachev to carry out a number of reforms, not only in the field of economics (uskoreniye
Uskoreniye
Uskoreniye was a slogan and a policy announced by Communist Party General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev on April 20, 1985 at a Soviet Party Plenum, aimed at the acceleration of social and economical development of the Soviet Union...
) but in the political and social realms (glasnost
Glasnost
Glasnost was the policy of maximal publicity, openness, and transparency in the activities of all government institutions in the Soviet Union, together with freedom of information, introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev in the second half of the 1980s...
and perestroika
Perestroika
Perestroika was a political movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during 1980s, widely associated with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev...
). Gorbachev's policies soon caused a corresponding shift in the policies of Soviet satellites, including the People's Republic of Poland
People's Republic of Poland
The People's Republic of Poland was the official name of Poland from 1952 to 1990. Although the Soviet Union took control of the country immediately after the liberation from Nazi Germany in 1944, the name of the state was not changed until eight years later...
.
On September 11, 1986, 225 Polish political prisoners were released—the last of those connected with Solidarity, and arrested during the previous years. Following amnesty on September 30, Wałęsa created the first public, legal Solidarity entity since the declaration of martial law—the Temporary Council of NSZZ Solidarność (Tymczasowa Rada NSZZ Solidarność)—with Bogdan Borusewicz
Bogdan Borusewicz
Bogdan Michał Borusewicz, is the Speaker in the Polish Senate since 20 October 2005. Borusewicz was a democratic opposition activist under the Communist regime, a member of the Polish parliament for three terms and first Senate Speaker to serve two terms in this office.Borusewicz briefly served...
, Zbigniew Bujak
Zbigniew Bujak
Zbigniew Bujak was an electrician and foreman in 1980 at the Ursus tractor factory near Warsaw, Poland. He became engaged with trade union activists, and during the strike action, he organized strike committees at the Ursus factory...
, Władysław Frasyniuk, Tadeusz Janusz Jedynak, Bogdan Lis
Bogdan Lis
Bogdan Lis is a Polish politician, known for his involvement with the anti-communist Solidarity social movement.Born in Gdańsk in 1952, he worked in Port of Gdańsk and Elmor company. Between 1971 and 1972 he was imprisoned for his participation in the anti-governmental coastal cities protests...
, Janusz Pałubicki and Józef Pinior
Józef Pinior
Józef Pinior is a Polish politician and Member of the European Parliament for the DS & OP with the Socjaldemokracja Polska, part of the Socialist Group and sits on the European Parliament's Committee on Development....
. Soon afterwards, the new Council was admitted to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions
International Confederation of Free Trade Unions
The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions was an international trade union. It came into being on 7 December 1949 following a split within the World Federation of Trade Unions , and was dissolved on 31 October 2006 when it merged with the World Confederation of Labour to form the...
. Many local Solidarity chapters now broke their cover throughout Poland, and on October 25, 1987, the National Executive Committee (Solidarity)|National Executive Committee of NSZZ Solidarność (Krajowa Komisja Wykonawcza NSZZ Solidarność) was created. Nonetheless, Solidarity members and activists continued to be persecuted and discriminated, if less so than during the early 1980s. In the late 1980s, a rift between Wałęsa's faction and a more radical Fighting Solidarity
Fighting Solidarity
Fighting Solidarity was a Polish anti-communist underground organization, founded in 1982 by Kornel Morawiecki in Wrocław in response to the delegalization of Solidarity and government repression of the opposition after martial law was declared in 1981...
grew as the former wanted to negotiate with the government, while the latter planned for an anti-communist revolution.
By 1988, Poland's economy was in worse condition than it had been eight years earlier. International sanctions, combined with the government's unwillingness to introduce reforms, intensified the old problems. Inefficient government-run planned-economy enterprises
Planned economy
A planned economy is an economic system in which decisions regarding production and investment are embodied in a plan formulated by a central authority, usually by a government agency...
wasted labor
Workforce
The workforce is the labour pool in employment. It is generally used to describe those working for a single company or industry, but can also apply to a geographic region like a city, country, state, etc. The term generally excludes the employers or management, and implies those involved in...
and resources
Natural resource
Natural resources occur naturally within environments that exist relatively undisturbed by mankind, in a natural form. A natural resource is often characterized by amounts of biodiversity and geodiversity existent in various ecosystems....
, producing substandard goods for which there was little demand
Demand
- Economics :*Demand , the desire to own something and the ability to pay for it*Demand curve, a graphic representation of a demand schedule*Demand deposit, the money in checking accounts...
. Polish exports were low, both because of the sanctions and because the goods were as unattractive abroad as they were at home. Foreign debt and inflation
Inflation
In economics, inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time.When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services. Consequently, inflation also reflects an erosion in the purchasing power of money – a...
mounted. There were no funds to modernize factories, and the promised "market socialism
Market socialism
Market socialism refers to various economic systems where the means of production are either publicly owned or cooperatively owned and operated for a profit in a market economy. The profit generated by the firms system would be used to directly remunerate employees or would be the source of public...
" materialized as a shortage economy
Shortage economy
Shortage economy is a term coined by the Hungarian economist, János Kornai. He used this term to criticize the old centrally-planned economies of the communist states of the Eastern Bloc...
characterized by long queues and empty shelves. Reforms introduced by Jaruzelski and Mieczysław Rakowski came too little and too late, especially as changes in the Soviet Union had bolstered the public's expectation that change must come, and the Soviets ceased their efforts to prop up Poland's failing regime.
In February 1988, the government hiked food prices by 40%. On April 21, a new wave of strikes hit the country. On May 2, workers at the Gdańsk Shipyard went on strike. That strike was broken by the government between May 5 and May 10, but only temporarily: on August 15, a new strike took place at the "July Manifesto" mine in Jastrzębie Zdrój
Jastrzebie Zdrój
Jastrzębie-Zdrój is a city in south Poland with 92,462 inhabitants . Its name comes from the Polish words jastrząb and zdrój . Until the 20th century it was a spa village situated in Upper Silesia. It was granted city rights in 1963...
. By August 20 the strike had spread to many other mines, and on August 22 the Gdańsk Shipyard joined the strike. Poland's communist government then decided to negotiate.
Alfred Miodowicz
Alfred Miodowicz is a former Polish politician and trade union activist. Member of communist Polish United Workers Party, he held posts in the State National Council, Central Committee and Political Bureau. He was also the leader of the All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions and took part in the...
(leader of the pro-government trade union, the All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions), Wałęsa scored a public-relations victory.
On December 18, a hundred-member Citizens' Committee (Komitet Obywatelski) was formed within Solidarity. It comprised several sections, each responsible for presenting a specific aspect of opposition demands to the government. Wałęsa and the majority of Solidarity leaders supported negotiation, while a minority wanted an anticommunist revolution. Under Wałęsa's leadership, Solidarity decided to pursue a peaceful solution, and the pro-violence faction never attained any substantial power, nor did it take any action.
On January 27, 1989, in a meeting between Wałęsa and Kiszczak, a list was drawn up of members of the main negotiating teams. The conference that began on February 6 would be known as the Polish Round Table Talks
Polish Round Table Agreement
The Polish Round Table Talks took place in Warsaw, Poland from February 6 to April 4, 1989. The government initiated the discussion with the banned trade union Solidarność and other opposition groups in an attempt to defuse growing social unrest.-History:...
. The 56 participants included 20 from "S", 6 from OPZZ, 14 from the PZPR, 14 "independent authorities", and two priests. The Polish Round Table Talks took place in Warsaw from February 6 to April 4, 1989. The Communists, led by Gen. Jaruzelski, hoped to co-opt prominent opposition leaders into the ruling group without making major changes in the structure of political power. Solidarity, while hopeful, did not anticipate major changes. In fact, the talks would radically alter the shape of the Polish government and society.
On April 17, 1989, Solidarity was legalized, and its membership soon reached 1.5 million. The Solidarity Citizens' Committee
Solidarity Citizens' Committee
The Solidarity Citizens' Committee , also known as "Citizens' Electoral Committee" , previously named "Citizens' Committee with Lech Wałęsa" was an legal political organisation of the democratic opposition in communist Poland...
(Komitet Obywatelski "Solidarność") was given permission to field candidates in the upcoming elections. Election law
Election law
Election law is a discipline falling at the juncture of constitutional law and political science. It researches "the politics of law and the law of politics"...
allowed Solidarity to put forward candidates for only 35% of the seats in the Sejm
Sejm
The Sejm is the lower house of the Polish parliament. The Sejm is made up of 460 deputies, or Poseł in Polish . It is elected by universal ballot and is presided over by a speaker called the Marshal of the Sejm ....
, but there were no restrictions in regard to Senat
Senate of Poland
The Senate is the upper house of the Polish parliament, the lower house being the 'Sejm'. The history of the Polish Senate is rich in tradition and stretches back over 500 years, it was one of the first constituent bodies of a bicameral parliament in Europe and existed without hiatus until the...
candidates. Agitation and propaganda continued legally up to election day. Despite its shortage of resources, Solidarity managed to carry on an electoral campaign. On May 8, the first issue of a new pro-Solidarity newspaper, Gazeta Wyborcza
Gazeta Wyborcza
Gazeta Wyborcza is a leading Polish newspaper. It covers the gamut of political, international and general news. Like all the Polish newspapers, it is printed on compact-sized paper, and is published by the multimedia corporation Agora SA...
(The Election Gazette), was published. Posters of Wałęsa supporting various candidates, appeared throughout the country.
These elections, in which anti-communist candidates won a striking victory, inaugurated a series of peaceful anti-communist revolutions
Revolutions of 1989
The Revolutions of 1989 were the revolutions which overthrew the communist regimes in various Central and Eastern European countries.The events began in Poland in 1989, and continued in Hungary, East Germany, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and...
in Central
Central Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
and Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
that eventually culminated in the fall of communism.
The new Contract Sejm
Contract Sejm
Contract Sejm is a term commonly applied to the Polish Parliament elected in the Polish parliamentary elections of 1989. The contract refers to an agreement reached by the Communist Party and the Solidarity movement during the Polish Round Table Agreement. The final agreement was signed on April...
, named for the agreement that had been reached by the communist party and the Solidarity movement during the Polish Round Table Talks
Polish Round Table Agreement
The Polish Round Table Talks took place in Warsaw, Poland from February 6 to April 4, 1989. The government initiated the discussion with the banned trade union Solidarność and other opposition groups in an attempt to defuse growing social unrest.-History:...
, would be dominated by Solidarity. As agreed beforehand, Wojciech Jaruzelski
Wojciech Jaruzelski
Wojciech Witold Jaruzelski is a retired Polish military officer and Communist politician. He was the last Communist leader of Poland from 1981 to 1989, Prime Minister from 1981 to 1985 and the country's head of state from 1985 to 1990. He was also the last commander-in-chief of the Polish People's...
was elected president. However, the communist candidate for Prime Minister, Czesław Kiszczak, who replaced Mieczysław Rakowski, failed to gain enough support to form a government.
On June 23, a Solidarity Citizens' Parliamentary Club (Obywatelski Klub Parliamentarny "Solidarność") was formed, led by Bronisław Geremek. It formed a coalition
Coalition
A coalition is a pact or treaty among individuals or groups, during which they cooperate in joint action, each in their own self-interest, joining forces together for a common cause. This alliance may be temporary or a matter of convenience. A coalition thus differs from a more formal covenant...
with two ex-satellite parties of the PZPR—ZSL and SD
Democratic Party (Poland)
The Democratic Party is a Polish centrist party. The party faced a revival in 2009, when it was joined by liberal politician Paweł Piskorski, formerly member of Civic Platform.-History:The party was established on April 15, 1939...
—which had now chosen to "rebel" against the PZPR, which found itself in the minority. On August 24, the Sejm elected Tadeusz Mazowiecki
Tadeusz Mazowiecki
Tadeusz Mazowiecki is a Polish author, journalist, philanthropist and Christian-democratic politician, formerly one of the leaders of the Solidarity movement, and the first non-communist prime minister in Central and Eastern Europe after World War II.-Biography:Mazowiecki comes from a Polish...
, a Solidarity representative, to be Prime Minister of Poland. Not only was he a first non-communist Polish Prime Minister since 1945, he became the first non-Communist prime minister in Eastern Europe for nearly 40 years. In his speech he talked about the "thick line" (Gruba kreska
Gruba kreska
The term broad-stroke or broad line policy was employed by prime minister of Poland, Tadeusz Mazowiecki in 1989, in his first parliamentary speech in Sejm. He said "We split away the history of our recent past with a broad line...
) which would separate his government from the communist past By the end of August 1989, a Solidarity-led coalition government
Coalition government
A coalition government is a cabinet of a parliamentary government in which several political parties cooperate. The usual reason given for this arrangement is that no party on its own can achieve a majority in the parliament...
had been formed.
Party and Trade Union (1989 to the present)
The fall of the communist regime marked a new chapterHistory of Poland (1989–present)
In 1989-1991, Poland engaged in a democratic transition which put an end to the Polish People's Republic and led to a democratic regime, called Polish Third Republic...
in the history of Poland
History of Poland
The History of Poland is rooted in the arrival of the Slavs, who gave rise to permanent settlement and historic development on Polish lands. During the Piast dynasty Christianity was adopted in 966 and medieval monarchy established...
and in the history of Solidarity. Having defeated the communist government, Solidarity found itself in a role it was much less prepared for — that of a political party — and soon began to lose popularity. Conflicts among Solidarity factions intensified. Wałęsa was elected Solidarity chairman, but support for him could be seen to be crumbling. One of his main opponents, Władysław Frasyniuk, withdrew from elections altogether. In September 1990, Wałęsa declared that Gazeta Wyborcza
Gazeta Wyborcza
Gazeta Wyborcza is a leading Polish newspaper. It covers the gamut of political, international and general news. Like all the Polish newspapers, it is printed on compact-sized paper, and is published by the multimedia corporation Agora SA...
had no right to use the Solidarity logo
Solidarity logo
The Solidarity logo designed by Jerzy Janiszewski in 1980 is considered as an important example of Polish Poster School creations. The logo was awarded the Grand Prix of the Biennale of Posters, Katowice 1981. By this time it was already well known in Poland and became an internationally...
.
Later that month, Wałęsa announced his intent to run for president of Poland
Polish presidential election, 1990
The 1990 Presidential elections were held in Poland on Sunday, November 25 , and Sunday, December 9 . These were the first direct presidential elections in the history of Poland. Before World War II, presidents were elected by the Sejm, but the Sejm was abolished in 1952. The leader of the...
. In December 1990, he was elected president. He resigned his Solidarity post and became the first president of Poland ever to be elected by popular vote.
Marian Krzaklewski
Marian Krzaklewski is a Polish politician. A member of Solidarity since the 1980s, he was one of the most known and influential Polish politicians in the late 1990s, when he created the Solidarity Electoral Action...
was elected the leader of Solidarity. President Wałęsa's vision and that of the new Solidarity leadership were diverging. Far from supporting Wałęsa, Solidarity was becoming increasingly critical of the government, and decided to create its own political party for action in the upcoming 1991 parliamentary elections
Polish parliamentary election, 1991
The Polish parliamentary election in 1991 to the Sejm and the Senate of Poland was held on October 27. In the Sejm elections, 27,517,280 citizens were eligible to vote, 11,887,949 of them cast their votes, 11,218,602 of those were counted as valid. In the Senate elections, 43.2% of citizens cast...
.
The 1991 elections were characterized by a large number of competing parties, many claiming the legacy of anti-communism, and the Solidarity party garnered only 5% of the votes.
On January 13, 1992, Solidarity declared its first strike against the democratically elected government: a one-hour strike against a proposal to raise energy prices. Another, two-hour strike took place on December 14. On May 19, 1993, Solidarity deputies proposed a no-confidence motion
Motion of no confidence
A motion of no confidence is a parliamentary motion whose passing would demonstrate to the head of state that the elected parliament no longer has confidence in the appointed government.-Overview:Typically, when a parliament passes a vote of no...
—which passed—against the government of Prime Minister Hanna Suchocka
Hanna Suchocka
Hanna Suchocka is a Polish political figure. She served as the prime minister of Poland between 11 July 1992 and 26 October 1993 under the presidency of Lech Wałęsa. She is the first woman to hold this post in Poland and 19th in the world.Suchocka is a specialist in Constitutional Law...
. President Wałęsa declined to accept the prime minister's resignation, and dismissed the parliament.
Polish parliamentary election, 1993
Polish parliamentary election in 1993 to Sejm and Senate of Poland was held on the 19 September. In Sejm elections, 52.13% of citizens cast their votes, and 95.7% of those were counted as valid. In Senate elections, 52.1% of citizens cast their votes, and 97.07% were valid...
that it became evident how much Solidarity's support had eroded in the previous three years. Even though some Solidarity deputies sought to assume a more left-wing stance and to distance themselves from the right-wing government, Solidarity remained identified in the public mind with that government. Hence it suffered from the growing disillusionment of the populace, as the transition from a communist to a capitalist system failed to generate instant wealth and raise Poland's living standards to those in the West, and the government's financial "shock therapy
Shock therapy (economics)
In economics, shock therapy refers to the sudden release of price and currency controls, withdrawal of state subsidies, and immediate trade liberalization within a country, usually also including large scale privatization of previously public owned assets....
" (the Balcerowicz Plan) generated much opposition.
In the elections, Solidarity received only 4.9% of the votes, 0.1% less than the 5% required in order to enter parliament (Solidarity still had 9 senators, 2 fewer than in the previous Senate
Senate of Poland
The Senate is the upper house of the Polish parliament, the lower house being the 'Sejm'. The history of the Polish Senate is rich in tradition and stretches back over 500 years, it was one of the first constituent bodies of a bicameral parliament in Europe and existed without hiatus until the...
). The victorious party was the Democratic Left Alliance
Democratic Left Alliance
Democratic Left Alliance is a social-democratic political party in Poland. Formed in 1991 as a coalition of centre-left parties, it was formally established as a single party on 15 April 1999. It is currently the third largest opposition party in Poland....
(Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej or SLD), a post-communist left-wing party.
Solidarity now joined forces with its erstwhile enemy, the All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions (OPZZ), and some protests were organized by both trade unions. The following year, Solidarity organized many strikes over the state of the Polish mining industry. In 1995, a demonstration before the Polish parliament was broken up by the police (now again known as policja
Policja
Policja is the generic name for the police in Poland. The Polish police force was known as policja throughout the Second Polish Republic , and in modern post-communist Republic of Poland since 1990. Its current size is 103.309 officers and ca. 12.000 civilian employees...
) using batons and water guns. Nonetheless, Solidarity decided to support Wałęsa in the 1995 presidential elections
Polish presidential election, 1995
1995 Presidential elections were held in Poland on Sunday November 5 , and Sunday November 19 . Aleksander Kwaśniewski and Lech Wałęsa passed to the second round...
.
In a second major defeat for the Polish right wing, the elections were won by an SLD candidate, Aleksander Kwaśniewski
Aleksander Kwasniewski
Aleksander Kwaśniewski is a Polish politician who served as the President of Poland from 1995 to 2005. He was born in Białogard, and during communist rule he was active in the Socialist Union of Polish Students and was the Minister for Sport in the communist government in the 1980s...
, who received 51.72% of votes. A Solidarity call for new elections went unheeded, but the Sejm
Sejm
The Sejm is the lower house of the Polish parliament. The Sejm is made up of 460 deputies, or Poseł in Polish . It is elected by universal ballot and is presided over by a speaker called the Marshal of the Sejm ....
still managed to pass a resolution condemning the 1981 martial law (despite the SLD voting against). Meanwhile the left-wing OPZZ trade union had acquired 2.5 million members, twice as many as the contemporary Solidarity (with 1.3 million).
Solidarity Electoral Action
Solidarity Electoral Action was a political party coalition in Poland. Since 1997 its official name has been Akcja Wyborcza Solidarność Prawicy or Solidarity Electoral Action of the Right...
(Akcja Wyborcza Solidarność) was founded as a coalition of over 30 right-wing parties, uniting liberal
Neoliberalism
Neoliberalism is a market-driven approach to economic and social policy based on neoclassical theories of economics that emphasizes the efficiency of private enterprise, liberalized trade and relatively open markets, and therefore seeks to maximize the role of the private sector in determining the...
, conservative
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
and Christian-democratic forces. As the public became disillusioned with the SLD and its allies, AWS was victorious in the 1997 parliamentary elections
Polish parliamentary election, 1997
The Polish parliamentary election in 1997 to the Sejm and Senate of Poland was held on the 21 September. In the Sejm elections, 47.93% of citizens cast their votes, 96.12% of which were counted as valid...
. Jerzy Buzek
Jerzy Buzek
Jerzy Karol Buzek is a Polish engineer, academic lecturer and politician who was the ninth post-Cold War Prime Minister of Poland from 1997 to 2001...
became the new prime minister.
However, controversies over domestic reforms, Poland's 1999 entry into NATO, and the accession process to the European Union, combined with AWS fights with its political allies (the Freedom Union
Freedom Union (Poland)
The Freedom Union was a liberal democratic party in Poland. It was founded on March 20, 1994 out of the merger of the Democratic Union and the Liberal Democratic Congress . Both of these parties had roots in the Solidarity trade union movement. It represented European democratic and liberal...
—Unia Wolności) and infighting within AWS itself, as well as corruption
Political corruption
Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...
(reflected in the infamous "TKM
TKM
-Internationally Recognised:* tkm or tonne-kilometre is a unit of freight transportation quantity.* IOC Code of Turkmenistan-Country Specific:* Traditional Korean medicine, a range of traditional medical practices used in Korea that developed over thousands of years* Abbreviation of the title of...
" slogan), eventually resulted in the loss of much public support. AWS leader Marian Krzaklewski
Marian Krzaklewski
Marian Krzaklewski is a Polish politician. A member of Solidarity since the 1980s, he was one of the most known and influential Polish politicians in the late 1990s, when he created the Solidarity Electoral Action...
lost the 2000 presidential election
Polish presidential election, 2000
The 2000 Polish presidential election took place in Poland on 8 October 2000. Incumbent President Aleksander Kwaśniewski was easily re-elected in the first round after winning more than 50% of the votes.-Background:...
, and in the 2001 parliamentary elections
Polish parliamentary election, 2001
Polish parliamentary election in 2001 to Sejm and Senate of Poland were held on the 23rd September. In Sejm elections, 46.29% of citizens cast their votes, 96.01% of those were counted as valid...
AWS failed to elect a single deputy to the parliament. After this debacle, Krzaklewski was replaced by Janusz Śniadek
Janusz Sniadek
Janusz Śniadek is a Polish labor and political leader who was Chairman of Solidarity in the years 2002-2010.He studied in the department of shipbuilding of the Gdańsk University of Technology from 1975, and got a Master of Engineering in 1981. He worked then at the Stocznia Gdynia and joined the...
(in 2002) but the union decided to distance itself from politics.
In 2006, Solidarity had some 1.5 million members making it the largest trade union in Poland. Its mission statement
Mission statement
A mission statement is a statement of the purpose of a company or organization. The mission statement should guide the actions of the organization, spell out its overall goal, provide a path, and guide decision-making...
declares that Solidarity, "basing its activities on Christian ethics
Christian ethics
The first recorded meeting on the topic of Christian ethics, after Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, Great Commandment, and Great Commission , was the Council of Jerusalem , which is seen by most Christians as agreement that the New Covenant either abrogated or set aside at least some of the Old...
and Catholic social teachings, works to protect workers' interests and to fulfill their material, social and cultural aspirations."
External links
- Presentation The Solidarity Phenomenon (PLPolish languagePolish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
, ENEnglish languageEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, DEGerman languageGerman is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, FRFrench languageFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, ESSpanish languageSpanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, RURussian languageRussian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
) - Solidarity official English homepage
- Solidarity 25th Anniversary Press Center
- International Conference 'From Solidarity to Freedom'
- Poland: Solidarity – The Trade Union That Changed The World
- Advice for East German propagandists on how to deal with the Solidarity movement
- Solidarity, Freedom and Economical Crisis in Poland, 1980–81
- Arch Puddington, How American Unions Helps Solidarity Win
- Michael Bernhard, The Polish Opposition and the Technology of Resistance
- The Independent Press in Poland, 1976–1990 – this site of the Library of Congress contains a list of Polish abbreviations and their English translations; many of which were used in this article Solidarity Center Fundation – Fundacja Centrum Solidarności
- Silver Coin Marks the 30th Anniversary of Poland's Solidarity Movement