Socials+Project

Notes: Sometimes Copied do __not__ use word for word

Solidarity Movement: -against communists wanted right to form [independant, self governing trade unions = Solidarity] -Poland -Solidarity movement Formed in September 1980 Led by Lech Walesa Non-violence Republican program (self governing)

-Martial Law Formed 1981[December 13, 1981 to July 22, 1983] formed to stop Solidarity movement Pro-[|democracy] movements such as [|Solidarity] and other, smaller organisations were banned and their leaders, including [|Lech Wałęsa], detained overnight Thousands of tanks + soldiers patrolled streets country borders closed curfew airports closed, roads restricted school classes suspended telephones disconnected indemendant organizations made illegal mail subject to postal censorship several dozen killed (>90) media, transportation and factories placed under military management (employees had to obey orders or they had to get tried by a court martial)

-Solidarity movement won 1989 solidarity led government Tadeusz Mazowiecki was elected Prime Minister Lech Walesa presedent of poland 1990 turned into more traditional "liberal" trade union now has > 1 100 000 (1.1 million)

Cause: -wwII -> 22% dead + many more fled people relocated in places where germans had been unemployment + food shortages (poor) -Poland is Catholic -food shortage got worse in 1970s livestock guarded -bad harvest 1979 plunged country into crisis

-gierek -martial law -Gdansk Agreement 1980 - >10 000 000

Below is books. DO NOT COPY!! Just read and take notes from them. Bibliography info included

One summer, in June, Solidarity demonstrators marched through the streets of Warsaw in support of the Gdańsk shipyard workers and in protest against a government that arrogantly refused to meet with union representatives. Some vandalism occurred during the protest as red paint was thrown on government buildings. In response, the government refused absolutely to talk with people who could perpetrate such acts of disrespect against the state. The year of this demonstration was, however, not 1979 or 1980, but 1996, and the government in question, while headed by the communist successor party, was now a democratically elected one. At the time, this government stood on the verge of closing down the Gdańsk shipyards, the birthplace of Solidarity, as the cost of subsidizing these and other unprofitable enterprises still in state hands was mounting. So the June demonstrators were marching for jobs and a secure work place, not for freedom and an independent trade union. As the environment has changed since 1989, so too has Solidarity. Once an all-encompassing opposition movement, with a broad membership base reaching throughout Polish society, Solidarity has been reduced to a pure trade union organization with a declining membership limited mainly to the large, obsolete Leninist enterprises. Moreover, Solidarity has faced stiff competition from other trade unions seeking to represent workers’ interests in the new conditions of a marketizing economy. It would accordingly be natural to conclude that, after the events of 1989, Solidarity has served its purpose as a vehicle of protest against the communist party-state, and has become a casualty of the necessary and desired transformation of Poland into a liberal capitalist country. In this context, a new study of the movement might not be necessary or warranted. Such a conclusion would, however, be premature. In spite of the movement’s decline, the relationship between Solidarity and democracy remains one of the pivotal aspects of the post-communist transition in Poland. 1 For if democracy, as a set of ideas and institutions, is to be the outcome of the processes under way in Poland, then Solidarity will have been the means to that end. In the three phases of Solidarity’s existence from social movement to underground resistance to elected political leader- || First published 1997by Routledge11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canadaby Routledge29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 © 1997 Arista Maria Cirtautas “Why” from //Facing the River// by Czesław Miłosz. Copyright c. 1995 byCzesław Miłosz. First published by The Ecco Press in 1995. Reprintedby permission of The Ecco Press. Typeset in Times by Routledge Printed and bound in Great Britain byT. J. International Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in anyinformation storage or retrieval system, without permission inwriting from the publishers. //British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data//A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library //Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data// Cirtautas, Arista Maria. The Polish solidarity movement: revolution, democracy and natural rights/Arista Maria Cirtautas. p. cm.—(Routledge studies of societies in transition) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. civil rights—Poland. 2. Natural law. 3. Democracy—Poland. 4. NSZZ “Solidarność” (Labour organiszation) 5. Poland— Politics and government—1980-1989. I. Title. II. Series.JC599.P6C57 1996340’ .112-dc21 97-5239 CIP ISBN 0-415-16940-2 Arista Maria Cirtautas -
 * || Preface

Solidarity
|| [|Poland Table of Contents]The breakthrough in ending the political monopoly of the PZPR came in 1980 with the emergence of the Interfactory Strike Committee, which rapidly evolved into the Solidarity mass movement of some 10 million Poles. Guided by Lech Walesa, the Interfactory Strike Committee won historic concessions from the communists in the Gdansk Agreement of August 31, 1980. The PZPR granted recognition of the basic right of workers to establish free trade unions, but in return the strike committee agreed not to function as a political party. The workers promised to abide by the constitution and conceded the leading role in state affairs to the PZPR. Despite the pledges of the Gdansk Agreement, Solidarity did not remain simply a trade union movement. It rapidly changed into an umbrella organization under which a broad range of political and social groups united in opposition to the communist regime. At Solidarity's first national congress in the fall of 1981, the political nature of the movement became explicit. The congress adopted a program calling for an active Solidarity role in reforming Poland's political and economic systems. In the following months, outspoken radicals urged their leaders to confront the communist authorities, to demand free elections, and to call for a national referendum to replace the communist government. The radical challenge precipitated the imposition of martial law on December 13, 1981. Solidarity, now illegal, was forced underground until the late 1980s. Within six months after the start of the Round Table talks in February 1989, Solidarity not only had regained its legal status as a trade union, but also had become an effective political movement that installed Eastern Europe's first postcommunist government. During its underground phase, Solidarity lost much of its original cohesion as tactical and philosophical disagreements split the movement into factions. The radical elements, convinced that an evolutionary approach to democratization was impossible, created the organization Fighting Solidarity in 1982. Ultimately, however, Walesa's moderate faction prevailed. Favoring negotiation and compromise with the PZPR, the moderates created the Citizens' Committee, which represented Solidarity at the talks in 1989 and engineered the overwhelming election triumph of June 1989. Led by Bronislaw Geremek, a prominent intellectual, the newly elected Solidarity deputies in parliament formed the Citizens' Parliamentary Club to coordinate legislative efforts and advance the Solidarity agenda. The stunning defeat of the PZPR in the June 1989 parliamentary elections removed Solidarity's most important unifying force--the common enemy. By the time of the local elections of May 1990, Solidarity had splintered, and a remarkable number of small parties had appeared. Because any individual with fifteen nominating signatures could be placed on the ballot, an astounding 1,140 groups and "parties" registered for the elections. In the local elections, the new groups' lack of organization and national experience caused them to fare poorly against the Solidarity-backed citizens' committees that sponsored about one-third of the candidates running for local office. Despite the success of the Solidarity candidates in the local elections, serious divisions soon emerged within the Citizens' Parliamentary Club concerning the appropriateness of political parties at so early a stage in Poland's democratic experiment. The intellectuals who dominated the parliamentary club insisted that the proliferation of political parties would derail efforts to build a Western-style civil society. But deputies on the right of the political spectrum, feeling excluded from important policy decisions by the intellectuals, advocated rapid formation of strong alternative parties. ||

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 * Publication Information:** Book Title: The Polish Solidarity Movement: Revolution, Democracy and Natural Rights. Contributors: Arista Maria Cirtautas - author. Publisher: Routledge. Place of Publication: London. Publication Year:

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