Solidarity, Poland

An independent trade union and national liberation movement created in Poland in 1980 and 1981. With the end of communism it was transformed first into a political party and later into a conventional trade union. In the summer of 1980, the Polish communist authorities introduced drastic increases in prices to counter economic regression. In reaction, strikes and demonstrations were organized throughout Poland. At the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk, approximately 17,000 workers joined the strike and insisted on the fulfillment of “21 Demands.” These included not only socioeconomic but also civic-political proclamations, such as (a) legal guarantees of the right to strike, (b) commemoration of victims of the 1970 coastal riots, (c) establishment of independent trade unions, (d) amnesty for political prisoners, and the (e) reinstatement of a dismissed worker, Anna Walentynowicz. In contrast with the street demonstrations of the 1970s, the workers in Gdansk organized sit-ins at their work places, which made it difficult for the military to intervene.

In August 1980, the workers of Gdansk formed an Interfactory Strike Committee and appointed Lech Wałęsa as its leader. They also gained advisory assistance from groups of dissident intellectuals. The committee conducted successful negotiations with the government's representatives, which were concluded with the Gdansk Agreements on August 31, 1980. The Gdansk Agreements formed the foundations of a “new social contract” in which the communist state granted autonomy to an independent trade union, and the workers acknowledged the formal authority of the party. The Independent Self-Governing Trade Unions' “Solidarność” (Solidarity) was officially formed on September 22, 1980. Solidarity became a decentralized and democratically ruled organization of loosely connected committees with Wałęsa as the leader. Within a short time, Solidarity acquired 9.5 million members. It included not only workers, but also the intelligentsia and student groups, as well as peasant farmers who in December 1980 formed Rural Solidarity. According to Timothy G. Ash, Solidarity presented an eclectic discourse of socialist, liberal individual, [Page 1321]and national-religious arguments. It developed into an unprecedented political hybrid of a trade union, a political party, and a liberation and protest movement.

The initial period of Solidarity was described by some commentators as “self-limiting.” This implied the deliberate imposition of boundaries on the movement's aspirations, actions, and prerogatives by its leadership. The reasons for the self-limiting doctrine of Solidarity were (a) the possibility of Soviet military intervention; (b) the unpredictability of the Polish communist authorities, which were at the same time accommodative of and hostile toward the movement; as well as (c) the moderating influence of the Catholic Church and of the dissident intellectuals.

In March 1981 in the city of Bydgoszcz, police intervened during demonstrations demanding recognition of a rural branch of Solidarity. That sparked a wave of strikes and unrest across the country, but Wałęsa prevented the escalation of strikes against the will of many Solidarity leaders. Subsequently, Solidarity seems to have lost its dynamic momentum. Conflicts and divisions within the movement deepened, as well as the tensions between the movement and the government, which culminated in the breakdown of talks in August 1981. At the same time, Solidarity transgressed boundaries of the self-limiting doctrine as it was increasing pressure on the government to extend the movement's prerogatives. In turn, the government sought Solidarity's assistance in gaining public acceptance for its economic policies.

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