Solidarity
The union that brought down a system. The Gdańsk shipyard and the August agreements, Wałęsa, martial law, the underground press, and the round-table talks of 1989.
Part of Poland
11 moments in this segment.
- - Communist Consolidation. 1948. Polish Workers' Party absorbs the Socialists into the new Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR). Stalinist period begins. Will rule Poland for 41 years.
- - Poznań Protests. June 28-30, 1956. Workers at Poznań's Cegielski factory strike for bread and political freedom. ~100,000 demonstrators; security forces kill at least 57. The first major anti-communist uprising in the Eastern Bloc.
- - Polish October. October 1956. Władysław Gomułka returns to power after the Poznań protests. Brief liberalisation: Soviet troop limits, Catholic Church reopened, agricultural collectivisation halted. Most reforms reversed within a few years; Gomułka becomes increasingly conservative.
- - December 1970 Protests. December 14-22, 1970. Workers at Baltic shipyards (Gdańsk, Gdynia, Szczecin) strike against food-price hikes. Military fires on protesters; 45 killed in Gdynia alone. Brought down Gomułka; Edward Gierek became First Secretary.
- - Solidarność Founded. September 17, 1980. Solidarność founded in Gdańsk, first independent trade union in the Soviet bloc. Within a year: 10M members (1/3 of Poland's working-age population). The mass-democratic movement that would topple Polish communism.
- - Martial Law. December 13, 1981. General Jaruzelski declares martial law. Solidarność leaders interned, organisation banned. ~90 deaths. Martial law formally lifts July 1983; informal repression continues until 1989.
- - Lech Wałęsa Wins Nobel Peace Prize. October 5, 1983. Lech Wałęsa awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. His wife Danuta accepts in his place, he fears the communist government won't let him back in.
- - Murder of Father Popiełuszko. October 19, 1984. Father Jerzy Popiełuszko, Solidarność chaplain, murdered by Polish secret police (SB). 800,000 people attend his funeral. The defining martyrdom of the Solidarność era; canonised 2010.
- - Round Table Talks. February 6 - April 4, 1989. Government-Solidarność negotiations at the Round Table. Agreement: partially-free elections + legalisation of Solidarność. The first major negotiated transition out of communism in Europe.
- - June 4, 1989 Election. June 4, 1989. Solidarność wins 99 of 100 Senate seats and every contested Sejm seat. The same day Chinese tanks crushed Tiananmen Square. The single day on which European communism began to die.
- - Mazowiecki Government. August 24, 1989. Tadeusz Mazowiecki becomes Prime Minister, first non-communist head of government in the Soviet bloc since 1948. Begins the "shock therapy" Balcerowicz Plan.
