Solidarity [a labor union formed by Gdansk ship builders that transformed into a nationwide resistance movement] simply had to be created in the form of labor union. Especially since it emerged out of a strike – so that was self-understood. But in reality, this was a grand, national, anticommunist movement. And then we look at it from the distance of time, I think we did not think this through sufficiently, we had not analyzed this extraordinary phenomenon. And I also think that great, absolutely unprecedented historically – and not just in Polish history either – what was reborn was a spirit of republicanism of the Polish nation. And it was a great republican confederation of Polish people. And if we stop to think that Solidarity, if we add up the numbers of farmers, Solidarity, and the independent student union, which were organizations which collaborated very closely, albeit in different social circles, but they were components of the same broad movement, then this added up to over 10 million people in Poland.
So you have to realize that at the time those people who participated in the moment were taking on a great risk – no one realized what the ultimate outcome would be – no one knew whether or not the Soviets would eventually enter or not, whether or not there would be a massacre on the scale of Hungary in 1956 for instance [a nationwide revolt against the Soviet-backed government of Hungary that was brutally crushed by the Soviet Army]. The initial demands by the [striking] workers in August 1980 [at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk] were typical – they were economic in nature – but very soon they changed their nature quite dramatically. What followed were demands for freedom of speech, liberation of political prisoners, things which completely exceed the typical demands of a working class movement. The second phase of the strike at the shipyard, and in Poland more broadly, was one of solidarity with shipyard workers – after all, they had achieved everything that they asked for. So people went out on strike as a sign of solidarity with others – demanding things that were demanded in common with the others, they demanded free labor unions. What did that mean? It meant the first social institution with complete independence from the state, a breakthrough phenomenon.
After the Gdansk agreements were signed [negotiations between Lenin Shipyard workers and communist authorities that allowed for the formation of independent labor unions], other strikes also broke out in places where people laid off demands for some narrow, more particular issues. And each of them one-by-one gave up their strike, being convinced that this was not about their particular interests, but about a common interest. That is why it is impossible to squeeze the Solidarity movement into any modern ideological structure. Because for sure, it did make reference to the national tradition, to religion, but that is not enough to characterize it as far as an ideological nature.
Bronislaw Wildstein was born on June 11, 1952 in Olsztyn, Poland. His father was a military physician and his mother was a member of the anticommunist Home Army, a group created to oppose the Nazi occupation of Poland. Wildstein studied at Jagiellonian University from 1971 to 1980. In the early 1970s, Wildstein joined the Socialist Union of Polish Students, which began his career in the opposition movement. Joining with other students, he printed and distributed anticommunist leaflets, collected money for imprisoned workers, and drafted an appeal to release workers arrested in the antigovernment protests of 1976.
In 1977, Wildstein cofounded the Student Committee of Solidarity, an opposition group formed in response to the unsolved death of student activist Stanislaw Pyjas. Many students suspected Pyjas’ death was orchestrated by government agents. The Student Committee of Solidarity began printing and distributing anticommunist literature in secret. Wildstein’s clandestine printing even landed him in prison for a short time.
In 1980, Wildstein became involved in the Lenin Shipyard strike in Gdansk, a demonstration by workers that attracted national, popular support and forced the communists to the negotiate with the strikers. The Lenin Shipyard strike also resulted in the formation of Solidarity, the first independent labor union in the communist world that transformed into a nationwide freedom movement.
Prior to the Polish government’s declaration of martial law in 1981, which was a means to crackdown on political opposition, Wildstein had secured a passport and left Poland for Western Europe. During his time in the West, he served as an advocate for the freedom movement in Poland and established foreign contacts for Solidarity. While abroad, Wildstein also cofounded Kontakt, an anticommunist periodical, and worked for Radio Free Europe.
After the fall of communism in Poland, Wildstein returned to his country and worked as a journalist for several daily papers, including Zycie Warszawy and Rzeczpospolita. In 2005, Wildstein became entangled in the issue of transitional justice when he obtained and distributed a list (often referred to as “Wildstein’s List”) to fellow journalists containing both the names of collaborators and victims of the communist-era secret police.
Wildstein continues his work as a journalist in Poland.
Poland is a central European country bordered by the Baltic Sea, Belarus, Ukraine, Germany, Russia, Lithuania, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Poland has a population of 38 million people; nearly 90 percent are Roman Catholic.
Poles struggled against foreign dominance from the 14th century and the modern Polish state is less than one hundred years old. Polish borders expanded and contracted through a series of partitions in the 18th century. After a brief period of independence and parliamentary democracy from 1918 to 1939, World War II brought occupation by Nazi Germany and the near annihilation of the Jewish population. According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Poland’s Jewish population went from over 3 million in 1933 to 45,000 in 1950.
After the war, Poland became a Soviet satellite state and a communist system was imposed. Farms were collectivized, basic freedoms curtailed, and a culture of fear developed under a Stalinist regime. The 1960s brought greater prosperity and some liberalization. Labor protests in the early 1970s tested the communist government’s resolve and prompted modest reforms.
In 1978, Polish Archbishop and Cardinal Karol Wojtyla became Pope John Paul II, the first non-Italian to hold the position since the 16th century. The pope’s triumphant return to Poland in 1979 saw massive outpourings of public support, shaking the foundations of the government and inspiring the opposition to press for peaceful change.
In 1980, shipbuilders in the seaport city of Gdansk united to confront the government. Their calls for greater political liberties and improved working conditions developed into the Solidarity movement. Solidarity’s leader, Lech Walesa, became the movement’s voice. Protests and unrest spread throughout the country and the communists replaced their leadership. General Wojciech Jaruzelski became prime minister and declared martial law on December 13, 1981. Solidarity was outlawed and Walesa and other Solidarity leaders were imprisoned.
While martial law was lifted in 1983, Poland continued to stagnate. Mikhail Gorbachev’s elevation to leadership of the Soviet Communist Party in 1985 brought new pressures for reform in Poland. A failing economy and continued repression incited workers to a new wave of strikes in 1988. A desperate regime agreed to legalize Solidarity and conduct semi-free elections. In the 1989 parliamentary elections, Solidarity won 99 of the 100 Senate seats and 160 of the 161 lower house seats they were allowed to contest. Tadeusz Mazowiecki, a Solidarity leader, became Poland’s first non-communist prime minister in over four decades. In 1990, Lech Walesa was elected president with 74 percent of the vote. While Solidarity splintered as Poland democratized, a coalition government of anti-communist parties won fully free parliamentary elections in 1991.
Poland transitioned to a market economy and applied for integration into western institutions. Economic dislocation returned the former communists, now social democrats, to power in 1993. Free elections and peaceful transitions in the following decades solidified Poland’s multi-party democratic system. Reforms eventually led to a more robust economy and Poland joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1999 and the European Union in 2004.
In Freedom House’s Freedom in the World 2013, Poland earned the status “Free,” (as it has since 1990) receiving the best possible rankings in the categories Political Rights and Civil Liberties.
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