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Carsten Kaefert: Solidarnosc: Crafting a Free Society→Solidarnosc: Crafting a Free Society Page 2/12
Abstract
The names of the union Solidarność and its leader Lech Walesa are inseparably connected
in many people's minds. This paper will show how many much broader the movement that
brought Poland freedom was: It will give an overview into the rise of Solidarność from an
outlawed trade union and strike organizing body to one of the central pillars of Poland's
democratic development. A focus will be on the union's strategy of not mainly confronting the
Polish regime head on, but creating free spaces for the Polish society, thus undermining the
party's total grip and finally preparing the country's transition to democracy. Dealing with the
woes of the 1980s cold war, it is necessary to analyze western reactions to the events in Poland
as well. Being separated by the iron curtain and thus the western country closest to Poland, West
Germany played a special role in this. As an example, the coverage from West Germany's weekly
Central Eastern Europe during the 1980s always means omitting important, perhaps the most
important, actors and historical backgrounds, as the incidents within the Soviet Union, the
Warsaw Pact and the west influenced each other rather heavily. Nevertheless, a comprehensive
history of Eastern European liberation is by far out of the scope of this paper and could quite
likely fill whole libraries. However, some background has to be given and some actors to be
Carsten Kaefert: Solidarnosc: Crafting a Free Society→Solidarność – Starting a Revolution Page 3/12
–KOR: Polish acronym for Workers' Defense Committee. KOR was founded in 1976 in the
wake of workers rising against high prices to “sustain the drive to aid workers.”1 It was the fist
time the Polish activists went into the open, intending to gain more prominent support and
publicity. Its demands were “amnesty for arrested workers and reinstatement of those fired.”2 It
was a first try to organize society by itself.3 It provided services to workers mistreated by the
system and was able to attract the support of intellectuals. 4 It also attracted foreign support,
Suffering from the economic effects of the inadequate reaction to 1976's uprising, Poland
had amassed huge amounts of debt by 1980 and the PZPR was forced to announce price hikes by
July.6 Immediately strikes spread from Warsaw all over the country, which the regime tried to
suffocate by cutting local deals with workers.7 Wage hikes seemed to have done the trick by end
of July, when Anna Walentynowicz was fired from Lenin shipyard in Gdansk. Walentynowicz
had worked at the shipyard for almost thirty years and gained respect from her fellow workers by
advocating for them. She also functioned as a link between the workers and the political
opposition outside of the shipyard.8 Her firing was taken up as an issue worthwhile striking for
by free trade union activists, and they began motivating people at the shipyard to put down their
work, eventually seeking help from Lech Walesa.9 On the morning of August 14 the strike
1 Peter Ackermann, Jack Duvall, A Force More Powerful. A Century of Nonviolent Conflict (New York: Palgrave,
2000), 126.
2 Ibid.
3 Ibid. 127.
4 Cf. ibid.
5 Cf. ibid.
6 Cf. ibid. 134.
7 Cf. ibid. 135.
8 Cf. ibid. 136.
9 Cf. ibid. 138.
Carsten Kaefert: Solidarnosc: Crafting a Free Society→Solidarność – Starting a Revolution Page 4/12
actually began with people gathering peacefully on the shipyard's premises.10 With Walesa and
Walentynowicz joining the strike committee, the strikers gained considerable momentum and
extended their initial demands.11 They introduced a list of twenty-one demands that should gain
immense importance for the struggle of the Polish people for freedom and democracy:
Carsten Kaefert: Solidarnosc: Crafting a Free Society→Solidarność – Starting a Revolution Page 5/12
18)Introduction of maternity leave at full pay
19)Shorter wait periods for accomodation
20)Raise of extra pay for far commuters
21)Introduction of work-free Saturdays (all:12)
Soon, more shipyards and other enterprises joined the strike, spreading all over the region
in close to no time.13 Although the strike almost collapsed due to some urgent demands being
fulfilled, Walesa was able to keep it going by appealing to the worker's solidarity. 14 As the strike
spread, first along the Baltic coast, then deeper into the country, the regime had to react. After
assessing other options, it had to give in to the pressure and start negotiating directly with the
MKS.15 Deputy prime minister was sent to negotiate with Walesa and fellow strike instigators.16
The MKS was able to strike a quite favorable deal, although they had to trade in the right to
freely found independent trade unions all over Poland, this right was only granted for Gdansk.
Nevertheless, the strike was ended. MKS became the founding cell for the Gdansk/Gdynia
Despite having made a deal, Solidarność had to fight to get what it bargained for. As the
regime did not fulfill its commitments, “a rhythm of crisis, relaxation, and renewed crisis took
hold in Poland.”18 In the following sixteen months the strain on the Polish political system grew
from two sides: The Soviet regime in Moscow raised the pressure to quell the uppity union,19
Carsten Kaefert: Solidarnosc: Crafting a Free Society→Solidarność – Starting a Revolution Page 6/12
whilst the unions demands grew as well, more and more posing a risk to the PZPR's
predominance.20 Finally, by the end of November 1981, the government was given emergency
powers.21 Police, including special unit ZOMO, started crushing down on strikers. On December
12th Solidarność was effectively decapitated, thousands of its leaders were imprisoned. “State of
Changing Society
The activists from Solidarność and KOR were used to work in the open, protected by
international media coverage and Polands dependence on support from the west.23 That came to
an end with the announcement of the state of war. With the right (and possibility) to strike and
have rallies gone, they had to go back to a strategy which Jacek Kuron described already in the
seventies:
This created a parallel society in Poland, a society out of the party's control – but this is a
process that began way earlier. It started during the first half of the 1970s, following the 1970
protests, the trust in the parties competence and capacity to overcome economic hardship was
shattered.25 Further new elements of self-organization within the Polish society came to be in the
20 Cf. ibid. 161.
21 Cf. ibid. 162.
22 Cf. ibid. 163.
23 Cf. ibid. 130.
24 Ibid. 123, quoting: David Ost, Solidarity and the Politics of Anti-Politics: Opposition and Reform in Poland
since 1968 (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1990), 69
25 Cf. Grzegorz Bakuniak, Krzysztof Nowak, “The creation of a collective identity in a social movement. The case
the protests was creation of a common identity among workers.27 Ironically, class awareness of
workers is an important pillar of socialism, just that it was turned against the socialist
government in this case. This “us” created through shared experience among the workers was
only a beginning. It was defined negatively, the “us” being determined in opposition to “them”
(the regime).28 KOR was one step towards changing this,29 another one was the papal visit in
June 1979. Pope John Paul II was born in Poland as Karol Wojtyla and served as the archbishop
of Krakow before being appointed as pope. It helped creating the identity in two different ways.
Firstly it was a giant organizational challenge. Millions of people would attend a mass by the
Polish pope and the authorities would offer very little support to the event, as socialist
governments are by principle atheistic.30 The large event went smoothly without as much as a
uniform in sight, thus a “new order was created spontaneously by people taking part in the
celebrations just as the sphere of common experience and feeling was created spontaneously.”31
The second part of the pope's effect was the mission he gave to people by predicting that Poland's
future would “depend on how many people are mature enough to be nonconformists.”32 Now the
rift between the regime and the people was complete: The people had an identity, common
of 'Solidarność' in Poland,” Theory and Society 16, no. 3 (May 1987), 407.
26 Cf. ibid. 409.
27 Cf. ibid. 410.
28 Cf. ibid. 411.
29 Cf. ibid. 412.
30 Cf. ibid.
31 Ibid. 413.
32 Ackermann, A force... 132.
33 Cf. Bakuniak, The creation... 416.
Out of different nuclei in different parts of the country, a full-blown underground arose. 34 As this
and other tries for a centralized structure proved to be too susceptible to government
intervention, activists finally agreed to a decentralized, slower approach aiming at supporting all
those suffering from the crackdown.35 Underground press arose to circumvent censorship,
reaching a million readers by 1984, independent education was established through “Flying
Universities” and a new tool arose: boycott.36 Newly formed state-run unions were boycotted as
well as state media, which suffered a boycott from two sides: People would not consume it and
actors, writers or moderators not show up for work.37 The communist party lost control of the
society, although it seemingly had been successful in crushing Solidarność. The military regime
had to embrace its opponents, giving back liberties, releasing people from jail and overall
liberalizing the country.38 In 1988, further price hikes led to new strikes, which forced the regime
to the negotiation table, resulting in the first free elections and the end of autocracy in Poland.39
only German weekly political news magazine. The self-proclaimed “assault gun of democracy”40
has traditionally been left-leaning (“in doubt leftist,” founder and long time editor-in-chief
Rudolf Augstein is frequently quoted, although this has shifted towards a more neo-liberal stance
lately) and always has had a strong interest in Ostpolitik.41 Accordingly, Der Spiegel has had
34 Cf. Ackerman, A Force... 167.
35 Cf. ibid. 168.
36 Cf. ibid.
37 Cf. ibid. 168-169.
38 Cf. ibid. 169.
39 Cf. ibid. 171.
40 Rudolf Augstein, “Lieber Spiegel-Leser!” Der Spiegel, January 16, 1963, 14.
41 West German policies towards the east bloc, especially the GDR, with the long term aim of a German
Carsten Kaefert: Solidarnosc: Crafting a Free Society→Der Spiegel: The Class Enemy Covers SolidarnośćPage 9/12
tremendous influence on the public opinion about the situation in Poland and was an important
Coverage of Solidarność's rise in Der Spiegel begins on July 18 1980 with a detailed eight-
page title story on the initial strikes addressing the firing of Anna Walentynovicz and the meat
price spike. Already this early in the process, Der Spiegel documents the parallel structures by
naming the strikers and the factory officials “bargaining parties,” declaring this a “first in the
communist bloc.”42 It goes on by describing the economic struggles the country is in, saying that
its supposedly classless society had turned into one of “currency-havenots and dollar princes.”43
In November of that year the magazine publishes an article by the Polish human rights-
activist and KOR member Jan Walc, showing further support for the cause of Solidarność by
which “suck up all the systems dirt.”44 With dirt he means the regime's human rights violations –
and goes on describing that in the hands of Solidarność they can become “powerful weapons.”45
Offering Polish activists and intellectuals a platform continues to be a practice through the
eighties, thus making sure every single move of the regime is followed by a worldwide audience
– with the effects stated above. Among others, progressive ZK member Mieczyslaw Rakowski,46
reunification.
42 “Streiks in Polen – gegen die Partei,” Der Spiegel, August 18, 1980, 92.
43 Ibid. 93.
44 Jan Walc, “Staubsauger für den Schmutz des Systems,” Der Spiegel, November 24, 1980, 153.
45 Ibid.
46 Rakowski was interviewed on three occasions within the eighties altogether, with the following being the first
one: “Das war die schwerste Krise Polens,” Der Spiegel, September 8, 1980, 120.
47 “Freiheit kann ungeheuer stimulieren,” Der Spiegel, September 26, 1988, 168-169a.
48 Siegfried Kogelfranz, “Jetzt können wir alles erreichen,” Der Spiegel, September 8, 1980, 126.
Carsten Kaefert: Solidarnosc: Crafting a Free Society→Der Spiegel: The Class Enemy Covers SolidarnośćPage
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Michnik49 as well as Lech Walesa50 get to communicate their views on the Polish situation –
49 Adam Michnik, “Die letzte Chance,” Der Spiegel, December 29, 1980, 62.
50 “Wir müssen alle Fesseln lösen,” Der Spiegel, November 7, 1988, 174b-175.
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Bibliography
–Grzegorz Bakuniak, Krzysztof Nowak, “The creation of a collective identity in a social
movement. The case of 'Solidarność' in Poland,” Theory and Society 16, no. 3 (May 1987).
–Peter Ackermann, Jack Duvall, A Force More Powerful. A Century of Nonviolent Conflict