Difference between revisions of "Solidarity" - New World Encyclopedia
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| Independent Self-governing Trade Union "Solidarity" | |
| Niezależny Samorządny Związek Zawodowy "Solidarność" | |
| Founded | September, 1980 |
|---|---|
| Members | 1,185,000 (2006)[1] |
| Country | Poland |
| Affiliation | ICFTU, WCL, ETUC, TUAC |
| Office location | Gdańsk, Poland |
| Website | www.solidarnosc.org.pl (In English) |
Solidarity (Polish: Solidarność; full name: Independent Self-governing Trade Union "Solidarity" — Niezależny Samorządny Związek Zawodowy "Solidarność") is a Polish trade union federation founded in September 1980 at the Lenin Shipyards, and originally led by Lech Wałęsa. In the 1980s it constituted a broad anti-communist social movement. The government attempted to destroy the union with the martial law of 1981 and several years of repressions, but in the end it had to start negotiating with the union. In Poland, the Roundtable Talks between the weakened government and Solidarity-led opposition led to semi-free elections in 1989. By the end of August a Solidarity-led coalition government was formed and in December Wałęsa was elected president. Since 1989 Solidarity has become a more traditional trade union, and had relatively little impact on the political scene of Poland in the early 1990s. A political arm was founded in 1996 as Solidarity Electoral Action (AWS) won the Polish parliamentary election, 1997, but lost the following Polish parliamentary election, 2001. Currently Solidarity has little political influence in modern Polish politics.
The survival of Solidarity was an unprecedented event not only in Poland, a satellite state of the USSR ruled (in practice) by a one-party Communist regime, but the whole of the Eastern bloc. It meant a break in the hard-line stance of the communist Polish United Workers' Party, which had bloodily ended a 1970 protest with machine gun fire (killing dozens and injuring over 1,000), and the broader Soviet communist regime in the Eastern Bloc, which had quelled both the 1956 Hungarian Uprising and the 1968 Prague Spring with Soviet-led invasions. Solidarity's influence led to the intensification and spread of anti-communist ideals and movements throughout the countries of the Eastern Bloc, weakening their communist governments. The 1989 elections in Poland where anti-communist candidates won a striking victory sparked off a succession of peaceful anti-communist counterrevolutions in Central and Eastern Europe.[2] Solidarity's example was in various ways repeated by opposition groups throughout the Eastern Bloc, eventually leading to the Eastern Bloc's effectual dismantling, and contributing to the collapse of the Soviet Union, in the early 1990s.
History
Solidarity Citizens' Committee election poster by Tomasz Sarnecki
Solidarity began in September 1980 at the Lenin Shipyards, where Lech Wałęsa and others formed a broad anti-communist social movement ranging from people associated with the Catholic Church[2] to members of the anti-communist Left. Solidarity advocated nonviolence in its members' activities.[3] [4] The government attempted to destroy the union with the martial law of 1981 and several years of repressions, but in the end it had to start negotiating with the union. In Poland, the Roundtable Talks between the weakened government and Solidarity-led opposition led to semi-free elections in 1989. By the end of August a Solidarity-led coalition government was formed and in December Wałęsa was elected president. Since 1989 Solidarity has become a more traditional trade union, and had relatively little impact on the political scene of Poland in the early 1990s. A political arm founded in 1996 as Solidarity Electoral Action (AWS) won the parliamentary election in 1997, but lost the following 2001 election. Currently Solidarity has little political influence in modern Polish politics.
Influence abroad
The survival of Solidarity was an unprecedented event not only in Poland, a satellite state of the USSR ruled (in practice) by a one-party Communist regime, but the whole of the Eastern bloc. It meant a break in the hard-line stance of the communist Polish United Workers' Party, which had bloodily ended a 1970 protest with machine gun fire (killing dozens and injuring over 1,000), and the broader Soviet communist regime in the Eastern Bloc, which had quelled both the 1956 Hungarian Uprising and the 1968 Prague Spring with Soviet-led invasions. Solidarity's influence led to the intensification and spread of anti-communist ideals and movements throughout the countries of the Eastern Bloc, weakening their communist governments. The 1989 elections in Poland where anti-communist candidates won a striking victory sparked off a succession of peaceful anti-communist counterrevolutions in Central and Eastern Europe[2] known as Autumn of Nations (Jesień Ludów). Solidarity's example was in various ways repeated by opposition groups throughout the Eastern Bloc, eventually leading to the Eastern Bloc's effectual dismantling, and contributing to the collapse of the Soviet Union, in the early 1990s.
Organization
Currently, Solidarity has more than 1.1 million members. National Commission of Independent Self-Governing Trade Union is located in Gdańsk and is composed of Delegates from Regional General Congresses.
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See also
- Józef Tischner
- One Big Union
- Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
- Space of Freedom - Jean Michel Jarre's concert (Gdańsk, August 262005)
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- ↑ WHAT IS THE NSZZ SOLIDARNOSC ?. Solidarnosc.org. Retrieved 2006-07-06.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Steger, Manfred B (Jan 2004). Judging Nonviolence: The Dispute Between Realists and Idealists (ebook), Routledge (UK), p 114. ISBN 0-415-93397-8. Retrieved 2006-07-09.
- ↑ (Feb 1994) in Paul Wehr, Guy Burgess, Heidi Burgess: Justice Without Violence (ebook), Lynne Rienner Publishers, p 28. ISBN 1-55587-491-6. Retrieved 2006-07-06.
- ↑ Cavanaugh-O'Keefe, John (Jan 2001). Emmanuel, Solidarity: God's Act, Our Response (ebook), Xlibris Corporation, p 68. ISBN 0-7388-3864-0. Retrieved 2006-07-06.
External links
- Solidarity official English homepage
- Presentation The Solidarity Phenomenon
- Solidarity 25th Anniversairy Press Center
- International Conference 'From Solidarity to Freedom'
- Advice for East German propagandists on how to deal with the Solidarity movement
- The Birth of Solidarity on BBC
- Solidarity, Freedom and Economical Crisis in Poland, 1980-81
- The rise of Solidarnosc, Colin Barker, International Socialism, Issue: 108
- Arch Puddington, How American Unions Helps Solidarity Win
- (Polish) Solidarity Center Fundation - Fundacja Centrum Solidarności
Further reading
- Garton Ash, Timothy (2002). The Polish Revolution: Solidarity. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-09568-6.
- Eringer, Robert (1982). Strike for Freedom: The Story of Lech Walesa and Polish Solidarity. Dodd Mead. ISBN 0-396-08065-0.
- Kaminski, Marek M. (2004). Games Prisoners Play. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-11721-7.
- Kenney, Patrick (2003). A Carnival of Revolution : Central Europe 1989. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-11627-X.
- Kenney, Patrick (2006). The Burdens of Freedom. Zed Books Ltd.. ISBN 1-84277-662-2.
- Osa, Maryjane (2003). Solidarity and Contention: Networks of Polish Opposition. University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 0-8166-3874-8.
- Ost, David (2005). The Defeat Of Solidarity: Anger and Politics in Postcommunist Europe (ebook), Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-8014-4318-0.
- Penn, Shana (2005). Solidarity's Secret : The Women Who Defeated Communism in Poland. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-472-11385-2.
- Perdue, William D. (1995). Paradox of Change: The Rise and Fall of Solidarity in the New Poland. Praeger/Greenwood. ISBN 0-275-95295-9.
- Pope John Paul II, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, on Vatican website
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