Solidarity (Polish trade union)
This article needs to be updated.(November 2020) |
Independent Self-Governing Trade Union "Solidarity" | |
Niezależny Samorządny Związek Zawodowy „Solidarność” | |
TUAC | |
Website | Solidarnosc.org.pl (in English) |
---|
Solidarity (Polish: „Solidarność”, pronounced [sɔliˈdarnɔɕt͡ɕ] ), full name Independent Self-Governing Trade Union "Solidarity"[4] (Niezależny Samorządny Związek Zawodowy „Solidarność”, abbreviated NSZZ „Solidarność” [ɲɛzaˈlɛʐnɨ samɔˈʐɔndnɨ ˈzvjɔ̃zɛɡ‿zavɔˈdɔvɨ sɔliˈdarnɔɕt͡ɕ]), is a Polish trade union founded in August 1980 at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland.[1] Subsequently, it was the first independent trade union in a Warsaw Pact country to be recognised by the state.[5]
The union's membership peaked at 10 million in September 1981,[2][3] representing one-third of the country's working-age population.[6] In 1983 Solidarity's leader Lech Wałęsa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and the union is widely recognized as having played a central role in the end of communist rule in Poland.
In the 1980s, Solidarity was a broad anti-authoritarian social movement, using methods of civil resistance to advance the causes of workers' rights and social change.[7] The Government attempted in the early 1980s to destroy the union through the imposition of martial law in Poland and the use of political repressions.
Operating underground, with substantial financial support from the Vatican and the United States,[8] the union survived and by the later 1980s had entered into negotiations with the government.
The 1989
Following Poland's transition to liberal capitalism in the 1990s and the extensive privatization of state assets, Solidarity's membership declined substantially. By 2010, 30 years after its founding, the union had lost more than 90% of its original membership.
History
In the 1970s Poland's government raised food prices while wages were stagnant. This and other stresses led to protests in 1976 and a subsequent government crackdown on dissent. The KOR, the ROPCIO and other groups began to form underground networks to monitor and oppose the government's behaviour. Labour unions formed an important part of this network.[9] In 1979, the Polish economy shrank for the first time since World War II, by two percent. Foreign debt reached around $18 billion by 1980.[10]
Anna Walentynowicz was fired from the Gdańsk Shipyard on 7 August 1980, five months before she was due to retire, for participation in the illegal trade union. This management decision enraged the workers of the shipyard, who staged a strike action on 14 August defending Walentynowicz and demanding her return. She and Alina Pienkowska transformed a strike over bread and butter issues into a solidarity strike in sympathy with strikes on other establishments.
Solidarity emerged on 31 August 1980 at the Gdańsk Shipyard when the Communist government of Poland signed the agreement allowing for its existence. On 17 September 1980, over twenty Inter-factory Founding Committees of independent trade unions merged at the congress into one national organisation, NSZZ Solidarity.[6] It officially registered on 10 November 1980.[11]
Support from the United States and the European Bloc
In the year leading up to martial law,
The Polish government enacted martial law in December 1981, however, Solidarity was not alerted. Potential explanations for this vary; some believe that the CIA was caught off guard, while others suggest that American policy-makers viewed an internal crackdown as preferable to an "inevitable Soviet intervention."[22] CIA support for Solidarity included money, equipment and training, which was coordinated by Special Operations.[23] Henry Hyde, U.S. House intelligence committee member, stated that the USA provided "supplies and technical assistance in terms of clandestine newspapers, broadcasting, propaganda, money, organizational help and advice".[24]
Relations with the Catholic Church
In 2017, Solidarity backed a proposal to implement
Lech Wałęsa has said that Pope John Paul II, and more specifically, his 1979 visit to Poland, was a significant factor in the creation of Solidarity.[30] As John Paul II was a Poland native, he was a figure that the citizens in Poland could identify with personally, but was beyond the reach of the Communist regime. For his actions regarding Poland and Solidarity during his pontificate, he has been named by many world leaders, including Wałęsa himself, to be one of the main causes of the downfall of not just the Polish regime, but Communism as a whole in Europe.[31]
Secular philosophical underpinnings
Although Leszek Kołakowski's works were officially banned in Poland, and he lived outside the country from the late 1960s, his philosophical ideas nonetheless exerted an influence on the Solidarity movement. Underground copies of his books and essays shaped the opinions of the Polish intellectual opposition. His 1971 essay Theses on Hope and Hopelessness, which suggested that self-organised social groups could gradually expand the spheres of civil society in a totalitarian state, helped inspire the dissident movements of the 1970s that led to the creation of Solidarity and provided a philosophical underpinning for the movement.
According to Kołakowski, a proletarian revolution has never occurred anywhere, as the October Revolution in Russia had nothing to do with Marxism in his view because it was achieved under the "Peace, Land and Bread" slogan. For Kołakowski, Solidarity was "perhaps closest to the working class revolution" that Karl Marx had predicted in the mid-1800s, involving "the revolutionary movement of industrial workers (very strongly supported by the intelligentsia) against the exploiters, that is to say, the state. And this solitary example of a working class revolution (if even this may be counted) was directed against a socialist state, and carried out under the sign of the cross, with the blessing of the Pope."[32]
Influence abroad
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. As a result of the Round Table Agreement between the Polish government and the Solidarity-led opposition, elections were held in Poland on 4 June 1989, in which the opposition was allowed to field candidates against the Communist party—the first free elections in any Soviet bloc country. A new upper chamber (the Senate) was created in the Polish parliament and all of its 100 seats were contestable in the election, as well as one-third of the seats in the more important lower chamber (the Sejm). Solidarity won 99 of the 100 Senate seats and all 161 contestable seats in the Sejm—a victory that also triggered a chain reaction across the Soviet Union's satellite states, leading to a mostly bloodless chain of anti-communist events in Central and Eastern Europe[12] known as the Revolutions of 1989 (Polish: Jesień Ludów, lit. 'Autumn of Nations'), which ended in the overthrow of each Moscow-imposed regime, and ultimately to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.
Given the union's support from many western governments, relations with trade unions in capitalist countries could be complicated. For example, during the
During the late 1980s, Solidarity had attempted to establish connections with the internal resistance to apartheid in South Africa. However, according to Wałęsa, attempts to develop links between the two forces were hampered by their geographical distance, the dearth of media coverage of events outside Poland's borders and especially in South Africa. As a result, relatively little engagement took place between the two groups.[35]
In late 2008, several democratic opposition groups in the Russian Federation formed a Solidarity movement.[36]
In the United States, the
In a 2011 essay "The Jacobin Spirit" in the American magazine Jacobin, philosopher Slavoj Žižek called Solidarność' one of the "free spaces at a distance from state power" that used "defensive violence" to protect itself from state control. The notion of "defensive violence" runs in the vein of ideas postulated by Alain Badiou.[38]
Organization
The union was officially founded on 17 September 1980,[1] the union's supreme powers were vested in a legislative body, the Convention of Delegates (Zjazd Delegatów). The executive branch was the National Coordinating Commission (Krajowa Komisja Porozumiewawcza), later renamed the National Commission (Komisja Krajowa). The Union had a regional structure, comprising 38 regions (region) and two districts (okręg). At its highest, the Union had over 10 million members, which became the largest union membership in the world. During the Communist era, the 38 regional delegates were arrested and jailed when martial law came into effect on 13 December 1981 under General Wojciech Jaruzelski. After a one-year prison term the high-ranking members of the union were offered one way trips to any country accepting them (including Canada, the United States, and nations in the Middle East).
Solidarity was organized as an
In 2010, Solidarity had more than 400,000 members.[2] National Commission of Independent Self-Governing Trade Union is located in Gdańsk and is composed of Delegates from Regional General Congresses.
Regional structure
Solidarity is divided into 37 regions, and the territorial structure to a large degree reflects the shape of Polish voivodeships, established in 1975 and annulled in 1998 (see:
- Gdańsk, based in Gdańsk
- Warmia-Masuria, based in Olsztyn
- Elbląg, based in Elbląg
- Lower Silesia, based in Wrocław
- Pila, based in Piła
- Western Pomerania, based in Szczecin
- Land of Łódź, based in Łódź
- Częstochowa, based in Częstochowa
- Land of Sandomierz, based in Stalowa Wola
- Płock-Kutno, based in Płock
- Lesser Poland, based in Kraków
- Opole Silesia, based in Opole
- Seashore, based in Koszalin
- Słupsk, based in Słupsk
- Zielona Góra, based in Zielona Góra
- Podbeskidzie, based in Bielsko-Biała
- Konin, based in Konin
- Southern Greater Poland, based in Kalisz
- Podlachia, based in Białystok
- Piotrków, based in Piotrków Trybunalski
- Cuiavia and Dobrzyń Land, based in Włocławek
- Carpathia, based in Krosno
- Land of Rzeszów, based in Rzeszów
- Toruń, based in Toruń
- Silesia-Zaglebie, based in Katowice
- Land of Radom, based in Radom
- Greater Poland, based in Poznań
- Gorzów, based in Gorzów Wielkopolski
- Holy Cross, based in Kielce
- Middle-East, based in Lublin
- Bydgoszcz, based in Bydgoszcz
- Jelenia Góra, based in Jelenia Góra
- Leszno, based in Leszno
- Chełm, based in Chełm
- Przemyśl-Jarosław, based in Przemyśl
- Mazovia, based in Warsaw
- Copper Basin, based in Legnica
Network of key factories
The network of Solidarity branches of the key factories of Poland was created on 14 April 1981 in Gdańsk. It was made of representatives of seventeen factories; each stood for the most important factory of
Voivodeship | Represented by |
---|---|
Gdańsk | Vladimir Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk |
Szczecin | Szczecin Shipyard |
Poznań | H. Cegielski - Poznań S.A.
|
Bydgoszcz | Rail Vehicles Repair Shop
|
Zielona Góra
|
Rolling Stock and Steel Works Zastal in Zielona Góra |
Katowice | Wujek Coal Mine in Katowice |
The Spare Parts Factory Zgoda in Świętochłowice | |
Koszalin | No representative |
Kraków | Vladimir Lenin Steelworks in Nowa Huta |
Wrocław
|
Rail Carriage Factory Pafawag in Wrocław |
Rzeszów | Factory of Communication Equipment WSK in Rzeszów |
Białystok | Cotton Works Fasty in Białystok |
Kielce | Ball Bearings Factory Iskra in Kielce |
Olsztyn | Tire Company Stomil in Olsztyn |
Lublin | Factory of Communication Equipment PZL in Świdnik |
Łódź | Julian Marchlewski Cotton Works in Łódź |
Warsaw
|
Ursus Factory in Warsaw
|
Opole | Malapanew Steelworks in Ozimek |
Chairmen
- Lech Wałęsa (1980–1991)
- Marian Krzaklewski (1991–2002)
- Janusz Śniadek (2002–2010)
- Piotr Duda (2010–present)
See also
Eastern Bloc |
---|
- 1981 warning strike in Poland
- 1988 Polish strikes
- 31 August 1982 demonstrations in Poland
- 80 Million
- Conference of Solidarity Support Organizations
- European Solidarity Centre
- Fighting Solidarity
- Hungarian Solidarity Movement
- Jastrzębie-Zdrój 1980 strikes
- Lublin 1980 strikes
- Polish 1970 protests
- Summer 1981 hunger demonstrations in Poland
References
- ^ a b c Guardian newspaper report Retrieved 22 June 2009
- ^ a b c (in Polish) 30 lat po Sierpniu'80: "Solidarność zakładnikiem własnej historii" Archived 29 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on 7 June 2011
- ^ a b (in Polish) Duda za Śniadka? by Maciej Sandecki and Marek Wąs, Gazeta Wyborcza of 24 August 2010
- ^ Solidarity at the Encyclopædia Britannica
- S2CID 155049801.
- ^ a b (in Polish) "Solidarność" a systemowe przekształcenia Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej Archived 7 August 2013 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on 7 June 2011
- ISBN 978-0-19-955201-6, pp. 127–43.
- ^ Tony Judt (2005). Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945. The Penguin Press. p. 589.
- ISBN 0-520-05243-9.
- ISBN 978-963-7326-96-7.
- ^ a b (in Polish) Solidarność, wielopłaszczyznowy ruch na rzecz demokratyzacji i głębokich reform ustrojowych PRL Retrieved on 7 June 2011
- ^ ISBN 0-415-93397-8. Retrieved 9 July 2006.
- ^ Boduszyński, Mieczysław; Carpenter, Michael (1 August 2017). "How Polish populism explains the surge of Trump and nationalism". The Hill.
- ISBN 1-55587-491-6. Retrieved 6 July 2006.
- ]
- JSTOR 41274953.
- ISBN 9781929667062. Archived from the original on 13 June 2007. Retrieved 10 June 2019.)
{{cite book}}
:|website=
ignored (help - ISBN 978-90-04-17361-3.
- S2CID 57563775.
- .
- ^ Domber, Gregory F. (28 August 2014), What Putin Misunderstands about American Power, University of California Press Blog, University of North Carolina Press
- ^ MacEachin, Douglas J. "US Intelligence and the Polish Crisis 1980–1981." CIA. 28 June 2008.
- ^ Cover Story: The Holy Alliance By Carl Bernstein, TIME, February 24, 1992
- ISBN 978-1-4331-0531-9.
- ^ "Polish bishops back Sunday trading ban". BBC News. 23 August 2017.
- ^ Gera, Vanessa (11 March 2018). "Most Stores Shut in Poland as Sunday Trade Ban Takes Effect". U.S. News & World Report. Associated Press.
- ^ Gera, Vanessa (11 March 2018). "Stores shut across Poland as Sunday shopping ban takes effect". Global News. Associated Press.
- ^ "Sunday trading ban comes into effect in Poland". RTÉ News. 11 March 2018.
- ^ "Stores closed as Poland phases out Sunday shopping". Polskie Radio dla Zagranicy. 11 March 2018.
- ISBN 978-0-297-85075-5.
- ^ "The first world leader". The Guardian. 4 April 2005. Retrieved 4 November 2013.
- ^ Leszek Kołakowski. What Is Left of Socialism. First Things, October 2002
- ^ "Workers unite, east and west!". Workers' Liberty. Alliance for Workers' Liberty. 8 October 2009. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
- ^ McKinlay, John (8 September 1983). "Scargill angers unions with Solidarity attack". The Glasgow Herald. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
- S2CID 247510454. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
- ^ Kasparov starts new Russian opposition movement. The Associated Press. 13 December 2008. [dead link]
- ^ Gehrz, Chris (16 August 2016). "Could the U.S. Finally Get a Significant Christian Democratic Party?". Patheos. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
The nominees of the American Solidarity Party (ASP), which takes its name from the Polish movement of the late Cold War and calls itself "the only active Christian Democratic party in the United States."
- ^ "The Jacobin Spirit".
- ^ (in Polish) Solidarność NSZZ in WIEM Encyklopedia. Last accessed on 10 October 2006 Archived 18 November 2006 at the Wayback Machine
Further reading
- Barker, Colin (1986). Festival of the Oppressed: Solidarity, Reform and Revolution in Poland 1980–81. Bookmarks. ISBN 978-0906224274.
- Barker, Colin. "The Rise of Solidarnosc" International Socialism 108 (2005).
- Domber, Gregory G. (2016). Empowering Revolution: America, Poland, and the End of the Cold War. Dodd Mead. ISBN 978-1469629810.
- ISBN 0-396-08065-0.
- Goddeeris, Idesbald (2002). The Polish Revolution: Solidarity. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-09568-6.
- ISBN 978-0739150719.
- Kaminski, Marek M. (2004). Games Prisoners Play. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-11721-7. Archived from the originalon 4 November 2015. Retrieved 19 August 2006.
- 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.
- Kubik, Jan (1994). The Power of Symbols Against the Symbols of Power: The rise of Solidarity and the fall of state socialism in Poland. The Pennsylvania State University. ISBN 0-271-01084-3.
- Ledger, Robert. "From Solidarity to 'Shock Therapy'. British Foreign Policy Towards Poland Under the Thatcher Government, 1980–1990." Contemporary British History 30#1 (2016): 99–118.
- Matynia, Elzbieta (2009). Performative Democracy. Paradigm. ISBN 978-1594516566.
- 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.
- Paczkowski, Andrzej. Revolution and Counterrevolution in Poland, 1980-1989: Solidarity, Martial Law, and the End of Communism in Europe (Boydell & Brewer, 2015).
- 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
- Shaw, Tamsin, "Ethical Espionage" (review of Calder Walton, Spies: The Epic Intelligence War Between East and West, Simon and Schuster, 2023, 672 pp.; and Soviet-Afghan War (a disastrous military fiasco for the Soviets) and perhaps support for the anti-Soviet Solidarity movement in Poland." (p. 34.)
- Staniszkis, Jadwiga (1984). Poland's Self-Limiting Revolution. Princeton University Press.
- Smolar, Aleksander, "'Self-limiting Revolution': Poland 1970–89", in ISBN 978-0-19-955201-6.[2].
- Szporer, Michael (2014). Solidarity: The Great Workers Strike of 1980. Lexington Books. ISBN 978-0739192801.
- ISBN 0-19-516664-7.
External links
- Official website
- Presentation on The Solidarity Phenomenon
- FAES The Polish trade Union Solidarity and the European idea of freedom
- Solidarity 25th Anniversary Press Center
- Who is Anna Walentynowicz?, a documentary film about Solidarity
- Katherine Kenning collection of Joanna Wojciechowicz papers, MSS 8081 at L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Brigham Young University. Contains materials about Wojciechowicz's participation in the Solidarity movement.
- 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
- Solidarność collection at the Libertarian Communist library
- Solidarność from Gdańsk to Military Repression by Colin Barker and Kara Weber (1982)
- Arch Puddington, How American Unions Helps Solidarity Win
- Motion for a resolution, the European Parliament on the 25th anniversary of Solidarity and its message for Europe
- Solidarity Lost, by Daniel Singer
- (In Polish) Solidarity Center Foundation – Fundacja Centrum Solidarności
- A Simple Way to Learn an Old Song A radio programme about the song "Mury", the anthem of Solidarność. In Russian with English transcript
- The Solidarity Movement: Anti-Communist, Or Most Communist Thing Ever? on Culture.pl