Poland and Solidarity

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Pro-Communist Coalition
At the insistence of Joseph Stalin, the Yalta
Conference sanctioned the formation of a new
Polish provisional and pro-Communist
coalition government in Moscow, which
ignored the Polish government-in-exile based
in London; a move which angered many Poles
who considered it a betrayal by the Allies.

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Poland's sovereignty
In 1944, Stalin had made guarantees to
Churchill and Roosevelt that he would
maintain Poland's sovereignty and allow
democratic elections to take place; however,
upon achieving victory in 1945, the occupying
Soviet authorities organized an election which
constituted nothing more than a sham and
was ultimately used to claim the 'legitimacy'
of Soviet hegemony over Polish affairs.
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Communist Government
The Soviet Union instituted a new communist
government in Poland, analogous too much of
the rest of the Eastern Bloc. As elsewhere in
Communist Europe the Soviet occupation of
Poland met with armed resistance from the
outset which continued into the fifties.

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The People's Republic of Poland

The People's Republic of Poland was officially
proclaimed in 1952. In 1956 after the death of
Bolesaw Bierut, the regime of Wadysaw
Gomuka became temporarily more liberal,
freeing many people from prison and
expanding some personal freedoms.

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Anti-communist Opposition
A similar situation repeated itself in the 1970s
under Edward Gierek, but most of the time
persecution of anti-communist opposition
groups persisted. Despite this, Poland was at
the time considered to be one of the least
repressive states of the Soviet Bloc.

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Independent Trade Union

Labour turmoil in 1980 led to the formation of
the independent trade union "Solidarity"
("Solidarnod"), which over time became a
political force. Despite persecution and
imposition of martial law in 1981, it eroded
the dominance of the Communist Party and
by 1989 had triumphed in Poland's first
partially free and democratic parliamentary
elections since the end of the Second World
War.
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Social Movement
In the 1980s, Solidarity was a broad antibureaucratic social movement, using the
methods of civil resistance to advance the
causes of workers' rights and social change.
The government attempted to destroy the
union during the period of martial law in the
early 1980s and several years of political
repression, but in the end it was forced to
negotiate with the union.
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Round Table Talks

The Round Table Talks between the
government and the 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
1990 Wasa was elected President of Poland.
Since then it has become a more traditional,
liberal trade union. 30 years after emerging its
membership dropped to over 400,000.
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Solidarity
The Solidarity movement heralded the
collapse of communist regimes and parties
across Europe. Poland joined NATO in 1999
and since 2004 has been a member of the
European Union.

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Sources
Compiled by Violeta Fonseca from various sources (Tuesday, 10 February
2015)

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