COLLAPSE OF COMMUNIST REGIME IN POLAND

Our Way to Freedom: from totalitarian regime to

democracy

Topic 5:

The events leading to the collapse of the communist

regime in Poland

The emergence of the Workers’ Defence Committee (1974)

The foundation of KOR (the Workers’ Defence Committee), a Polish opposition formation, was preceded by an unorganized assistance and help for the repressed people. That unstructured support was quite successful, but to increase the efficiency of their actions, KOR founders decided to set up a formal organization. In September 1976, Antoni Macierewicz and Piotr Naimski with the support of the Polish intelligence and Wojciech Onyszkiewicz compiled the draft version of the founding document of KOR. On the 22nd of September 1976, 14 signatories announced the so called ‘Appeal to the Nation’. It stated that in order to repulse the repressions in Radom, Ursus and other cities, solidarity and mutual help are necessary. KOR’s main objectivities were financial help, legal assistance and medical help for the repressed people. They also demanded amnesties for the unlawfully arrested and giving jobs back to the repressed.

Karol Wojtyla’s election to the papacy (1978) and his first pilgrimage to Poland

On the 16th of October 1978, Karol Wojtyła, the Polish Cardinal, was elected as the new Pope. John Paul II, the first Polish Pope in the history, came to Warsaw, the capital of Poland, on the 2nd of June 1979. It was one of the most important events that caused the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe. When John Paul II was celebrating a mass on the Victory Square in Warsaw, he said these very important words: ‘Don't be afraid’, ‘Let your Spirit descend! Let your Spirit descend and renew the face of the earth, the face of this land’. These words gave hope to the Polish people to realise dreams about freedom and showed them the way to fight Communism. After the pilgrimage the Polish authorities began to fear that Poles felt united and strong.

The foundation of the Solidarity Trade Union (1980)

The Solidarity Trade Union was founded in 1980. In the summer of 1980 the whole Poland went on strike because workers were dissatisfied with the communist regime. The main events took place in the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk. The shipyard workers founded a strike committee whose leader became Lech Wałęsa. This committee developed a set of demands - economic and political. After a few days of tempestuous conversation and consultation with Moscow, the government capitulated. On the 31st of August 1980 under the leadership of Lech Wałęsa an agreement was signed between the strike and governmental committees at the Gdańsk Shipyard. After that the workers could form independent trade unions. In September a decision about forming one countrywide union was made. Over time this union became the Independent Self-governing Trade Union (NSZZ) “Solidarity”. It was registered on the 10th of November 1980 by the Provincial Court in Warsaw.

Nobel Peace Prize for Lech Walesa (1983)Lech Wałęsa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his campaign for freedom of organization in Poland on the 5th of October 1983. Wałęsa was employed as an electrician at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk. He was fired for having participated in the demands for independent labour unions. During the strikes in 1980, Wałęsa managed to enter the Lenin Shipyard, and he led the negotiations with the authorities. These ended in a victory for the Solidarity union and Lech Wałęsa became the symbol of the revolt against the party's monopoly on power. In December 1981 martial law was declared in Poland and Wałęsa, along with many other members of the opposition movement, was arrested. The Polish authorities banned Solidarity and used many forms of repression against opposition activists even after martial law was lifted in July 1983. Lech Wałęsa did not accept The Nobel Peace Prize himself because he was afraid the Polish authorities would not let him return to the country. On the 10th of December 1983 in Oslo the Prize was accepted by his wife Danuta Wałęsa and his 13-year-old son Bogdan.

The third pilgrimage of John Paul II to Poland (1987) which arose the Polish nation from apathy

The third pilgrimage of John Paul II to Poland took place in June 1987. During that pilgrimage the Pope visited 9 Polish cities, including places important for the nation’s fight for freedom. Throughout the whole visit John Paul II gave many speeches showing his solidarity with the Polish people. At the meeting with young people in Westerplatte (Gdańsk), the symbolic place of the Polish fight against German invasion at the beginning of World War II, the Pope expressed his great belief in the youth. Showing his solidarity with the Polish nation, John Paul II paid tribute to Jerzy Popiełuszko, the priest murdered by the agents of the communist security service SB, and to the victims of World War II. In Gdańsk the Pope met with Lech Wałęsa and his family at a private meeting. During this pilgrimage, John Paul II showed his compatriots a lot of support by comforting, helping and giving advice.

Round Table Talks (1989)

The Round Table Talks is the term used to describe the process of negotiations which took place from the 6th of February to the 5th of April 1989 between “Solidarity”, which was led by Lech Wałęsa, and KC PZPR – the communist party. Although the negotiations took place at several locations, the starting and finishing location was the Presidential Palace in Warsaw (then Pałac Namiestnikowski). It was the event that started the fall of the Communist rule in Poland (and in other countries) as well as the start of the truly independent Poland. During the negotiations the Senate and the function of the President of the People’s Republic of Poland were created.

The first democratic elections to the government (1989) after which Tadeusz Mazowiecki forms the first democratic cabinet

The first democratic election in Poland after the fall of the communist rule took place on the 4th of June 1989. The election was only partly free as not all of the parliamentary seats were freely contested. Nevertheless, the election was a great victory for the Solidarity movement and allowed democratically chosen representatives to have an influence on the country’s politics. Following the election, on the 24th of August 1989 the parliament appointed Tadeusz Mazowiecki from the Solidarity to the position of Prime Minister. Mazowiecki’s cabinet was formed on the 12th of September. Under the leadership of Tadeusz Mazowiecki, the new government managed to introduce several important reforms which caused significant political and economic changes in the country.