For The Breakdown Of Communism In Poland? Essay, Research Paper
On June 4th
1989, the trade union movement Solidarity won elections in Poland hands down.
The first minority communist government in a former satellite state was
formed.? The Round Table agreement had
dramatically backfired and the assumptions that the Party had the legitimacy,
the money and the organisational facilities to win a majority of seats had
proved to be false.? From this point
onwards, communism in Eastern Europe began to crumble.? The anti-communist feeling in Poland had
been released in the formation of the mass ?trade-union? called Solidarity, and
without Russian tanks to restore order the Party fell unceremoniously from power.
Solidarity is often credited with seizing the initiative and bringing about the
breakdown of communism not only in Poland but also in Eastern Europe as a
whole, but was this really the case. Solidarity
sprung from a rebellious shipyard in Gdansk.?
Gdansk had emerged as a bastion of communist resistance in December
1970, when, in response to the price hikes, workers had come out on strike and
were shot by riot police and troops.?
Many of the demands made by the workers in 1970 were replicated in 1980.
In response to further price rises, introduced in July 1980 by Polish Premier
Babuich, strikes broke out all over Poland.?
However, government officials had little problem dealing with the
individual uncoordinated strikes by offering pay increases.? Only in Lublin was there a coordinated
strike, and this strike acted as an inspiration for the Gdansk strike in
August.? Led by agitator Lech Walesa,
the Gdansk workers initially protesting over price rises began to demand free
trade unions and other political changes.?
Aided by Polish intellectuals, a compromise was reached known as the 21
points which essentially brought Solidarity into being.? The first free trade union had been formed. The
coordination of the strike in 1980 was the essential factor in its success and
in the emergence and survival of Solidarity. The government, terrified of mass
uprising and civil war was content to play for time by agreeing to the 21
points.? Furthermore, the Polish
government wished to avoid intervention by Moscow, and by reaching a reasonable
compromise, the party was temporarily able to put and end to the strikes. The
intellectuals had played a key role in developing the working class
consciousness of national interests, and by making reasonable demands on the
communist government.? However, as early
as 24th August 1980, Polish party leaders were already planning to
crush Solidarity.? The movement owed as
much to good fortune as to its own strength. As
Solidarity membership rose to exceed 10 million by mid-1981 it quickly became a
national movement.? It gained the support
of the vast majority of Poles, and self-government became the call of a nation,
oppressed for almost 50 years.?
Solidarity also began to make demands on the government to introduce
reforms in April 1981. These closely resembled those introduced by Gorbachev
later in Russia and ?Glasnost? in the media quickly became apparent.? However, Soviet troops began to amass on
Poland?s eastern frontier and pressure was exerted from Moscow on Polish
leaders to crush the movement. Although
Western leaders put pressure on Moscow not to intervene, they could not prevent
the threat of sanctions.? The loss of
oil and gas supplies would be disasterous for Poland.? Furthermore, the threat of a referendum on the Jaruzelski
government in December 1982 proved too much for the Soviet government.? At 6.00am on 13th December 1982,
martial law was announced. Solidarity was outlawed and driven underground.? This could
have meant the end for the Solidarity movement.? It had accomplished little in the way of improvements, in fact,
economic conditions had worsened between August 1980 and December 1982.? However, there were several key factors that
allowed Solidarity to survive to see its final triumph in 1989. Through the
appointment of a Polish Pope, and by gaining his support for their policies,
Solidarity had gained an element of legitimacy amongst the people.? On October 16th, 1978 Cardinal
Karol Wojtyla was elected Pope John Paul II.?
Hailed as a ?great son of Poland? by the communist government, he was to
play a vital role in the events of the next 10 years. The
predominance of the Catholic church in Poland gave a Polish Pope substantial
influence within the country.? A skilful
and determined leader, it was he that on his visit to Poland in June 1979 first
implanted the ideas that inspired the birth of Solidarity in August 1980.? About two million people heard his speech
made on the fields outside Krakow. He spoke of the people?s right ?to have God
in their lives? and the ?right to freedom.? His words of inspiration, regarded
as gospel truths by the many catholic believers in Poland were to act as an
inspiration to the Solidarity movement through the year spent underground.? His second visit to Poland in June 1983 was
perhaps even more pivotal in ensuring the survival of the solidarity movement.
The visit of the Pope no doubt contributed to the end of martial law that was
lifted in July.? The end of martial law
brought a new hope to the people of Poland and a resurgence in support for
Solidarity. Although Solidarity remained illegal until a later Papal visit in
June 1987, the end to martial law was seen by many as a positive step towards
freedom and people continued strive to achieve it. The later visit of June 1987
brought back Solidarity due to pressure put on the communist government by him,
his powerful influence in Poland could not be ignored by Jaruzelski?s
government.? In addition, the Pope
secretly supported the underground movement both through words of
encouragement, and his alliance with U.S. president Ronald Reagan brought
American aid to the Solidarity movement. However,
despite the aid of the USA in surviving the years in exile, the mass support
for Solidarity would never have survived were it not for the economic
conditions in Poland.? It was economic
conditions that played a major role in the formation of 1980.? Dissatisfaction at limited food stocks due
to failed harvests and inefficient transportation was well as hyper-inflation
led to dissatisfaction concerning living conditions and standards.? Although the Solidarity movement expressed a
deep satisfaction about the governmental system among a proportion of the
population, it could never have achieved mass support were it not for the
appalling living conditions of a large proportion of the population.? The whole movement could easily have been
suppressed if genuine economic reform had brought about improvement in living
standards. However,
the collapsing Polish economy was due to a fundemental flaw in the entire
communist system.? The command economy
had brought staggering inefficiency. The very exercise of telling people what
to do and how to do it had quelled all initiative of the management.? Furthermore, with no incentive to produce
goods or work more efficiently the economy of Poland had been slowly stagnating
over many years.? In addition, as the
USSR experienced increasing economic problems, Moscow began to drain the
resources of its satellite states in order to compensate for Russia?s own
problems, further worsening the economic difficulties of states such as Poland. It was the
economic? Was
Solidarity a product of communist oppression or of Polish rebellion?? ??????????????????????? How did Solidarity emerge? ??????????????????????? Why did it survive? ??????????????????????? Despite the
unquestionable significance of Solidarity in bringing about the breakdown of
communism not only in Poland but also in Eastern Europe, it was the refusal by
Gorbachev to crush the uprising by force that allowed Solidarity to
succeed.? Glasnost and Perestroika
provided the foundations for an independent Poland to emerge.? Gorbachev, unlike his predecessors, was not
prepared to roll in the tanks to enforce Soviet rule, instead he accepted
Poland?s autonomy and in doing so changed the world irrevocably. What effect did
Gorbachev?s policies of Glasnost and Perestroika have on the Solidarity movement
in Poland? What were Gorbachev?s policies of
Glasnost and Perestroika?Perestroika: meaning restructuring.? Gorbachev?s policy of Perestroika evolved as
the economic and political crises in Russia became more apparent.? It was not until 1987 that Gorbachev
realised the true state that Russia was in and Perestroika evolved in three
clear-cut stages accordingly.? These
three stages will hereafter be referred to as Perestroika Mark I, II, and IIIPerestroika Mark I:?
Initially introduced to restructure the Russian economy.? At this point, Gorbachev had no notion of
introducing a market economy, this first phase of perestroika simply entailed
restructuring the centrally planned economy.?
Gorbachev had realised that Russia was falling further and further behind
the west technologically.? He decided to
invest heavily in the machine-building industry in order to stimulate
technological progress.? While investing
considerably more, however, it was expected that living standards would rise
due to the fact that there would be more funds available for consumption ? a
contradiction in terms.? It also
attempted to devolve more responsibility to the management of the individual
enterprises to make decisions for themselves.?
This, however, was largely unsuccessful as the enterprises, used to
being told what to do, were almost unable to think for themselves, as it was an
alien concept to them. Furthermore, Perestroika Mark I failed to deal with two
major economical issues ? prices and ownership ? hence little progress was
made. Perestroika Mark II: Gorbachev had realised that Mark I was
failing.? He blamed this on the
resistance of the upper-level ideological and economic structures.? His reaction was an attempt to instigate
reform from the bottom upwards.? This
led to the introduction of Glasnost meaning openness, his philosophy being that
political change must be the precursor to economic change ? the economic crises
and subsequent events of 1989 – 1992 were to prove him wrong. The idea of
Glasnost was to give the people a voice to criticise the conservative nature of
the hierarchy and to bring about reform by this means.? Gorbachev was a brilliant short-term planner
and tactician and this often allowed his to out manoeuvre his opponents.? However, his long-term strategy was often
lacking.? In Perestroika Mark II,
Gorbachev refused to address the real issues of how economic reform was to come
about, he was extremely successful in instigating political reform without
suggesting an economic course, he was contented to watch as the Russian economy
sailed peacefully towards the iceberg.?
Had action been taken at this point, perhaps the Soviet Union may have
been saved. A President Gorbachev riding high on the crest of public opinion with
living standards rising and a market economy flourishing may have been more
difficult for the plotters to remove! Perestroika Mark III: This can be described as too little
too late.? Gorbachev at this stage was a
desperate man attempting to cling to power.?
He had now realised that the economic problems must be addressed and
commissioned a report by two economists, Yavlinsky and Shatalin.? Perhaps had Gorbachev acted upon this report
and introduced it immediately then things may have been different, however, he
dithered for months between the report, known as the 500 day plan, intended to
introduce a market economy, a state managed economy, and the ?third way? a slow
introduction of a market economy.?
Gorbachev took too long to make up his mind and paid the price.? Gorbachev refused to introduce the 500-day
plan as he was loathed to give up his power voluntarily. Under a state run
economy, he maintained control, but under a market economy, all control was
lost.? According to the prospect thesis,
once Gorbachev had gained complete power, he would not choose to give it up,
hence why the criticism to which he was subjected under Glasnost was not
welcomed ? he had lost some of his power over the people.Gorbachev?s main mistake was that he destroyed the old
system without putting a new one in to take its place.? His long-term plans were not only vague but
also altered considerably over time.? He
was not sure the direction in which he was taking the country.? Like an inquisitive child he pulled the
foundations from under the USSR without making plans for reconstruction in the
aftermath, and was then surprised when the whole system collapsed around his
ears. Poland and the Solidarity movement ??????????? Began 1980
? shipyard workers in Lenin shipyard, Gdansk initiated a strike protesting
about further price rises led by Lech Walesa.?
Walesa called for solidarity amongst the workers and this led to the
occupation of the shipyard.? Strike
committees called for independent unions. ??????????? Gierek, the
Polish communist party leader was willing to negotiate and offered concessions
and economic reform.? This led to the
setting up of solidarity as an independent trade union.? However, military manoeuvres along the
Polish borders prevented the government from conceding too much.