The Solidarity movement 1980–1981

In 1980–1981, for the first time in the history of Poland, a social movement united so many different groups: workers, farmers, intellectuals, students, civil servants, etc. Solidarity’s success was possible thanks to the cooperation and solidarity of the entire nation.
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The protests of Polish workers in 1956 and 1970 were brutally suppressed by the police and the army, who shot at the demonstrators. Learning from these experiences, workers in the 1980s used a form of occupational strike as a non-violent but more effective method of putting pressure on the authorities.
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On 17 August 1980, the Inter-Factory Strike Committee announced in the Gdańsk Shipyard a list of 21 demands. The list contained both economic demands and those related to human rights. The importance of this document is demonstrated by the fact that the 21 Gdańsk demands are now on the UNESCO Memory of the World list.
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1980 and 1981 are referred to as the years of the “Solidarity carnival”. The coexistence of the movement with the communist authorities was full of tension and conflict. One of the forms of Solidarity’s activities were statements and proclamations addressed directly to public opinion. On 10 December 1980 Solidarity issued a statement on the socio-political situation in Poland.
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In the 1980s, the Polish economy was in collapse. One of Solidarity’s tasks was to prepare a plan to combat recession and problems with the supply of food and other basic goods. On 27 January 1981 an assessment prepared by Solidarity’s National Food Conference was issued.
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With around 10 million members, Solidarity was a movement that went far beyond the role of a trade union. In negotiations with the communist government, Solidarity’s representatives raised not only economic issues, but also questions of the rule of law and human rights. On 10 April 1981 Solidarity’s National Coordinating Commission issued a resolution on further negotiations with the government.
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As a rule, Solidarity did not raise international issues, not wanting to upset relations with the Soviet Union and its satellite countries. However, at Solidarity’s First National Congress of Delegates, a document was passed which, despite its general formula, aroused anger in the capitals of neighbouring communist countries. The Minister for State Security of the German Democratic Republic described the “Appeal to the Working People of Eastern Europe” as a call for counter-revolutionary activity against the existing order.
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Pope John Paul II’s pilgrimage to his homeland in June 1979 played a major role in the subsequent changes in Poland. It brought together the largest crowds to attend mass in the country’s history. The celebrations and the pope’s call to “renew the face of this land” contributed to breaking the social barrier of fear and indifference.
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The strike in the Gdańsk shipyard, organised by the Free Trade Unions of the Coast, lasted from 14 to 31 August 1980. The initial economic demands were joined by political demands, including the possibility to establish trade unions independent of the authorities. A wave of strikes soon spread across Poland, forcing the communist government to enter into talks with the Inter-Factory Strike Committee based in the Gdańsk shipyard.
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The Inter-Factory Strike Committee’s leader was Lech Wałęsa, an electrician and oppositionist who worked at the Gdańsk Shipyard. Together with representatives of other workplaces belonging to the Committee and with the support of intellectuals, he conducted negotiations with the communist government. The negotiations ended with the signing of an agreement with the authorities on 31 August 1980, under which the government agreed to set up trade independent unions. This gave rise to the Independent Self-Governing Trade Union “Solidarity”.
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Gdańsk was not the only centre of protest where the communist authorities signed agreements with the strikers. On 30 August 1980, the first of a series of agreements was concluded at the Szczecin Shipyard. The authorities also signed agreements with representatives of major workplaces striking in the southern region of Silesia: on 3 September with miners in Jastrzębie-Zdrój, and on 9 September with steelworkers in Katowice. All these agreements led opened a period of difficult co-existence of the communist regime and Solidarity.
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The communist government had a monopoly on information. Tygodnik Solidarność (Solidarity Weekly), launched in the spring of 1981, played an important role in access to independent news. However, its editors had to face censorship and harassment from the authorities.
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The poster containing a quotation from Bertolt Brecht captures the specificity of the “first Solidarity” of 1980–81, then a mass movement. Solidarity combined different views and backgrounds, going far beyond the formula of an ordinary trade union. At the same time, it rejected violence, opting for peaceful methods of putting pressure on the authorities.
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The 1st National Delegates’ Convention was held from 5 to 10 September and from 26 September to 7 October 1981 in the Olivia Hall in Gdańsk. For the first time in many decades, a fully democratic and and independent discussion forum, was organized in Poland. A kind of Solidarity parliament, the Convention elected the Union’s authorities and debated over its future.
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The Solidarity Convention brought together democratically elected representatives from the regions. It featured many debates and disputes between supporters of a cautious policy towards the authorities and more radical activists. The atmosphere of an authentic debate, unusual in an authoritarian state, often led to violations of the agenda and spontaneous discussions. During the Convention, the Solidarity leaders were elected with Lech Wałęsa at the head.
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The Solidarity Convenion worked out the Self-governing Republic programme, which aimed to reform the country in a spirit of respect for human rights. It was supposed to be based on self-governments created by employees in workplaces and on local governments. The Convention also adopted the Appeal to Working People of Eastern Europe, which provoked negative reactions from the Soviet Union. The imposition of martial law by the Polish authorities on 13 December 1981, aimed at blocking the liberal reforms pushed by the opposition, thwarted any chance of implementing the Solidarity programme.
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