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Solidarity: The Movement And It’s Causes Essay, Research Paper

name = Lukasz Cholodecki

email = lcholode@athena.valpo.edu

publish = yes

subject = Modern European History 315

title = Solidarity: The Movement and It’s Causes

papers =

Solidarity:

The Movement and It’s

Causes

History 315/515

Prof. Startt

Essay #2

The Solidarity movement in Poland was one of the most

dramatic developments in Eastern Europe during the Cold War. It

was not a movement that began in 1980, but rather a continuation

of a working class and Polish intelligentsia movement that began

in 1956, and continued in two other risings, in 1970 and 1976.

The most significant of these risings began in the shipyards of

the ‘Triple City’, Gdansk, Sopot and Gdynia in 1970. The first

and by far the most violent and bloody of the workers revolts

came in June of 1956, when at least 75 people died in the

industrial city of Poznan. The third uprising took place in

1976 with workers striking in Warsaw, and rioting in the city of

Radom.

What made the Solidarity movement peaceful and far more

successful in comparison to that of the previous three? The

Solidarity movement originated in the working class, but unlike

the previous three risings it also worked with and was involved

with the Polish intellectual community. Was this the reason

behind its success? Or was it instead the result of the U.S.S.R.

losing it’s hold in the Eastern bloc, and the fledgling economy

of Poland that made such a movement inevitable? While everyone

of these points was a factor, the strongest and most compelling

argument can be made for the unification and working together of

Poland’s most influential social classes, the Polish

intelligentsia, the workers, and the Church. This strategy

eventually led to the infamous ’roundtable’ talks, and the

collapse of communism itself in Poland.

The Beginnings of a Movement

The ‘Polish October’ of 1956 did not begin with Stalin’s

death in 1953, in fact Poland was quite calm, in stark contrast

with other Eastern bloc countries. While demonstrations took

place in Plzen, Czechoslovakia, and a revolt was taking place in

East Germany in mid-June, Poland was slow to follow the ‘New

Course’ that was being offered by neighboring countries. This

was a result of a much slower relaxation than the other countries

experienced. Regardless, social and intellectual unrest began

building up, with collectivization being slackened and censorship

showing cracks, the nation had a sense that a new start must be

made.

The Polish intelligentsia was one of the most important

groups to emerge during this period. The Polish intelligentsia

is, and remains, a distinct social class that is composed of

those with a higher education, or those who at least share

similar tastes. The Polish intelligentsia originates in the

nineteenth-century, when Polish nobility moved to the cities to

occupy itself with literature, art, and revolutionary politics,

due to it’s loss of estates and land. This distinct social

group was feared and recognized by both Stalin and Hitler, 50

percent of Polish lawyers and doctors and 40 percent of Polish

university professors where murdered in World War II. The

reemergence of this group leading to the ‘Polish October’ is

significant in that it would play a crucial role 25 years later.

Unfortunately for Poland, the Polish intelligentsia and the

working class often led separate uprisings, and had trouble

connecting in the causes that they were fighting for.

Many events and reasons, many similar to that of 1980

culminated to the uprisings in October, and the crackdown that

followed. The focus has to be put primarily on the fact that it

was only in part a workers rebellion, because the workers’

movement in Poznan had no central structure or leadership. It

was instead a rebellion of the intelligentsia, which was in a

system that denied them access to the elite. The intelligentsia

did not put both movements together, the different social classes

were divided in what they wanted. It is incredulous that the

intelligentsia did not look to make a concerted effort with the

workers, as it would not do in 1970 or 1976.

The New Power

The following events were the prelude to 1980, and they are

tragic. On the twelfth of December 1970, a series of unexpected

price changes were announced. Consumer goods only rose a small

percentage in price, but certain foods had huge price increases.

Flour rose by sixteen percent, sugar rose by fourteen percent,

and meat cost seventeen percent more. On the next morning

three thousand workers from the Lenin shipyard at Gdansk marched

on the provincial party headquarters. The workers were ordered

back to work, the maddened workers incited a riot. With fires

started and stones thrown, the city militia could not hold the

masses back. On Tuesday, December fifteenth, the workers at the

Paris Commune Shipyard in Gdynia stopped work and demonstrated in

the main streets. A general strike was announced in Gdansk, and

the police opened fire on demonstrators. Men on both sides were

killed. In the fighting the Party building and the railway

station was burned down.

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