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47-543: In the 1993 Polish parliamentary election , Centre Agreement - Polish Union won 609,973 votes which amounted to 4.42%, falling short of reaching the 5% electoral threshold needed in order to gain seats in the Sejm. However, the party did win a single seat in the Senate. After the defeat in the 1993 election, the party left Centre Agreement - Polish Union and re-registered itself as a separate party. The Polish Union then became one of

94-431: A more traditional trade union, and had relatively little impact on the political scene of Poland in the early 1990s. A political arm founded in 1996 as Solidarity Electoral Action (AWS) won the parliamentary election in 1997 , but lost the following 2001 election . In following years, Solidarity had little influence on Polish politics . In the year leading up to martial law, Reagan Administration policies supported

141-584: A total of $ 10 million over five years. There were no direct links between the CIA and Solidarność, and all money was channeled through third parties. CIA officers were barred from meeting Solidarity leaders, and the CIA's contacts with Solidarność activists were weaker than those of the AFL–CIO , which raised $ 300,000 from its members, which were used to provide material and cash directly to Solidarity, with no control of Solidarity's use of it. The U.S. Congress authorized

188-622: Is a Polish trade union founded in August 1980 at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk , Poland . Subsequently, it was the first independent trade union in a Warsaw Pact country to be recognised by the state. The union's membership peaked at 10 million in September 1981, representing one-third of the country's working-age population. In 1983 Solidarity's leader Lech Wałęsa was awarded

235-408: Is located in Gdańsk and is composed of Delegates from Regional General Congresses. Solidarity is divided into 37 regions, and the territorial structure to a large degree reflects the shape of Polish voivodeships, established in 1975 and annulled in 1998 (see: Administrative division of People's Republic of Poland ). The regions are: The network of Solidarity branches of the key factories of Poland

282-523: The Catholic Church to members of the anti-Soviet left . Polish nationalism , together with pro-American liberalism, played an important part in the development of Solidarity in the 1980s. Solidarity advocated non-violence in its members' activities. In September 1981, Solidarity's first national congress elected Wałęsa as a president and adopted a republican program, the "Self-governing Republic". The government attempted to destroy

329-681: The National Endowment for Democracy to promote democracy, and the NED allocated $ 10 million to Solidarity. The Polish government enacted martial law in December 1981, however, Solidarity was not alerted. Potential explanations for this vary; some believe that the CIA was caught off guard, while others suggest that American policy-makers viewed an internal crackdown as preferable to an "inevitable Soviet intervention." CIA support for Solidarity included money, equipment and training, which

376-550: The Nobel Peace Prize , and the union is widely recognized as having played a central role in the end of communist rule in Poland . In the 1980s, Solidarity was a broad anti-authoritarian social movement , using methods of civil resistance to advance the causes of workers' rights and social change . The Government attempted in the early 1980s to destroy the union through the imposition of martial law in Poland and

423-1121: The Sejm and 100 senators of the Senate were elected. The elections were won by the left-wing parties of the Democratic Left Alliance and the Polish People's Party , who formed a coalition government. The coalition was just four seats short of a supermajority . Because of the introduction of electoral thresholds set at 5% for party lists and 8% for coalitions, 34% of valid votes were wasted . Voters were able to cast as many votes as there were seats available in their constituency. Solidarity (Polish trade union) Solidarity ( Polish : „Solidarność” , pronounced [sɔliˈdarnɔɕt͡ɕ] ), full name Independent Self-Governing Trade Union "Solidarity" ( Niezależny Samorządny Związek Zawodowy „Solidarność” [ɲɛzaˈlɛʐnɨ samɔˈʐɔndnɨ ˈzvjɔ̃zɛɡ zavɔˈdɔvɨ sɔliˈdarnɔɕt͡ɕ] , abbreviated NSZZ „Solidarność” ),

470-476: The electoral threshold and keep its seats in the Sejm. However, Olszewski strongly opposed this proposal, and the subsequent conflict led Anusz and his faction to leave Movement for the Republic. Those who left founded Regional Agreement RdR, led by Anusz and Barczyk. Anusz and his new party then carried out their plan for an electoral agreement with Kaczyński, forming Centre Agreement – Polish Union . However,

517-471: The internal resistance to apartheid in South Africa. However, according to Wałęsa, attempts to develop links between the two forces were hampered by their geographical distance, the dearth of media coverage of events outside Poland's borders and especially in South Africa. As a result, relatively little engagement took place between the two groups. In late 2008, several democratic opposition groups in

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564-632: The 1970s Poland's government raised food prices while wages were stagnant. This and other stresses led to protests in 1976 and a subsequent government crackdown on dissent. The KOR , the ROPCIO and other groups began to form underground networks to monitor and oppose the government's behaviour. Labour unions formed an important part of this network. In 1979, the Polish economy shrank for the first time since World War II, by two percent. Foreign debt reached around $ 18 billion by 1980. Anna Walentynowicz

611-576: The 1970s that led to the creation of Solidarity and provided a philosophical underpinning for the movement. According to Kołakowski, a proletarian revolution has never occurred anywhere, as the October Revolution in Russia had nothing to do with Marxism in his view because it was achieved under the "Peace, Land and Bread" slogan. For Kołakowski, Solidarity was "perhaps closest to the working class revolution" that Karl Marx had predicted in

658-503: The British National Union of Mineworkers had been highly critical of Solidarity, condemning it as an "anti-socialist organization which desires the overthrow of a socialist state". In 2005, the trade union Solidarity – The Union for British Workers was created by the far-right British National Party in honour of the original Polish union. During the late 1980s, Solidarity had attempted to establish connections with

705-496: The Centre Agreement. However, internal infighting between the government members proved paralysing to Olszewski, and in 1992 President Wałęsa officially withdrew his support for Olszewski and his cabinet, prompting its downfall. Waldemar Pawlak became the new Prime Minister of Poland, coming from post-communist Polish People's Party . Blaming the president as well as leader of Centre Agreement, Jarosław Kaczyński , for

752-607: The Centre Civic Alliance, a coalition supported by President Lech Wałęsa . After the election, new Sejm disbanded the short-lived cabinet of Jan Krzysztof Bielecki and formed the Cabinet of Jan Olszewski , led by Centre Agreement. The cabinet of Olszewski as known as the "Agreement of Five", as it consisted of five centre to centre-right parties - Liberal Democratic Congress , Confederation of Independent Poland , Christian National Union , Peasants' Agreement and

799-673: The Eastern Bloc, which had quelled both the 1956 Hungarian Uprising and the 1968 Prague Spring with Soviet-led invasions. Solidarity's influence led to the intensification and spread of anti-Communist ideals and movements throughout the countries of the Eastern Bloc, weakening their Communist governments. As a result of the Round Table Agreement between the Polish government and the Solidarity-led opposition, elections were held in Poland on 4 June 1989, in which

846-549: The Gdańsk Shipyard when the Communist government of Poland signed the agreement allowing for its existence . On 17 September 1980, over twenty Inter-factory Founding Committees of independent trade unions merged at the congress into one national organisation, NSZZ Solidarity. It officially registered on 10 November 1980. Lech Wałęsa and others formed a broad anti-Soviet social movement ranging from people associated with

893-936: The Russian Federation formed a Solidarity movement . In the United States, the American Solidarity Party (formerly the Christian Democratic Party USA), a Christian democratic political party, attributes its namesake to Solidarity. In a 2011 essay "The Jacobin Spirit" in the American magazine Jacobin , philosopher Slavoj Žižek called Solidarność' one of the "free spaces at a distance from state power" that used "defensive violence" to protect itself from state control. The notion of "defensive violence" runs in

940-627: The Sejm—a victory that also triggered a chain reaction across the Soviet Union's satellite states, leading to a mostly bloodless chain of anti-communist events in Central and Eastern Europe known as the Revolutions of 1989 ( Polish : Jesień Ludów , lit.   'Autumn of Nations'), which ended in the overthrow of each Moscow-imposed regime, and ultimately to the dissolution of

987-821: The Solidarity movement, waging a public relations campaign to deter what the Carter administration had seen as "an imminent move by large Soviet military forces into Poland." Michael Reisman from Yale Law School named operations in Poland as one of the covert regime change actions of the CIA during the Cold War . Colonel Ryszard Kukliński , a senior officer on the Polish General Staff, was secretly sending reports to CIA officer David Forden . The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) transferred around $ 2 million yearly in cash to Solidarity from 1982 onwards, for

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1034-457: The Soviet Union in the early 1990s. Given the union's support from many western governments, relations with trade unions in capitalist countries could be complicated. For example, during the UK miners' strike of 1984–85, Wałęsa said that "The miners should fight, but with common sense—not with destruction" and said of Margaret Thatcher "With such a wise and brave woman, Britain will find a solution to

1081-465: The Union had over 10 million members, which became the largest union membership in the world. During the Communist era, the 38 regional delegates were arrested and jailed when martial law came into effect on 13 December 1981 under General Wojciech Jaruzelski . After a one-year prison term the high-ranking members of the union were offered one way trips to any country accepting them (including Canada,

1128-798: The United States, and nations in the Middle East). Solidarity was organized as an industrial union , or more specifically according to the One Big Union principle, along the lines of the Industrial Workers of the World and the Spanish Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (workers in every trade were organized by region, rather than by craft ). In 2010, Solidarity had more than 400,000 members. National Commission of Independent Self-Governing Trade Union

1175-424: The control of the state. The Polish Union also proposed anti-trust regulations that would root out 'unfair competition', and tariffs on agrarian products in order to protect Polish agriculture. 1993 Polish parliamentary election [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 19 September 1993. All 460 members of

1222-455: The downfall of his cabinet, Olszewski and party members loyal to him left the party to form Movement for the Republic (RdR) in 1992. As the party started preparing itself for the 1993 Polish parliamentary election , a faction of the party led by Andrzej Anusz proposed an electoral agreement with the Centre Agreement, considering it a pragmatic option that is necessary in order for the RdR to cross

1269-399: The end of August, a Solidarity-led coalition government was formed, and in December 1990 Wałęsa was elected President of Poland . Following Poland's transition to liberal capitalism in the 1990s and the extensive privatization of state assets, Solidarity's membership declined substantially. By 2010, 30 years after its founding, the union had lost more than 90% of its original membership. In

1316-524: The existence of few left-wing groupings that were friendly towards the Church. Prominent member of the party, Andrzej Anusz, described the party as " Solidarity -based, pro-independence, Christian democratic, and popular-national". In administrative matters, the party stated its strong preference for a parliamentary republic over a presidential republic , stating that the Prime Minister should have

1363-456: The first time since liberal shopping laws were introduced in the 1990s. The Law and Justice party passed the legislation with the support of Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki . Lech Wałęsa has said that Pope John Paul II , and more specifically, his 1979 visit to Poland, was a significant factor in the creation of Solidarity. As John Paul II was a Poland native, he was a figure that the citizens in Poland could identify with personally, but

1410-724: The founding members of the Solidarity Electoral Action (AWS), and 7 of the party members gained seats in the 1997 Polish parliamentary election as part of the AWS. The party then dissolved in 1997 to join the Social Movement . The party has its origins in Centre Agreement , a moderate Christian-democratic party founded in May 1990, which participated in the 1991 Polish parliamentary election as part of

1457-423: The late 1960s, his philosophical ideas nonetheless exerted an influence on the Solidarity movement. Underground copies of his books and essays shaped the opinions of the Polish intellectual opposition. His 1971 essay Theses on Hope and Hopelessness , which suggested that self-organised social groups could gradually expand the spheres of civil society in a totalitarian state, helped inspire the dissident movements of

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1504-457: The mid-1800s, involving "the revolutionary movement of industrial workers (very strongly supported by the intelligentsia) against the exploiters, that is to say, the state. And this solitary example of a working class revolution (if even this may be counted) was directed against a socialist state, and carried out under the sign of the cross, with the blessing of the Pope." The survival of Solidarity

1551-498: The nation must be removed from state service. Without this, it is impossible to run a healthy state order and a healthy economy." The party also postulated increasing the competences of local governments, believing that local governments should have the power to pursue economic policies best suited for local conditions. In its economic program, the Polish Union stated its support for social market economy that would be "based on

1598-517: The opposition was allowed to field candidates against the Communist party—the first free elections in any Soviet bloc country. A new upper chamber (the Senate) was created in the Polish parliament and all of its 100 seats were contestable in the election, as well as one-third of the seats in the more important lower chamber (the Sejm). Solidarity won 99 of the 100 Senate seats and all 161 contestable seats in

1645-485: The party endorsed Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz for president. In 1996, the party became on the founding members of the Solidarity Electoral Action . In the 1997 Polish parliamentary election , the party ran as a part of the Solidarity Electoral Action, with 7 of the party members gaining mandates in the Sejm. These were: The party dissolved in 1998 to join the Social Movement . The Polish Union

1692-412: The party failed to cross the 5% electoral threshold as it earned 4.42% of the popular vote in the 1993 elections. The agreement with Centre Agreement was then dissolved, and Polish Union was registered as a separate party under the leadership of Kazimierz Barczyk . The Polish Union continued its strategy of trying to cooperate with fellow centre-right parties, and in the 1995 Polish presidential election

1739-407: The power to manage all government ministries, with no presidential interference. The Polish Union also argued that economic crimes, especially those committed by public officials, should be considered the most serious crimes in the Polish criminal code. The party stated: "People who have committed crimes must be punished, their privileges must be stripped and all those who have acted to the detriment of

1786-474: The social teaching of the Church . According to the party, such combination would result in "economic efficiency while ensuring moral values". The party also argued that Polish economy should be based on small businesses, which should be given special state support in forms of lenient credits and subsidies. In contrast, large and foreign corporations were to be strictly regulated and appropriately taxed. It also wanted to maintain healthcare and education completely in

1833-463: The strike." However, David Jastrzębski, the president of Upper Silesia Solidarity, voiced his support of the striking miners: "Neither the British government's mounted police charges nor its truncheon blows, any more than the Polish junta's tanks or rifle fire, can break our common will to struggle for a better future for the working class." This was despite the fact that Arthur Scargill , president of

1880-524: The union with the martial law of 1981 and several years of repression, but in the end it had to start negotiating: Roundtable Talks (from 6 February to 5 April 1989) between the government and Solidarity-led opposition led to semi-free elections on 4 June 1989 . By the end of August a Solidarity-led coalition government was formed, and in December Tadeusz Mazowiecki was elected Prime Minister . Since 1989, Solidarity has become

1927-550: The use of political repression. Operating underground, with substantial financial support from the Vatican and the United States , the union survived and by the later 1980s had entered into negotiations with the government. The 1989 round table talks between the government and the Solidarity-led opposition produced an agreement for the 1989 legislative elections , the country's first pluralistic election since 1947. By

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1974-766: The vein of ideas postulated by Alain Badiou . The union was officially founded on 17 September 1980, the union's supreme powers were vested in a legislative body , the Convention of Delegates ( Zjazd Delegatów ). The executive branch was the National Coordinating Commission ( Krajowa Komisja Porozumiewawcza ), later renamed the National Commission ( Komisja Krajowa ). The Union had a regional structure, comprising 38 regions ( region ) and two districts ( okręg ). At its highest,

2021-465: Was a Christian-democratic and a centre-right party. It identified with Political Catholicism and argued that the Polish state should take a protective role towards the Catholic Church, protecting it from anti-clerical policies as well as unfair ideological attacks. It particularly condemned the "leftist-post-communist milieu" for its harsh anti-clerical rhetoric, although it made a reference to

2068-606: Was an unprecedented event not only in Poland, a satellite state of the USSR ruled in practice by a one-party Communist state , but the whole of the Eastern bloc . It meant a break in the hard-line stance of the Communist Polish United Workers' Party , which had bloodily ended a 1970 protest with machine-gun fire (killing over thirty and injuring over 1,000), and the broader Soviet Communist government in

2115-461: Was beyond the reach of the Communist regime. For his actions regarding Poland and Solidarity during his pontificate, he has been named by many world leaders, including Wałęsa himself, to be one of the main causes of the downfall of not just the Polish regime, but Communism as a whole in Europe. Although Leszek Kołakowski 's works were officially banned in Poland, and he lived outside the country from

2162-580: Was coordinated by Special Operations. Henry Hyde , U.S. House intelligence committee member, stated that the USA provided "supplies and technical assistance in terms of clandestine newspapers, broadcasting, propaganda, money, organizational help and advice". In 2017, Solidarity backed a proposal to implement blue laws to prohibit Sunday shopping , a move supported by Polish bishops. A 2018 new Polish law banning almost all trade on Sundays has taken effect, with large supermarkets and most other retailers closed for

2209-553: Was fired from the Gdańsk Shipyard on 7 August 1980, five months before she was due to retire, for participation in the illegal trade union. This management decision enraged the workers of the shipyard, who staged a strike action on 14 August, defending Walentynowicz and demanding her reinstatement. She and Alina Pienkowska transformed a strike over bread and butter issues into a solidarity strike in sympathy with strikes on other establishments. Solidarity emerged on 31 August 1980 at

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