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Solidarity (Polish trade union)

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For other uses, see Solidarity (disambiguation).
Solidarity
Independent Self-governing Trade Union "Solidarity"
Niezależny Samorządny Związek Zawodowy "Solidarność"
FoundedSeptember 1980
Members
1,185,000 (2006)[1]
AffiliationsITUC, ETUC, TUAC
Websitewww.solidarnosc.org.pl
(In English)

Solidarity (Polish: Solidarnośćⓘ Polish pronunciation: [[sɔliˈdarnɔɕtɕ]]; full name: Independent Self-governing Trade Union "Solidarity" — Niezależny Samorządny Związek Zawodowy "Solidarność" Polish pronunciation: [[ɲezaˈlɛʐnɨ samɔːˈʐɔndnɨ ˈzvjɔ̃zɛk zavɔːˈdɔvɨ sɔliˈdarnɔɕtɕ]]) is a Polish trade union federation founded in September 1980 at the Gdańsk Shipyard, and originally led by Lech Wałęsa.

Solidarity was the first non-Comintern-controlled trade union in a Warsaw Pact country. In the 1980s it constituted a broad anti-bureaucratic social movement. The government attempted to destroy the union during the period of martial law in the early 1980s and several years of repression, but in the end it had to start negotiating with the union. The Round Table Talks between the government and the Solidarity-led opposition led to semi-free elections in 1989. By the end of August a Solidarity-led coalition government was formed and in December 1990 Wałęsa was elected President of Poland. Since then it has become a more traditional trade union.

History

File:Strike Gdansk 1980.jpg
1980 strike at Gdańsk Shipyard, birthplace of Solidarity.
Main article: History of Solidarity

Solidarity was founded in Gdansk in September 1980 at the Lenin Shipyards, where Lech Wałęsa and others formed a broad anti-communist social movement ranging from people associated with the Catholic Church[2] to members of the anti-communist Left. Solidarity advocated non-violence in its members' activities.[3][4] In September 1981 Solidarity's first national congress elected Lech Wałęsa as a president[5] and adopted a republican program, the "Self-governing Republic"[6]. The government attempted to destroy the union with the martial law of 1981 and several years of repression, but in the end it had to start negotiating with the union.

In Poland, the Roundtable Talks between the government and Solidarity-led opposition led to semi-free elections in 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 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. Currently, as a political party Solidarity has little political influence in modern Polish politics.

Catholic social teaching

In Solicitudo Rei Socialis, a major document of Catholic Social Teaching, Pope John Paul II identifies the concept of solidarity with the poor and marginalized as a constitutive element of the Gospel and human participation in the common good. The Roman Catholic Church, under the leadership of Pope John Paul II, was a very powerful supporter of the union and was greatly responsible for its success. Lech Walesa, who himself publicly displayed ostentatious Catholic piety, confirmed the Pope's influence, saying: The Holy Father, through his meetings, demonstrated how numerous we were. He told us not to be afraid[7].

In addition, the priest Jerzy Popiełuszko, who regularly gave sermons to the striking workers, was eventually killed by the Communist regime for his association with Solidarity. Polish workers themselves were closely associated with the Church, which can be seen in the photographs taken during strikes in the 1980s. On the walls of several factories, portraits of the Virgin Mary or John Paul II were visible.

Influence abroad

The survival of Solidarity was an unprecedented event not only in Poland, a satellite state of the USSR ruled (in practice) by a one-party Communist regime, 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 dozens and injuring over 1,000), and the broader Soviet communist regime in 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. The 1989 elections in Poland where anti-communist candidates won a striking victory sparked off a succession of peaceful anti-communist revolutions in Central and Eastern Europe[2] known as the Revolutions of 1989 (Jesień Ludów). Solidarity's example was repeated in various ways by opposition groups throughout the Eastern Bloc, eventually leading to the Eastern Bloc's effective dismantling, and contributing to the collapse of the Soviet Union, in the early 1990s.

In late 2008, several democratic opposition groups in the Russian Federation formed a Solidarity movement.[8]

Organization

Formed on 31 August 1980,[9] 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). During the communist era the 38 regional delegates were arrested and jailed when martial law came into effect 1983 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, 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).[10]

Currently, Solidarity has more than 1.1 million members. National Commission of Independent Self-Governing Trade Union is located in Gdańsk and is composed of Delegates from Regional General Congresses.

Regional structure

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 key factories

The network of Solidarity branches of the key factories of Poland was created on April 14, 1981 in Gdansk. It was made of representatives of seventeen factories; each stood for the most important factory of every voivodeship of the pre-1975 Poland (see: Administrative division of People's Republic of Poland). However, there were two exceptions. There was no representative of the Koszalin Voivodeship, and the Katowice Voivodeship was represented by two factories:

Voivodeship Represented by
Gdansk Vladimir Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk
Szczecin Szczecin Shipyard
Poznan H. Cegielski - Poznan S.A.
Bydgoszcz Rail Vehicles Repair Shop in Bydgoszcz
Zielona Gora Rolling Stock and Steel Works Zastal in Zielona Gora
Katowice Wujek Coal Mine in Katowice and the Spare Parts Factory Zgoda in Swietochlowice,
Krakow Vladimir Lenin Steelworks in Nowa Huta
Wroclaw Rail Carriage Factory Pafawag in Wroclaw
Rzeszow Factory of Communication Equipment WSK in Rzeszow
Bialystok Cotton Works Fasty in Bialystok
Kielce Ball Bearings Factory Iskra in Kielce
Olsztyn Tire Company Stomil in Olsztyn
Lublin Factory of Communication Equipment PZL in Swidnik
Lodz Julian Marchlewski Cotton Works in Lodz
Warsaw Ursus Factory in Warsaw
Opole Malapanew Steelworks in Ozimek

Chairmen

See also

References

  1. ^ "WHAT IS THE NSZZ SOLIDARNOSC ?". Solidarnosc.org. Retrieved 2006-07-06.
  2. ^ a b Steger, Manfred B (2004). Judging Nonviolence: The Dispute Between Realists and Idealists (ebook). Routledge (UK). pp. p114. ISBN 0-415-93397-8. Retrieved 2006-07-09. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  3. ^ Paul Wehr, Guy Burgess, Heidi Burgess, ed. (1993). Justice Without Violence (ebook). Lynne Rienner Publishers. pp. p28. ISBN 1-55587-491-6. Retrieved 2006-07-06. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)
  4. ^ Cavanaugh-O'Keefe, John (2001). Emmanuel, Solidarity: God's Act, Our Response (ebook). Xlibris Corporation. pp. p68. ISBN 0-7388-3864-0. Retrieved 2006-07-06. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  5. ^ Template:PDF. Last accessed on 15 October 2006 Template:Pl icon
  6. ^ Piotr Gliński, The Self-governing Republic in the Third Republic, “Polish Sociological Review”, 2006, no.1
  7. ^ BBC World, Analysis: Solidarity's legacy
  8. ^ Kasparov starts new Russian opposition movement. The Associated Press. December 13, 2008.
  9. ^ Guardian newspaper report Retrieved 2009-06-22
  10. ^ Template:Pl icon Solidarność NSZZ in WIEM Encyklopedia. Last accessed on 10 October 2006

Further reading

External links

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