Polish Times - Czas Polski - tygodnik polski w Detroit, USA

WARSAW - 2009 marked the 30th anniversary of how the Polish people set about dismantling the Soviet power monopoly bit by bit.  In 2009 Poland and the rest of the former Soviet bloc celebrated 20 years of freedom following the collapse of the Iron Curtain.  The Germans tried to equate that event with the fall of the Berlin wall, but even they had to admit that “Es begann in Gdańsk” (it began in Gdańsk) and at the anniversary event had Lech Wałęsa start off a series of giant falling dominoes to symbolize the collapse of one Soviet-style regime after another. It was probably no coincidence that it was Poland which led the way.  No other country had put up more resistance to communism and given Moscow more headaches.  Not only where there major revolts in 1956, 1968, 1970 and 1976.  Poland was also the only Soviet-bloc country that had managed to resist collectivized agriculture, remain faithful to the Church and retain much of its free and independent spirit despite often painful reprisals by the regime.  And since the mid-1970s, Poland was the only communist-ruled country with a significant, well-organized dissident movement whose members would eventually serve as Solidarity advisers.

Like most earlier anti-communist upheavals, the unrest of 1980 had been triggered by food price increases.  Fearful of spreading unrest, the regime withdrew the price hikes, but that tactic did not work at the shipyard, where workers, aided by intellectuals, had drawn up a list of 21 demands.  In addition to pay increases, they included the right to set up labor unions free of communist control, the limitation of censorship and a Sunday Mass for shut-ins on state radio.  Freedom for political prisoners was a pre-condition set by the strikers to even sit down to talks with the regime’s negotiators.

Solidarność (Solidarity) was not only the name of Wałęsa’s independent trade-union movement, it was actually the spirit of the times.  Earlier, the regime had cleverly neutralized unrest with a divide and rule tactic that had turned workers against rebelling students and intellectuals in 1968.  Two years later, its propaganda machine also managed to keep the intellectual community largely indifferent to the food-price protests by Baltic Coast workers.

The unique thing about the peaceful Solidarity revolution was that it was supported by Poles from all walks of life.  Such unlikely bedfellows as shipyard workers, coal miners, factory workers, bus drivers, railway employees, farmers, health-care workers, lawyers, teachers, college professors, actors, artists, journalists, priests, writers and small businessmen fed up with decades of communist misrule rallied round Solidarity’s banner.  Armia Krajowa (Home Army) war veterans and those who had lost their loved ones in Stalin’s Katyń massacre were now also able to voice their long suppressed views.

During Solidarity’s 16 months of legal but troubled existence period, the independent union managed to wrest one concession from the regime after another.  But Poland’s communist rulers often stalled or reneged on what they had pledged, provoking fresh protests.  These included railway strikes and road blocks capable of bringing an entire city or region to a standstill.  And Wałęsa’s labor movement really set off alarm bells across the Soviet bloc when it appealed to workers in those countries to set up their own independent Solidarity unions.

All that ended on December 13th, 1981, when General Wojciech Jaruzelski unleashed the “Polish-Jaruzelian War”, as many Poles referred to his martial-law crackdown on Solidarity.  Tanks and troops poured into the streets of Polish cities, thousands were rounded up and sent to detention camps, phone lines were cut, a curfew was imposed, people could not leave their city without permission, airlines were grounded and factories were militarized.  Entertainment and sporting events were canceled, and only youngsters were happy because their Christmas vacation was longer than usual.

Despite the iron grip of martial law, Solidarity activists who had evaded capture went underground to continue the struggle.  They were backed by thousands of Poles who took to the streets on the 13th and 16th of each month, the latter marking the day in December 1981, when security troops gunned down coalminers at the Wujek Colliery.  The 1984 murder of a popular pro-Solidarity priest, Father Jerzy Popiełuszko, injected new life into the then faltering anti-communist movement.

But it wasn’t until 1988 that a fresh wave of nationwide strikes broke out and gave the Solidarity movement a new lease on life.  The ruling communist clique was forced agreed to talks with the Solidarity-led opposition which finally led to elections on June 4th, 1989.  Even though the elections were only partially free, they proved a total setback to the communist establishment and led to the creation of the post-war period’s first non-communist government.  That example proved infectious as one communist regime after another collapsed, finally leading to the dismantling of the Soviet Union itself.

A question many Polish Americans ask themselves is where does Poland stand today 30 years after Solidarity’s initial emergence and more than 20 years after it regained its independence?  Visiting Pol-Ams, especially those who haven’t been to Poland in some time, are usually impressed by the visible signs of progress.  “The Polish shopping malls are just as modern and well-stocked as the ones we have in America,” is a common remark.  The number of computers, cellphones and cars clogging the country’s cities as well as the stylish dress seen on the streets seem to show that Poland is now fully in the 21st century.

Of course, Poland also has 21st-century problems including air pollution, congested traffic, drug abuse, family break-ups, unemployment, a collapsing health-care system and more crime than in the police-state era.  But at least Poles are now free to tackle their country’s ills without waiting for Big Brother’s permission.

Less visible than the consumer abundance but certainly no less important is the way the course of world history has been altered.  Solidarity greatly contributed to the collapse of the iron curtain, helped to end the cold war and led to the dismantling of the Soviet bloc and the USSR itself.  Poles now take for granted freedom of speech, assembly, association and freely elected political representation.  They also enjoy the right to travel at will to every country except those (like the US) that still require visas.
But all that pales in importance when compared to country’s new-found sense of national security.  By joining NATO in 1999, Poland has found itself in a more secure international setting than any other time in its more than 1,000-year history.  Even the Kremlin’s occasional saber-rattling is now only so much bravado when Poles know they have America, Britain and the entire North Atlantic Alliance to back them up.