solidarity in Poland Flashcards
What led up to the Poland crisis:
July 1980: Government increases price of meat
September 1980: Group named solidarity put forward 21 demands to the government (mainly free trade unions and the right to strike.) The government accepted and Solidarity’s membership grew to 3.5 million.
October: Solidarity membership was 7 million. Solidarity was officially recognised by the government.
January 1981: Membership of Solidarity reached its peak at 9.4 million - more than 1 third of all the workers in Poland
Reasons for solidarity’s success
Industries
The union was strongest in those industries that were most important to the Government – shipbuilding and heavy industry. A general strike in these industries would have devastated Poland’s economy.
Reasons for solidarity’s success
Solidarity had the support of the Catholic Church, which was still very strong in Poland
What were the government trying to do about solidarity
The Government was playing for time. It hoped Solidarity would break into rival factions. Meanwhile the Government drew up plans for martial law (rule by the army).
what happened February 1981
The civilian prime minister ‘resigned’ and the leader of the army, General Jaruzelski, took over.
What did the people think when General Jaruzelski took over
From the moment he took office, people in Poland, and observers outside Poland, expected the Soviet Union to ‘send in the tanks’ at any time, especially when the Solidarity Congress produced an ‘open letter’ saying that they were campaigning not only for their own rights but for the rights of workers throughout the communist bloc.
what were the Poles fighting for
‘For Your Freedom and For Ours.’
What did Brezhnev do about solidarity
Brezhnev ordered the Red Army to carry out ‘training manoeuvres’ on the Polish border. Jaruzelski introduced martial law. He put almost 10 000 other Solidarity leaders in prison. He suspended Solidarity.
What happened in Poland April 1981
Poland was sinking into chaos. Almost all Poles felt the impact of food shortages. Rationing had been introduced in April 1981. Wages had increased by less than inflation. Unemployment was rising.
what did the Soviet Union do after the failures of Polish leaders in stopping solidarity
The Soviet Union had seen enough. It thought the situation in Poland had gone too far. If Poland’s leaders would not restore communist control in Poland, then it would. This was something the Polish leaders wanted to avoid.
Significance of solidarity
people power
It highlighted the failure of communism to provide good living standards and this undermined communism’s claim to be a system which benefited ordinary people.
It highlighted inefficiency and corruption.
It showed that there were organisations which were capable of resisting a communist government.
It showed that communist governments could be threatened by ‘people power’.
Significance of solidarity
Soviet control
It also highlighted the nature of Soviet control.
The only thing that kept the communists in power was force or the threat of force backed by the USSR.
When Jaruzelski finally decided to use force, Solidarity was easily crushed.
This showed us that if military force was not used, then communist control seemed very shaky indeed.
If Soviet policy were to change, communist control would not survive
