Poland’s 1980 strike spawned Solidarity, doomed communists focus 08/30/2010

Poland’s 1980 strike spawned Solidarity, doomed communists

focus

08/30/2010
WARSAW — Thirty years ago, Poland was squarely in the global spotlight as a strike spawned Solidarity, the communist bloc’s first free trade union which later brought down the regime.

Aug. 31, 1980 saw a watershed accord between communist authorities and the striking shipyard workers of the Baltic city of Gdansk, led by charismatic electrician Lech Walesa.

With Polish media muzzled by official censors, the tense days were recounted by foreign correspondents.

“Special forces are on view in Gdansk,” reported an AFP correspondent on Aug. 19, amid fears that the regime would crush the strike as it had done repeatedly in the past, possibly with the help of its Soviet allies.

The strike had begun on Aug. 14. Like several previous protest waves in communist-era Poland, it was a response to price rises by the regime, which controlled the economy.

But it took on a political dimension. The movement was to snowball nationwide, eventually drawing in 10 million Poles, or over one in four.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/