‘A time of greatness’

WARSAW – From the heady days of 1980 when Solidarity rose out of the victory of a Polish workers’ battle for greater rights and better working conditions, the movement has now become just another trade union.

Claiming a membership of 10 million, out of Poland’s then total population of 35,6 million, 25 years ago, the allure of Solidarity has waned with time, and with the huge transition Poland has undergone since the end of communism in 1989. When it was created during the August 1980 strike at the sprawling Lenin shipyard in Gdansk, Solidarity “was a unique social phenomenon.People from the left and right, nationalists, liberals and conservatives, Catholics and atheists, joined forces to fight against a common enemy, the communist regime,” said Stanislaw Mocek, a sociologist at the Polish Academy of Science.One of Solidarity’s founders and leaders, Lech Walesa, called the early years of the movement “the time of greatness …when we created this 10-million-people monopoly and we defeated communism”.”The solidarity of the people was great and everyone saw it all over the world,” Walesa told AFP.But Walesa and Mocek both agree that those days are now history.”Those times are almost mythical, for the new generation, it’s history,” said Mocek.According to Walesa, Solidarity went from its period of greatness to one of divisions, and then one of everyone looking after their own interests.”Of course, I would have preferred to stay in the first chapter, but how would we have changed the system?” said Walesa.The end of Solidarity’s glory days came when General Wojciech Jaruzelski banned the union in 1981, jailed its leaders and declared martial law in Poland.Although Solidarity was re-legalised in 1989, and dealt a crushing blow to communism by roundly winning legislative elections the same year, it was never to return to its days of what Walesa describes as “the greatest people’s monopoly of all time”.- Nampa-AFPWhen it was created during the August 1980 strike at the sprawling Lenin shipyard in Gdansk, Solidarity “was a unique social phenomenon.People from the left and right, nationalists, liberals and conservatives, Catholics and atheists, joined forces to fight against a common enemy, the communist regime,” said Stanislaw Mocek, a sociologist at the Polish Academy of Science.One of Solidarity’s founders and leaders, Lech Walesa, called the early years of the movement “the time of greatness …when we created this 10-million-people monopoly and we defeated communism”.”The solidarity of the people was great and everyone saw it all over the world,” Walesa told AFP.But Walesa and Mocek both agree that those days are now history.”Those times are almost mythical, for the new generation, it’s history,” said Mocek.According to Walesa, Solidarity went from its period of greatness to one of divisions, and then one of everyone looking after their own interests.”Of course, I would have preferred to stay in the first chapter, but how would we have changed the system?” said Walesa.The end of Solidarity’s glory days came when General Wojciech Jaruzelski banned the union in 1981, jailed its leaders and declared martial law in Poland.Although Solidarity was re-legalised in 1989, and dealt a crushing blow to communism by roundly winning legislative elections the same year, it was never to return to its days of what Walesa describes as “the greatest people’s monopoly of all time”.- Nampa-AFP