Provost Lecture: Human Solidarity, Polish Solidarnosc

This panel discussion opened with an exhibit of photos and eyewitness testimonies documenting the rise of the Polish nonviolent social movement that began the end of communism in Europe. Moderator Izabela Kalinowska-Blackwood's opening remarks paid tribute to the fact that before the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, scholars associate the collapse of communism in Europe with the Solidarity movement beginning in 1980. She provided the background to the formation of Solidarnosc triggered in large part in the summer of 1980 when two workers at the Gdansk Shipyard were fired, coinciding with rising food prices in Poland. More than 16,000 workers staged a strike in protest over the dismissal of militant crane driver Anna Walentinowicz. In September, Solidarnosc was formed, the workers' first independent trade union, led by shipyard electrician Lech Walesa. As news of the protests slowly trickled to other parts of Poland, the strike-induced factory shutdowns forced the Polish government to give in to the workers' demands. Ewa Junczyk-Ziomecka spoke first, explaining that one-third of Poland's population of 30-million worked together to achieve freedom and democracy. But the uprising was hampered by a lack of social networks. In fact, only Radio Free Europe and the Voice of America provided news at the time and most citizens did not have access to telephones. Junczyk-Ziomecka was a journalist at the time and said that she felt that important events only happened during her parents' and grandparents' lives. Journalists were denied access at the shipyard but somehow several Polish journalists were able to gain entry and were greeted by applause from the grateful workers who envisioned that news stories would now be written about their plight. Polish Pope John Paul added his support as the people awaited a government reaction. Richard Hornik, who was the Warsaw bureau chief for Time magazine from 1981 to 1983, said that the Solidarity movement "fits in well with what's happening today in North Africa." He said that Poland has a strong sense of its history much like Egypt and the Polish people have "wonderful survival skills." In communist Poland, however, there was a shared sense of deprivation. "Everyone had nothing." Hornik said he traveled with Walesa, Time magazine's man of the year in 1981, extensively. Martial law was imposed, selective arrests were made and Poland pulled the plug on the telephone system. Hornik recalled that one of the ways the people achieved cohesiveness was they would take their televisions and when the state news came on they would point them out the window, indicating they were not watching what was being televised. The proliferation of the Polish underground press also contributed to the show of unity. Publishing companies began printing 300- and 400-page books on the economy, science, literature, and even how the stock market worked, educating the Polish people. What had worked for years keeping the people of Poland in line had been the social contract offered by the government — in exchange for economic stability the people were bound to give the government political docility. But the economic collapse negated the terms of that contract and by 1989 led to Solidarity's electoral victory on June 4, 1989. Tymowski gave pointers on how best to view the exhibit he helped produce, explaining that the 20 plates tell a sequential story. Eyewitness accounts, a narrative story line, photos, quotations from the American experience, and oral histories are designed to summarize and inspire. He invited Stony Brook students to inject an interactive component and submit quotes to him that they would have used as they scour the plates. Moran focused on that moment of uncertainty that people about to embark upon an act of social rebellion encounter. He provided the example of the four black friends who sat down in a college dorm in Greensboro, North Carolina, on January 31, 1960, and decided to ask for something to eat in a segregated whites-only lunch counter at Woolworth's the next day. "They didn't know what would happen," he said. "It could have been weeks, months or years before they were served."