Solidarity
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224702928
2008-07-10T01:10:08Z
Mladifilozof
589644
/* Further reading */
{{Wikify|date=June 2008}}
{{grammar}}
{{otheruses1|the [[Poland|Polish]] trade union}}
{{Infobox Union
|name= Solidarity
|members= 1,185,000 (2006)<ref>{{cite web
| title= WHAT IS THE NSZZ SOLIDARNOSC ?
| work= Solidarnosc.org
| url=http://www.solidarnosc.org.pl/english/about/eng_about_04.htm
| url=http://www.solidarity.gov.pl/
| accessdate=2006-07-06
}}</ref>
|full_name= Independent Self-governing Trade Union "Solidarity"
|native_name= Niezależny Samorządny Związek Zawodowy "Solidarność"
|image= [[Image:Solidarnosc.png]]
|founded= September 1980
|country= [[Poland]]
|affiliation= [[International Trade Union Confederation|ITUC]], [[ETUC]], [[TUAC]]
|office= [[Gdańsk]], Poland
|website=[http://www.solidarnosc.org.pl www.solidarnosc.org.pl]<br><small>[http://www.solidarnosc.org.pl/en/ (In English)]</small>
|footnotes=
|current=
|head=
|dissolved_date=
|dissolved_state= Merged into
|merged_into=
|people= [[Janusz Śniadek]], [[Lech Wałęsa]]
}}<!-- Include all unused fields for future use. See {{Infobox Union}} for usage. -->
'''Solidarity''' ({{audio-pl|Solidarność|Solidarnosc.ogg}} {{IPA2|sɔli'darnɔɕt͡ɕ}}; full name: '''Independent Self-governing Trade Union "Solidarity"''' — ''Niezależny Samorządny Związek Zawodowy "Solidarność"'' {{IPA2|ɲeza'lɛʐnɨ samɔ'ʐɔndnɨ 'zvjɔ̃zɛk zavɔ'dɔvɨ sɔli'darnɔɕt͡ɕ}}) is a [[Poland|Polish]] [[trade union]] [[federation]] founded in September 1980 at the [[Gdańsk Shipyard]], and originally led by [[Lech Wałęsa]].
It was the first non-communist trade union in a communist country. In the 1980s it constituted a broad [[anti-communist]] [[social movement]]. The government attempted to destroy the union during the [[Martial law in Poland|period of martial law in the early 1980s]] and several years of repression, but in the end it had to start negotiating with the union. The [[Polish Round Table Agreement|Roundtable Talks]] between the weakened government and Solidarity-led opposition led to [[Polish legislative elections, 1989|semi-free elections in 1989]]. By the end of August a Solidarity-led coalition government was formed and in December Wałęsa was elected [[President of Poland]].
Since then it has become a more traditional trade union, and had relatively little impact on the political scene of Poland in the early 1990s. A political arm was founded in 1996 as ''Solidarity Electoral Action'' ([[Akcja Wyborcza Solidarność|AWS]]) and won the [[Polish parliamentary election, 1997|1997 general election]], but lost all its seats in the following [[Polish parliamentary election, 2001|election]]. Currently, ''Solidarity'', or the remnants of it, has little political influence in modern Polish politics.
==History==
[[Image:Strike Gdansk 1980.jpg|thumb|right|200px|1980 strike at [[Gdańsk Shipyard]], birthplace of Solidarity.]]
{{main|History of Solidarity}}
Solidarity was founded in September 1980 at the [[Gdańsk Shipyard|Lenin Shipyards]], where [[Lech Wałęsa]] and others formed a broad [[anti-communist]] [[social movement]] ranging from people associated with the [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic Church]]<ref name = "Manfred" >{{cite book | last = Steger | first = Manfred B | title = Judging Nonviolence: The Dispute Between Realists and Idealists | url = http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&vid=ISBN0415933978&id=VEcHo6QcIUwC&pg=PA114&lpg=PA114&dq=Solidarity+Poland+nonviolence&sig=GWuOXmZbZewMdElsBsmhZh7uTFY | format = ebook | accessdate = 2006-07-09 | date = January 2004 | publisher = Routledge (UK) | id = ISBN 0-415-93397-8 | pages = p114 }}</ref> to members of the anti-communist [[Left-wing|Left]]. Solidarity advocated [[nonviolence]] in its members' activities.<ref>{{cite book
| editor = Paul Wehr, Guy Burgess, Heidi Burgess
| title = Justice Without Violence
| url =
http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&vid=ISBN1555874916&id=o8ipY9HVHmcC&dq=Solidarity+Poland+nonviolence&lpg=PA29&pg=PA28&sig=ot7HF0E-YXDJQ8_zMpuVSuvl8Ig
| format = ebook
| accessdate = 2006-07-06
| year = 1993
| month = Feb
| publisher = Lynne Rienner Publishers
| id = ISBN 1-55587-491-6
| pages = p28
}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
| last = Cavanaugh-O'Keefe
| first = John
| title = Emmanuel, Solidarity: God's Act, Our Response
| url = http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&vid=ISBN0738838640&id=_P9owylILP4C&pg=PA68&lpg=PA68&dq=Solidarity+Poland+nonviolence&sig=a531pYBFmXgNUIeXQ-PguOVwrts
| format = ebook
| accessdate = 2006-07-06
| year = 2001
| month = Jan
| publisher = Xlibris Corporation
| id = ISBN 0-7388-3864-0
| pages = p68
}}</ref> The government attempted to destroy the union with the [[Martial law in Poland|martial law of 1981]] and several years of repression, but in the end it had to start negotiating with the union.
In Poland, the [[Polish Round Table Agreement|Roundtable Talks]] between the weakened government and Solidarity-led opposition led to [[Polish legislative elections, 1989|semi-free elections in 1989]]. By the end of August a Solidarity-led coalition government was formed and in December [[Tadeusz Mazowiecki]] was elected [[Prime Minister of Poland|Prime Minister]]. Since 1989 Solidarity has become a more traditional trade union, and had relatively little impact on the political scene of Poland in the early 1990s. A political arm founded in 1996 as ''Solidarity Electoral Action'' ([[Akcja Wyborcza Solidarność|AWS]]) won the [[Polish parliamentary election, 1997|parliamentary election in 1997]], but lost the following [[Polish parliamentary election, 2001|2001 election]]. Currently Solidarity has little political influence in modern Polish politics.
== Catholic social teaching ==
In [[Solicitudo Rei Socialis]], a major document of [[Catholic Social Teaching]], [[Pope John Paul II]] identifies the concept of [[solidarity (Catholic Theology)|solidarity]] with the poor and marginalized as a constitutive element of the Gospel and human participation in the common good. The Roman Catholic Church, under the leadership of Pope John Paul II, was a very powerful supporter of the union and was greatly responsible for its success.
==Influence abroad==
The survival of Solidarity was an unprecedented event not only in Poland, a [[People's Republic of Poland|satellite state]] of the [[USSR]] ruled (in practice) by a [[Polish United Workers' Party|one-party]] [[communist state|Communist regime]], but the whole of the [[Eastern bloc]]. It meant a break in the hard-line stance of the communist [[Polish United Workers' Party]], which had bloodily ended a 1970 protest with machine gun fire (killing dozens and injuring over 1,000), and the broader [[Soviet]] communist regime in the Eastern Bloc, which had quelled both the 1956 [[Hungarian Revolution of 1956|Hungarian Uprising]] and the 1968 [[Prague Spring]] with Soviet-led invasions.
Solidarity's influence led to the intensification and spread of anti-communist ideals and movements throughout the countries of the Eastern Bloc, weakening their communist governments. The 1989 elections in Poland where anti-communist candidates won a striking victory sparked off a succession of peaceful [[anti-communist]] [[revolution]]s in [[Central Europe|Central]] and [[Eastern Europe]]<ref name = "Manfred" /> known as the [[Revolutions of 1989]] (''Jesień Ludów''). Solidarity's example was in various ways repeated by opposition groups throughout the Eastern Bloc, eventually leading to the Eastern Bloc's effectual dismantling, and contributing to the [[collapse of the Soviet Union]], in the early 1990s.
==Organization==
[[Image:Astilleros de Gdansk.jpg|thumb|right|500px|Gdańsk on 25th anniversary of Solidarity, summer 2005.]]
Formed in 1981, the union's supreme powers were vested in a [[legislature|legislative body]], the Convention of Delegates (''Zjazd Delegatów''). The [[Executive (government)|executive]] branch was the National Coordinating Commission (''Krajowa Komisja Porozumiewawcza''), later renamed the National Commission (''Komisja Krajowa''). The Union had a regional structure, comprising 38 regions (''region'') and two districts (''okręg''). During the communist era the 38 regional delegates were arrested and jailed when martial law came into effect 1983 under Jaruzelski. After a one year prison term the high-ranking members of the union were offered [[exile|one way trips]] to any country accepting them (Canada, United States, South Africa, Germany, Switzerland).
Solidarity was organized as an [[industrial union]], or more specifically according to the [[One Big Union (concept)|One Big Union]] principle, along the lines of the [[Industrial Workers of the World]] and the Spanish [[Confederación Nacional del Trabajo]] (workers in every trade were organized by region, rather than by [[craft unionism|craft]]).<ref name="WIEM">{{pl icon}} [http://portalwiedzy.onet.pl/12313,,,,solidarnosc_nszz,haslo.html Solidarność NSZZ] in [[WIEM Encyklopedia]]. Last accessed on 10 October 2006</ref>
Currently, Solidarity has more than 1.1 million members. National Commission of Independent Self-Governing Trade Union is located in [[Gdańsk]] and is composed of Delegates from Regional General Congresses.
{{Expand-section|date=June 2008}}
==Chairmen==
* [[Lech Wałęsa]] 1980-1990
* [[Marian Krzaklewski]] 1991-2002
* [[Janusz Śniadek]] 2002-
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
{{wikisourcelang|pl|Statut NSZZ SOLIDARNOŚĆ|Solidarity}}
{{commonscat|Solidarność}}
*[http://www.solidarnosc.org.pl/en/ Solidarity official English homepage]
* [http://www.solidarnosc.gov.pl/ Presentation The Solidarity Phenomenon] ([[Polish language|PL]], [[English language|EN]], [[German language|DE]], [[French language|FR]], [[Spanish language|ES]], [[Russian language|RU]])
*[http://www.solidarity.org.pl/cgi-bin/news.pl?lang=en Solidarity 25th Anniversary Press Center]
*[http://www.solidarnosc25.pl International Conference 'From Solidarity to Freedom']
*[http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/poland.htm Advice for East German propagandists on how to deal with the Solidarity movement]
*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/special_report/1999/09/99/iron_curtain/timelines/poland_80.stm The Birth of Solidarity on BBC]
*[http://culture.polishsite.us/articles/art52.html Solidarity, Freedom and Economical Crisis in Poland, 1980-81]
*[http://www.isj.org.uk/index.php4?id=136&issue=108 The rise of Solidarność], [[Colin Barker]], [[International Socialism (journal)|International Socialism]], Issue: 108
*[http://www.aft.org/pubs-reports/american_educator/issues/summer2005/puddington.htm Arch Puddington, How American Unions Helps Solidarity Win]
*[http://www.thenation.com/doc/19901217/singer Solidarity Lost], by [[Daniel Singer]]
*{{pl icon}} [http://www.fcs.org.pl Solidarity Center Fundation - Fundacja Centrum Solidarności]
*[http://www.podstantsiya.ru/?area=posts&id=99 A Simple Way to Learn an Old Song] A radio programme about the song "Mury", the anthem of Solidarność. In Russian with English transcript
==Further reading==
* {{cite book
| last = Garton Ash
| first = Timothy
| authorlink = Timothy Garton Ash
| title = The Polish Revolution: Solidarity
| date= 2002
| publisher = Yale University Press
| id = ISBN 0-300-09568-6
}}
* {{cite book
| last = Eringer
| first = Robert
| authorlink = Robert Eringer
| title = Strike for Freedom: The Story of Lech Walesa and Polish Solidarity
| date= 1982
| publisher = Dodd Mead
| id = ISBN 0-396-08065-0
}}
* {{cite book
| last = Kaminski
| first = Marek M.
| authorlink = Marek M. Kaminski
| title = Games Prisoners Play
| url = http://webfiles.uci.edu/mkaminsk/www/book.html
| date= 2004
| publisher = Princeton University Press
| id = ISBN 0-691-11721-7
}}
* {{cite book
| last = Kenney
| first = Patrick
| authorlink = Patrick Kenney
| title = A Carnival of Revolution : Central Europe 1989
| date= 2003
| publisher = Princeton University Press
| id = ISBN 0-691-11627-X
}}
* {{cite book
| last = Kenney
| first = Patrick
| title = The Burdens of Freedom
| date= 2006
| publisher = Zed Books Ltd.
| id = ISBN 1-84277-662-2
}}
* {{cite book
| last = Osa
| first = Maryjane
| authorlink = Maryjane Osa
| title = Solidarity and Contention: Networks of Polish Opposition
| date= 2003
| publisher = University of Minnesota Press
| id = ISBN 0-8166-3874-8
}}
* {{cite book
| last = Ost
| first = David
| authorlink = David Ost
| title = The Defeat Of Solidarity: Anger and Politics in Postcommunist Europe
| url = http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0801443180&id=KD8Q4RX375QC&vq=OPZZ&dq=OPZZ
| format = ebook
| date= 2005
| publisher = Cornell University Press
| id = ISBN 0-8014-4318-0
}}
* {{cite book
| last = Penn
| first = Shana
| authorlink = Shana Penn
| title = Solidarity's Secret : The Women Who Defeated Communism in Poland
| date= 2005
| publisher = University of Michigan Press
| id = ISBN 0-472-11385-2
}}
* {{cite book
| last = Perdue
| first = William D.
| authorlink = William D. Perdue
| title = Paradox of Change: The Rise and Fall of Solidarity in the New Poland
| date= 1995
| publisher = Praeger/Greenwood
| id = ISBN 0-275-95295-9
}}
* {{cite book
| last = Kubik
| first = Jan
| authorlink = Jan Kubik
| title = The Power of Symbols Against the Symbols of Power: The rise of Solidarity and the fall of state socialism in Poland
| date= 1994
| publisher = The Pennsylvania State University
| id = ISBN 0-271-01084-3
}}
* [[Pope John Paul II]], ''Sollicitudo Rei Socialis'', [http://www.vatican.va/edocs/ENG0223/_INDEX.HTM on Vatican website]
{{Cold War}}
[[Category:Solidarity| ]]
[[Category:National liberation movements]]
[[af:Solidarność]]
[[br:Solidarność]]
[[ca:Solidarność]]
[[cs:Solidarita]]
[[da:Solidarność]]
[[de:Solidarność]]
[[es:Solidarność]]
[[eo:Solidareco (Pollando)]]
[[fr:Solidarność]]
[[hr:Solidarnost]]
[[id:Solidarność]]
[[is:Samstaða]]
[[it:Solidarność]]
[[he:סולידריות (תנועה)]]
[[csb:Solidarnosc (warkòwô zrzesz)]]
[[lt:Solidarumas]]
[[hu:Szolidaritás Független Szakszervezet]]
[[nl:Solidarność]]
[[ja:独立自主管理労働組合「連帯」]]
[[no:Solidaritet (fagforbund)]]
[[pl:Niezależny Samorządny Związek Zawodowy "Solidarność"]]
[[pt:Solidarność]]
[[ro:Solidaritatea]]
[[ru:Солидарность (профсоюз)]]
[[scn:Solidarność]]
[[sk:Solidarita (Poľsko)]]
[[sl:Solidarność]]
[[fi:Solidaarisuus]]
[[sv:Solidaritet (fackförening)]]
[[uk:Солідарність (профспілка)]]
[[zh:團結工聯]]