Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Poland
- geography
- border: West/East
- SU sees as defense
- Key Characters
- Lech Walesa
- electrician
- founder of Solidarity
- mustache
- Pope John Paul II
- From Poland
- supporter of Solidarity
- So Communists hate him
- Life Under Communism (Pre Revolution)
- Secret
Police
- Limited media
- Constitution
- USSR's puppet
- Tensions Rise
- Food Prices Rise
- 1st protest: Gdansk
- 80 shot/beaten
- Walesa Asks Govt for Martyrs of Gdansk
- Communists: "NO"
- Walesa gets active
- 30,000 pamphlets
- Solidarnosc (Solidarity) formed in 1980
- 17,000 workers strike
- 21 Postulates issued
- Polish Communist govt gives in...for a bit
- Membership explodes: 1 to 9 million
- Things Heat up
- Solidarity legal until...
- Dec 1981 (Merry Christmas!)
- new management (i.e. stronger Communist/USSR tied govt)
- Walesa in prison until 1983
- Upon release: continues work 'underground' 1983-1988
- World Media Picks UP
- Nobel Peace Prize 1983
- Had to send wife (afraid Poland wouldn't let him back in!)
- Margaret Thatcher (UK) endorses
- UK and US pressure Poland: no loans unless Solidarity recognized
- Pope JP actively discusses Poland
- Goes to Poland and meets with Walesa
- Gets support from US trade unions
- Gorbachev says he won't defend Communism in satellite states with force (see note upper right)
Anmerkungen:
- The handout says 1981...but Gorbi didn't take office until 1985, so there seems to be an error here...careful
- Civic Committee formed
- OK, I am unclear on what this group is and why it was formed...
- Round Table Talks Feb-April 1989
- Communists giving in to talks
- Why?
- Economic weakness of Poland
- Building pressure from the West (esp UK and US
- Agreements
- Solidarity Legalized Again
- Strikes legal
- Independent judiciary
- Free market Economy
- Free elections with Senate re-established
- Solidarity Sweep Election
- Walesa Pres 1990
- Mazowiecki formed first government from 1989
- Impact of the Polish Revolution on the Cold War
- Poland: The Catalyst for
- Hungary
- E. Germany
- Lech invited to break down part of Berlin Wall
- Czechoslovakia
- Was this Revolution a Success of Failure?
- +
- democratic now
- personal freedoms
- mostly non-violent
- Standard of Living better
- -
- some deaths/injuries during revolution
- Solidarity itself sort of toothless now