History of Solidarity - Party and Trade Union (1989 To The Present)

Party and Trade Union (1989 To The Present)

The fall of the communist regime marked a new chapter in the history of Poland and in the history of Solidarity. Having defeated the communist government, Solidarity found itself in a role it was much less prepared for — that of a political party — and soon began to lose popularity. Conflicts among Solidarity factions intensified. Wałęsa was elected Solidarity chairman, but support for him could be seen to be crumbling. One of his main opponents, Władysław Frasyniuk, withdrew from elections altogether. In September 1990, Wałęsa declared that Gazeta Wyborcza had no right to use the Solidarity logo.

Later that month, Wałęsa announced his intent to run for president of Poland. In December 1990, he was elected president. He resigned his Solidarity post and became the first president of Poland ever to be elected by popular vote.

Next year, in February 1991, Marian Krzaklewski was elected the leader of Solidarity. President Wałęsa's vision and that of the new Solidarity leadership were diverging. Far from supporting Wałęsa, Solidarity was becoming increasingly critical of the government, and decided to create its own political party for action in the upcoming 1991 parliamentary elections.

The 1991 elections were characterized by a large number of competing parties, many claiming the legacy of anti-communism, and the Solidarity party garnered only 5% of the votes.

On January 13, 1992, Solidarity declared its first strike against the democratically elected government: a one-hour strike against a proposal to raise energy prices. Another, two-hour strike took place on December 14. On May 19, 1993, Solidarity deputies proposed a no-confidence motion—which passed—against the government of Prime Minister Hanna Suchocka. President Wałęsa declined to accept the prime minister's resignation, and dismissed the parliament.

It was in the ensuing 1993 parliamentary elections that it became evident how much Solidarity's support had eroded in the previous three years. Even though some Solidarity deputies sought to assume a more left-wing stance and to distance themselves from the right-wing government, Solidarity remained identified in the public mind with that government. Hence it suffered from the growing disillusionment of the populace, as the transition from a communist to a capitalist system failed to generate instant wealth and raise Poland's living standards to those in the West, and the government's financial "shock therapy" (the Balcerowicz Plan) generated much opposition.

In the elections, Solidarity received only 4.9% of the votes, 0.1% less than the 5% required in order to enter parliament (Solidarity still had 9 senators, 2 fewer than in the previous Senate). The victorious party was the Democratic Left Alliance (Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej or SLD), a post-communist left-wing party.

Solidarity now joined forces with its erstwhile enemy, the All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions (OPZZ), and some protests were organized by both trade unions. The following year, Solidarity organized many strikes over the state of the Polish mining industry. In 1995, a demonstration before the Polish parliament was broken up by the police (now again known as policja) using batons and water guns. Nonetheless, Solidarity decided to support Wałęsa in the 1995 presidential elections.

In a second major defeat for the Polish right wing, the elections were won by an SLD candidate, Aleksander Kwaśniewski, who received 51.72% of votes. A Solidarity call for new elections went unheeded, but the Sejm still managed to pass a resolution condemning the 1981 martial law (despite the SLD voting against). Meanwhile the left-wing OPZZ trade union had acquired 2.5 million members, twice as many as the contemporary Solidarity (with 1.3 million).

In June 1996, Solidarity Electoral Action (Akcja Wyborcza Solidarność) was founded as a coalition of over 30 right-wing parties, uniting liberal, conservative and Christian-democratic forces. As the public became disillusioned with the SLD and its allies, AWS was victorious in the 1997 parliamentary elections. Jerzy Buzek became the new prime minister.

However, controversies over domestic reforms, Poland's 1999 entry into NATO, and the accession process to the European Union, combined with AWS' fights with its political allies (the Freedom Union—Unia Wolności) and infighting within AWS itself, as well as corruption, eventually resulted in the loss of much public support. AWS leader Marian Krzaklewski lost the 2000 presidential election, and in the 2001 parliamentary elections AWS failed to elect a single deputy to the parliament. After this debacle, Krzaklewski was replaced by Janusz Śniadek (in 2002) but the union decided to distance itself from politics.

In 2006, Solidarity had some 1.5 million members making it the largest trade union in Poland. Its mission statement declares that Solidarity, "basing its activities on Christian ethics and Catholic social teachings, works to protect workers' interests and to fulfill their material, social and cultural aspirations."