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82 SOLIDARITY
Poles you should know - Lech Wałęsa
Credited as the driving
force behind the
Solidarity movement,
as well as the man
who revived a postcommunist
Poland,
Lech Wałęsa remains,
for many, the public
face of Poland, as well © Stanisław Składanowski
as Gdansk’s most famous
resident.
Born on September 23, 1943 Wałęsa’s early life was
largely anonymous. Working in his early days as a
mechanic it was only in 1967 when he began work at
Gdansk’s Lenin Shipyards that he began his rise to
prominence. A keen trade unionist he frequently found
himself in trouble with the authorities, and his political
activities led to a stint in prison that ultimately cost
him his job.
In 1980, with the shipyards on strike, an unemployed
Wałęsa scaled a wall, gave an impromptu speech and
found himself thrust in the spotlight as the accidental
hero of the protests. Having successfully led negotiations
for workers rights it was he who signed the August
Accords of 1980. Ear-marked by the government as an
undesirable influence he was immediately placed under
house arrest when martial law was announced in 1981.
Released a year later, Walesa’s actions were recognized
in 1983 when he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
As the figurehead of the Solidarity movement, and with
the communist state crumbling, Wałęsa led roundtable
talks with the government to formulate a power-sharing
scheme. Partly free elections in 1989 led to blanket wins
for Solidarity, signalling the last days of communism.
In 1990 he became Poland’s first democratically elected,
post-communist president, a position he held until 1995.
Although still active in politics, he has seen his influence
wane - the 2000 presidential elections won him little over
1% of the public vote.
In recent years his outspoken style and maverick methods
have seen him fall foul of Poland’s intelligentsia;
although an inspirational orator and soapbox politician,
he is notorious for George W. Bush-style blunders, and
his decision to appoint his chauffeur and table-tennis
partner as an advisor in his latter years in power cost
him further credibility.
Having turned down a million dollar offer from Gillette to
shave off his moustache, Wałęsa did the deed himself
a couple of years back in a bid to increase his public
profile as a politician. It failed, and a once again mustached
Wałęsa finds himself on the political sidelines,
eclipsed by his son, Jarosław, one of his eight children,
and currently a member of the European parliament. But
while Wałęsa’s political days are over the anniversary of
the 1980 strikes have seen him catapult back into the
limelight. Since his political retirement he now spends his
days lecturing abroad, averaging some 15 international
visits per year, speaking on subjects close to his heart:
democracy, civil liberty and the free market. The recipient
of over 30 honary doctorates from international universities,
Wałęsa most recently found himself in the headlines
after a ruling confirmed that rumours he was a cold war
spy for the state were no more than scurrilous gossip. In
fact the courts revealed he was completely the opposite,
and the subject of intense personal survaillance by the
secret services.
Roads to Freedom (Drogi do Wolności) B-1, ul.
Wały Piastowskie 24, tel. (+48) 58 308 44 28, www.
ecs.gda.pl. ‘Many generations to come will remember
the extraordinary thing that happened in Poland, there
appeared a social force able to control those in power.’
Culture magazine, Paris, 1980. This is the second coming
of the Roads to Freedom exhibition and it is a place that
should feature highly on every visitor’s itinerary. Charting
the course of events from 1945 till 1989, this subterranean
exhibition does an excellent job of explaining the meteoric
rise and subsequent consequences of the Solidarity phenomena.
The exhibition kicks off by launching the visitor
into the world of the average Pole circa late 1970s - staring
you in the eye is a diorama depicting a typical grocery
store, it’s shelves empty but for a thin spread of vinegar
and mustard: practically the only goods which weren’t in
scant supply. The stark, cold reality of day-to-day life is
brought home with a thud, the sepia shots of ration queues
dispelling the myth of Utopian paradise. Following this
primer visitors are given a historical background to postwar
communism; not just in Poland, but across Europe.
Themes explored include the rising discontent, and heavy
emphasis is placed on the growing tides of unrest - starting
with the first open rebellion in 1956, the picture builds
to a crescendo by zooming in on December 1970, a time
when 45 people - the majority from the tri-city area - were
killed during clashes with armed forces. Protesting sharp
price increases events took a bloody twist when party
chairman Władysław Gomułka ordered security forces to
intervene, and the ensuing scenes are captured vividly in
the exhibitions on show; among them, camera captures and
video shots of the violence, much of it focused around the
Gdańsk Party HQ (the white building which stands opposite
the town hall on Wały Jagiellońskie). English translations
accompany the footage, while a mock cell based on those in
which protestors would have been detained in provides grim
Gdańsk In Your Pocket gdansk.inyourpocket.com
confirmation of the hardline reaction. The protests of 1970
were a landmark event, but these were just a precursor to
what would follow in 1980. Up next, passing by the head of
the omnipotent Lenin, the tour takes you deep into the time
of the 18 day strike which paralysed the nation, and left the
world on tenterhooks. To a background of rabble-rousing
speeches and strike anthems, visitors can view the original
sheets of plywood on which the demonstrators spelled out
their 21 demands in what would go on to become known
as the ‘August Accords’. Reconstructed is a mock-up of the
room in which negotiations were held, tables topped with
huge transistor radios to tap into news from the outside
world. The creation of the iconic Solidarity logo, as well
as the unifying role of the Catholic church, is also given
detailed mention, and by this stage visitors are left feeling
hopelessly sucked into the heady atmosphere of the time.
Following this, the prescribed tour takes you through the
months of ‘Solidarity and Hope’, an unprecedented time
during which cultural life and social freedom flourished like
never before. The optimism during the 16 months which
followed the events of August 1980 are neatly presented by
way of audio recordings, artwork and photos, a brief respite
from the horror that swiftly follows; accessed through some
rubber curtains the visitor is propelled into the terrifying
world that was Poland, 13 December, 1981. It was on this
watershed day that General Jaruzelski ordered Martial Law,
ordering the army to effectively invade its own country. The
brutality and tension of these times is illustrated by crackly
film reels showing pitch battles with security forces - including
one uncomfortable moment when an army vehicle
smashes straight over a dissident - as well as extras such
riot shields and weaponry used to enforce Martial Law.
Jaruzelski’s speech, the televised decree announcing his
action, loops with gloomy regularity, as if to punch in the
severity of his stance. And yet, in spite of the overwhelming
odds, resistance to the regime continued to rage, and this
is marked by dioramas depicting an underground printing
press, as well assorted anti-establishment exhibits. The
concluding sections include the nation’s historical timeline
from 1944 to 1989 and the final room is the base for temporary
exhibitions which are held regularly.
Truly, Roads to Freedom stands out as one of the finest
museums in Poland - possibly only usurped by the newly
opened Chopin Museum in Warsaw - however, it has not
existed without problems. The exhibition has since moved
from its original home in the historic shipyards, and while
a return to the BHP building in which the August Accords
were signed is unlikely, the exhibition is due to move to the
European Solidarity Centre building when that is completed.
QOpen 10:00 - 18:00. Closed Mon. Admission 6/4zł, Wed
2zł, groups over 10 people 3zł per person, family ticket
10zł. Y
gdansk.inyourpocket.com
Further reading
SOLIDARITY
The Polish Revolution: Solidarity
by Timothy Garton Ash
Winner of the Somerset Maugham Award ‘The Polish
Revolution: Solidarity‘ counts as the seminal work covering
the Solidarity era, and ranks as one of the most
important books written on post-war European history.
As one of a handful of Western journalists based in Poland
throughout the 1980s, Timothy Garton Ash offers
an insider, eye-witness account, from his arrival to what
was then the Lenin Shipyards, to a 1997 meeting with
General Jaruzelski in post-communist, capitalist Poland.
First penned in 1983, the book has been re-published
three times, most recently in 2002. However revisions
to the text have been kept to a minimum.
Although postscript chapters have been added, much of the
original text remains the same, and his prose is a tense,
bleak reflection on the times. Written at the height of the
cold war, the author is left to reflect in one of the concluding
chapters ‘There is no historical law which says that
empires must evolve peacefully, and the post-war history
of Eastern Europe gives us little reason to believe this one
will. It is therefore probable that those tensions will not be
reduced, and we shall, sooner or later, face a nuclear war‘.
There is little cause for optimism in Ash‘s original work, and
the author clearly holds the view that Poland is doomed to
remain under the thumb of the Kremlin for decades to come.
Covering the meteoric rise of Solidarity - within months
of its inception some ten million Poles were members,
including some 30% of the ruling Communist elite - Ash
documents the innocence and idealism of the early
months, and of the imminent threat of Soviet invasion.
The background to the strikes is covered in detail - including
the protests in 1970 - and no stone is left unturned
in this meticulous work.
The key players in the drama are examined in minute
detail, and the author paints a vividly lifelike picture of Lech
Wałêsa: ‘Now he teases the crowd in Victory Square. His
speech is impossible to reproduce, disjointed, full of slang,
wildly ungrammatical, at times almost nonsensical… and
then the masterly common touch… was he speaking off
the top off his head? Either way, the crowd love it‘.
However it is the chapter on the declaration of Martial
Law that carries the most impact. Simply titled ‘War‘,
the shock and bewilderment of the governments actions
is carried through to the reader. ‘People could not
have been more taken aback if martians had landed‘,
comments one onlooker. Although expertly organized,
leaders of Solidarity were completely caught on the hop
by General Jaruzelski. Within hours communications had
been cut, and the lions share of leaders apprehended.
The tension of those days translates superbly into print.
As we know, Poland went on to buckle the communist
system, and this book serves as a superb window into
the past; an important reminder on a chapter of history
that is still relatively unknown in the west. In his
postscript the author examines the failings of Solidarity
post 1989, as well its role in the collapse of Soviet
Union. This is a weighty read, but the author succeeds
in turning a serious subject into an addictive lesson in
Poland‘s stormy past.
May - July 2012
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