What happen in Poland in 1989

In 1989 all Eastern Europe was framed in pro-democratic anti-communist revolutions.

In Poland, the process of political change took place through the "Solidarity" union, which constituted the largest opposition movement to the government since 1981. The massive strikes sponsored by "Solidarity" from April to September 1988 urged the military regime of General Wojciech Jaruzelski to negotiate with this union so that non-communist political leaders could join the government, since the Jaruzelski regime tried to avoid violent repression by noting that it had not served to neutralize Solidarity in the early 1980s.

These pacts allowed the initiation of the so-called "Round Table Agreements" from February 6 to April 4, 1989, establishing the legal recognition of the Solidarity union and the opening of a democratic transition process with elections to the Polish parliament and a recently restored Senate of Poland setting the elections for June 4. The Polish Unified Workers Party (POUP), organ of the communist regime, accepted the agreements in exchange for the cessation of mass strikes sponsored by "Solidarity".

The elections were only partially free, because although the newly created Senate had 100 seats available for all political groups, in the Sejm only 161 new seats were created, and all existing ones (299 seats) will continue in the power of the Workers Party (POUP) after the Polish elections on June 4. At the same time, the Jaruzelski government still had a monopoly on the media and had more resources for electoral propaganda.

Even so, the results of the Polish elections of June 4, were very adverse to the communist regime: the candidates sponsored by "Solidarity" occupied 99 seats in the Senate (the rest was occupied by an independent candidate, also opposed to the regime) and won 160 seats. of the 161 seats available in the Sejm (the remaining seat was obtained by a Communist candidate), which indicated a serious reduction in popular support for the regime.

The parliamentary bloc related to the communist government began to dissolve before the adverse results, while some reformist leaders of the POUP advocated for the conservative wing of Jaruzelski's regime to accept the reforms proposed by Solidarity in the country's economy and politics. The refusal of the USSR to provide political or military support to the Jaruzelski regime accelerated the decomposition of the government bloc in the Sejm and facilitated the emergence in Poland of the first non-communist government since 1948, presided over by Tadeusz Mazowiecki, on August 24, 1989; it forced presidential elections for May of 1990. In those elections the maximum leader of the union "Solidarity", Lech Walesa would be elected president of Poland.

The correct answer is: "The Revolutions of 1989"

The Revolutions of 1989 affected Poland and also other Central and Eastern European countries and meant the end of the communist rule in those territories.

The whole sequence of events described above started in Poland in 1989, where a wave of strikes and of unrest, managed to force the legalisation of the trade union called 'Solidarity' and the celebration of partially-free elections. The election finished with an overwhelming victory of the candidates from Solidarity and gave rise to pacific transition out of communism.