[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Page 15119]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 131--COMMEMORATING THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF 
    THE WORKERS' STRIKES IN POLAND THAT LED TO THE CREATION OF THE 
      INDEPENDENT TRADE UNION SOLIDARNOSC, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

  Mr. ROTH submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was 
referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

                            S. Con. Res. 131

       Whereas, in July and August of 1980, Polish workers went on 
     strike to protest communist oppression and demand greater 
     political freedom;
       Whereas, in the shipyards of Gdansk and Szczecin, workers' 
     committees coordinated these strikes and ensured that the 
     strikes were peaceful and orderly and did not promote acts of 
     violence;
       Whereas workers' protests against the communist authorities 
     in Poland were supported by the Polish people and the 
     international community of democracies;
       Whereas, on August 30 and 31 of 1980, the communist 
     government of the People's Republic of Poland yielded to the 
     21 demands of the striking workers, including the release of 
     all political prisoners, including Jacek Kuron and Adam 
     Michnik, the broadcasting of religious services on television 
     and radio, and the right to establish independent trade 
     unions;
       Whereas from these agreements emerged Solidarnosc, the 
     first independent trade union in the communist bloc, led by 
     Lech Walesa, an electrician from Gdansk;
       Whereas Solidarnosc and its 10,000,000 members became a 
     great social movement in Poland that was committed to 
     promoting fundamental human rights, democracy, and Polish 
     independence;
       Whereas, during its first congress in 1981, Solidarnosc 
     issued a proclamation urging workers in Soviet-bloc countries 
     to resist their communist governments and to struggle for 
     freedom and democracy;
       Whereas the communist government of Poland introduced 
     martial law in December 1981 in an attempt to block the 
     growing political and social influence of the Solidarnosc 
     movement;
       Whereas Solidarnosc remained a powerful and political force 
     that resisted the efforts of Poland's communist government to 
     suppress the desire of the Polish people for freedom, 
     democracy, and independence from the Soviet Union;
       Whereas, in February 1999, the communist government of 
     Poland agreed to conduct roundtable talks with Solidarnosc 
     that led to elections to the National Assembly in June of 
     that year, in which nearly all open seats were won by 
     candidates supported by Solidarnosc;
       Whereas, on August 19, 1999, Solidarity leader Tadeusz 
     Mazowiecki was asked to serve as Prime Minister of Poland and 
     on September 12, 1999, the Polish Sejm voted to approve Prime 
     Minister Mazowiecki and his cabinet, Poland's first 
     noncommunist government in 4 decades;
       Whereas, on December 9, 1990, Lech Walesa was elected 
     President of Poland;
       Whereas the Solidarnosc movement, by its courage and 
     example, initiated political transformations in other 
     countries in Central and Eastern Europe and thereby initiated 
     the collapse of the Soviet Bloc in 1989; and
       Whereas, since the time Poland freed itself from communist 
     domination, Polish-American relations have transformed from 
     partnership to alliance, a transition marked by Poland's 
     historic accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization 
     in March 1999: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That Congress--
       (1) commemorates the 20th anniversary of the workers' 
     strikes in Poland that lead to the creation of the 
     independent trade union Solidarnosc; and
       (2) honors the leaders of Poland who risked and lost their 
     lives in attempting to restore democracy in their country and 
     to return Poland to the democratic community of nations.

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