[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 17083]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            TRIBUTE TO THE SOLIDARITY TRADE UNION IN POLAND

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Lipinski) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LIPINSKI. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the workers 
of the Solidarity Trade Union in Poland. On August 30 we will celebrate 
the 25th anniversary of the worker strikes in Poland that led to the 
unprecedented establishment of the Solidarity Trade Union.
  At the end of the Second World War, Poland was forcefully 
incorporated into the Soviet Union's Communist Bloc. By 1980, they 
endured decades of communism, with endemic corruption, the lies of its 
press, and its denial of basic human and worker rights.
  Although major strikes and uprisings had taken place, all of them had 
been put down violently by military forces and the leaders had been 
arrested.
  Things began to change in 1979 when Pope John Paul II, in his first 
official visit to his homeland, encouraged the people of Poland to be 
not afraid. Empowered by the Pope's words, Poles soon began standing up 
to their communist government.
  On August 14, 1980, at the Lenin Shipyard in the Baltic port city of 
Gdansk, 17,000 workers staged a strike under the leadership of Lech 
Walesa. Initially formed as a response to increases in the price of 
food and a dismissal of several popular workers, the strike soon 
evolved into a broad demand for workers' rights.
  In mid-August, 1980, an interfactory strike committee was established 
in Gdansk to coordinate rapidly spreading strikes there and elsewhere. 
Within a week, the committee presented the Polish Government with a 
list of 21 demands ranging from the right to join independent unions 
and an increase in the minimum wage to broader issues such as 
censorship.

                              {time}  1300

  On September 22, 1980, Solidarity was formally established and became 
the first independent labor union in any Soviet bloc country. By early 
1981 the trade union had a membership of about 10 million people and 
represented most of the workforce in Poland.
  In the early 1980s, Solidarity was forcibly suppressed by the 
Communist government and Solidarity was declared illegal. Although the 
union was formally dissolved, it continued as an underground 
organization. Solidarity reemerged in 1989 to become the first 
opposition movement to participate in free elections in a post-Soviet 
bloc nation since the 1940s.
  The case of Solidarity, the movement that ended communism in Poland 
without bloodshed, inspired other nations under Soviet control to do 
the same and led to the end of the Cold War.
  This year marks the 25th anniversary of the strikes in Poland. Let us 
remember Solidarity as the beginning of a great struggle that ended 
decades of oppression and tyranny in Eastern Europe and led to the 
establishment of democracy in Poland. We must recognize and forever 
remember the sacrifice, determination, and struggle that Poland endured 
to secure their freedom.

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