14 Apr 2021

What Do You Mean By Gdansk Agreement

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6) the implementation of actions aimed at getting the country out of its crisis situation by the following means: (a) the publication of comprehensive information on the socio-economic situation and b) the participation of all sectors and social strata in the debate on the reform programme. According to the Gdansk agreement, “by invoking new independent, self-administered trade unions, the Inter-Factory Strike Committee (Miedzyzakadowy Komitet Strajkowy, APHTEUS) stated that these unions would respect the rules established by the Constitution of the Polish People`s Republic. The new unions would defend the social and economic interests of workers and should not play the role of political party. They were based on the principle of social self-ownership of the means of production, which formed the basis of the socialist political system currently in force in Poland. Unions, while recognizing the party`s leadership role in public affairs, without attempting to undermine the established network of international alliances, have tried to ensure that workers have the appropriate means to control, express their opinions and protect their interests. [5] This provision covered the climax of the agreement. The authority of the state remained that of the party: the union members pledged not to undermine the PZPR`s monopoly in this area. This is why the striking workers took the deliberate decision not to seek free elections to Parliament and national councils (decided for the local authorities of the Polish People`s Republic, which has now emerged as the twenty-second request. If this abandoned requirement was in line with the principle of the power of the people (which the trade unions adopted), it was also explicitly conflicted with the constitutional order of the Polish People`s Republic. The striking workers hoped that in exchange, the party would withdraw from its supervisory function with regard to the activities of social organizations and recognize Solidarity as a social control institution empowered to exercise a veto over important economic issues.

Like other prominent figures among the strikers, the city had a brief episode of forced cooperation with the political police, meaning that the authorities allegedly believed that resistance to the system could be easily contained and controlled. Tadeusz Kowalik, an adviser to the Inter-Factory Strike Committee, said: “We used the phrase `the party`s leading role in the state` because we believe it means protecting non-governmental and social organizations from party interference. The state was synonymous with state authority and we wanted to limit the supremacy of the Communist Party to this area alone. We thought that the formula has led institutions far beyond, since it has given the leading role of the party in the construction of socialism, which supposedly involved the whole of society. On the other hand, we meant that we do not question the power of the communists in politics, regardless of the party`s support in society. In exchange, the party would commit not to blow up its true sphere of influence, which depended on the reliability of the party. As far as the new unions were concerned, this meant that the party apparatus would have no authority over them. [6] Thus, the party was to remain the highest political power, but from that moment on, society had the right to inspire and control the party`s important decisions. Lech Wassa saw the division of powers as follows: “When it comes to governing, we are not so sharp. That is where we have the least to say. Governing is for experienced people, for lawyers – and some of us can`t even spell properly; After all, we are workers.

What we want to be is not pushers, but activists and controllers. [7] “These new trade unions are supposed to defend the social and material interests of workers and not play the role of a political party, they will be based on the socialization of the means of production and the socialist system that exists today in Poland. [7] Other main concerns were control of trade prices, the use of foreign funds in all domestic economic activities

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