The Transition of the Polish Political System upon the Roundtable Talk Agreement

Abstract

Poland’s socialist system collapsed in 1989. After the Communist regime imposed in 1945 the Polish people have an endless struggle throughout 1956, 1970, 1976, 1980. The Solidarity, a Polish non-governmental trade union, began on 1980, at the Gdansk Shipyards at its founding by legendary leader, Lech Walesa. Solidarity gave rise to a broad, anti-communist social movement and it is considered to have contributed greatly to the fall of communism. Poland’s communist government attempted to destroy the union by several years of political repression, but in the end was forced into negotiation. The Roundtable Talks between the government and the Solidarity-led opposition resulted in semi-free elections in 1989. The June election brought about surprising results. Solidarity candidates captured all the seats they were allowed to compete for in the Sejm, while in the Senate they captured 99 out of the 100 available seats. On August 24, when Mazowiecki, who was the closest aide of Walesa, was elected as Prime Minister by the Parliament, he became the first democratic Prime Minister in Eastern Europe since its communization in 1945. On December 29, when an amendment was passed by the Parliament, the clause about the Communist Party’s leading role was deleted from the Preamble to the Constitution, and the name of Poland was changed to the Republic of Poland after removing the word ‘People’s’ from the Polish People’s Republic.