poland

Question 1

Poznan Uprising

Answer 1

1956

• Strike, demonstration started by workers (but joined in by students and intellectuals) in aims of improving working conditions in factory
• shooting broke out & over 50 people were killed
• they also demanded freedom FOR Roman Catholic Church and an end of Soviet domination
• Polish army and Internal Security Corps suppressed it

Question 2

Polish October

Answer 2

• Gomulka becomes leader of Poland
• Kruschev flies to Poland upon hearing this but ultimately confirms Gomulka’s position.
• He was a figure in anti-Stalinist sentiment

Question 3

Solidarity Trade Union

Answer 3

1980 -1981
-Solidarity was the first non-Communist-controlled, independent trade union in a
Warsaw Pact country.
-Solidarity became a social movement.
-Its size was unprecedented
-insistence on non-violence(It did not even allow its members to drink during strikes to reduce the
possibility of violence)
- Its integration of citizens from every level of society, including the Catholic Church

Question 4

Lech Walesa

Answer 4

• electrician
• leader of Solidarity Trade Union
• president in democratically held election in 1990

Question 5

Round Table Talks

Answer 5

1989
• The re-legalization of Solidarity
• Elections in which parties other than the Communists would be able to field
candidates

Question 6

The Solidarity Crisis in Poland

Answer 6

1980-1981
-government decided to raise
prices while slowing the growth of wages.
• A wave of strikes and factory occupations
• The workers developed an information network to spread news of their struggle
• On 14 August the shipyard workers began their strike at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk.
• The workers were led by electrician Lech Wałęsa, a former shipyard worker, who had
been dismissed in 1976.

the government signed an
agreement ratifying many of the workers' demands, including
– the right to strike
– to establish independent trade unions
– freedom of expression