As returns began to roll in at Solidarity election offices around Poland on June 4, weeks of tension gave way to joy but then quickly turned to fear. The joy flowed from the sweeping victory that Solidarity-backed candidates had won in Poland's first genuine election under communist rule. The fear flowed from the astonishing margin of that victory, dealing the communist government a defeat so humiliating that some Solidarity activists could not believe the authorities would allow the count to be completed and announced. Perhaps instead the government would tear a page from Panamanian ruler Manuel Noriega's book and simply abort the election. These fears, fortunately, proved unfounded. Honorably, the authorities swallowed their bitter pill, feeling, in the words of Central Committee member Janusz Reykowski, "like soldiers of a defeated army."
The margin of the outcome shocked the opposition as well as the government. During the brief campaign Solidarity activists had worried that the election was as much a trap as an opportunity. They faced huge logistical hurdles without the time to overcome them. This, as they say in the communist world, was no accident. During the hard bargaining of last spring's "roundtable" talks, government negotiators made many concessions, but one item on which they would not budge was the early date for elections--less than two months from signing the agreement. When asked why he was so adamant about holding the election quickly, the chief government negotiator (also the interior minister) said, "I want to win them."
The authorities processed elaborate machinery for communicating, mounting a campaign, and organizing their supporters--offices, equipment, staff, publications, and party structure. The opposition lacked all of these things, except publications, scores of which have flourished in the Polish underground in recent years, but even these included none of mass circulation. The challenge it now faced was to organize a nationwide campaign in 150 districts and to train volunteers without the use of such elementary amenities as telephones and coping machines.
During a visit to Poland just a month before the election, I found opposition activists almost uniformly pessimistic about its outcome. They did not fear that they would lose outright, but they doubted they would win the kind of decisive victory that would vindicate their position. The doubts rose both from their daunting material disadvantages and also, it seemed, from uncertainty about the true dimension of their popular support. Before the election, they could gauge their support only on the basis of the numbers of people willing to turn out for demonstrations or to take part in other illegal activities. This led the activists to overestimate the cynicism of the populace.
Organizing a party
The opposition's first and most pressing need was for some kind of political structure. All opposition parties had been suppressed 40 years ago when the communists took power (except for some rump bodies co-opted by the communists as part of their "salami tactics" that have served in "coalition" with them ever since). Solidarity is the opposition's only mass organization, but it is a labor union, not a party, and is determined to maintain that distinction. Its leaders recognized, however, that only it could provide an infrastructure for the opposition's election campaign.
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