The Continuity of the Image of Solidarity

Abstract

While many volumes have been written about the trade union Solidarity, two central themes have guided research on this topic. They either deal with Solidarity’s unity or with its splitting apart.¹ Before December 1981 the contrast between us (Solidarity/society) and them (the communist state) had been constitutive. Despite the complex political situation, the one-dimensionality of Solidarity’s self-image in 1980 and 1981 took into account only two forces: ‘us ‘and ‘them’ (Staniszkis, 1984:145–6). In order to highlight the refusal of the communist regime, and inspired by experiences of the Gdansk community (Kubik, 1994a), unity became the catchword after the August strikes of 1980 had finished. Against currents that favoured a decentralized union organization, a unified Solidarity with its core in Gdansk became essential to streng then Solidarity’s collective identity (Ost, 1990:101–2). To a large extent, it was the claim of total representation of society against and outside the communist system that sustained Solidarity’s unity before the proclamation of martial law.