Transformations in the polish social environment in the 1980s

Abstract

An approach focusing on ‘man's social environment’ is useful for analysing recent change in Poland. A growing awareness of the disharmony between the proclaimed socialist values and the existing structure of the world of goods and institutions at the start of the 1980s can be explained by the relative openness of Polish society and, secondly, by a renaissance of pride‐related values. Only the first of the Solidarity movement's four dimensions ‐ trade‐unionist, economic, socio‐political and national — was institutionalized in 1980–81, but Solidarity did manage to create a project‐vision of the ‘self‐governing republic’. The state of war period saw a weakening of the belief in the effectiveness of group action, yet at the same time the system's own impotence was revealed more clearly than ever. The ‘round table’ was the last ‘festival’ congruent with the ethos of Solidarity, but the problem of the transformation of the institutions of power found its way on to the agenda. Poland's future will depend on the extent to which Solidarity's three institutionalizations ‐ trade union, movement to workers' self‐government, and citizens' committees — will create elites that will command trust and will guarantee the realization of both social and pragmatic values acceptable to the Polish people.