DEMOCRACY IN POLAND
Let us turn to another event, this time from Poland, in 1980.
At that time Poland was ruled by the Polish United Workers’ Party. This was one
of the many communist parties that ruled in several countries of East Europe at
that time. In these countries no other political party was allowed to function.
The people could not freely choose the leaders of the communist party or the
government. Those who spoke against the leaders or the party or the government
were put in prison. The government in Poland was supported and controlled by
the government of the Soviet Union (USSR), a vast and powerful communist state.
On 14 August 1980, the workers of Lenin Shipyard in the city
of Gdansk went on a strike. The shipyard was owned by the government. In fact
all the factories and big property in
Poland were owned by the government. The
strike began with a demand to take back a crane operator, a woman worker, who
was unjustly dismissed from service. This strike was illegal, because trade
unions independent in Poland. AS the strike continued, a former electrician of
the shipyard, Lech Walesa (pronounced Lek Walesha), joined the strikers. He was
dismissed from service in 1976 for demanding higher pay. Walesa soon emerged as
the leader of the striking workers. The strike began to spread across the whole
city. Now the workers started raising larger demands. They wanted the right to
form independent trade unions. They also demanded the release of political
prisoners and an end to censorship on press.
The movement became so popular that the government had to
give in. The workers led b Walesa signed a 21-point agreement with the
government that ended their strike. The government agreed to recognize the
workers’ right to form independent trade unions and their right to strike.
After the Gdansk agreement was signed, a new trade union called Solidarity
(Solidarnosc in Polish) was formed. It was the first time an independent trade
union was formed in any of the communist states. Within a years, Solidarity
swept across Poland and had about one crore members. Revelations of Widespread
corruption and mismanagement in the government made matters worse for the
rulers. The government, led by General Jaruzelski, grew anxious and imposed
martial law in December 1981. Thousands of Solidarity members were put in
prison. Freedom to organize, protest and express opinion was once again taken
away.
Another wave of strikes, again organized by Solidarity, began
in 1988. This time the Polish government was weaker, the support frm Soviet
Union uncertain and the economy was in decline. Another round of negotiations
with Walesa resulted in an agreement in April 1989 for free elections.
Solidarity contested all the 100 seats of the Senate and won 99 of them. In October
1990, Poland had its first presidential elections in which more than one party
could contest. Walesa was elected President of Poland.
TWO FEATURES OF DEMOCRACY
We have read two different kinds of real life stories. The
story from Chile was of a democratic government led by Allende being replaced
by a nin-democratic military government of Pinochet, followed by restoration of
democracr. In Poland we trackerd the transition from a non-democratic
government to a democratic government.
Let us compare the two non-democratic governments in these
stories. There were many differences between Pinochet’s rule in chile and the
communist rule in Poland. Chile was ruled by a military dictator, while Poland
was ruled by a political party. The government of Poland claimed that it was
ruling on behalf of the working classes. Pinochet made no such claim and openly
favoured big capitalists. Yet both had some common features:
·
The people could not choose or change their rulers.
· There was no real freedom to express
one’s opinions. form political associaltions and organize protests and
political action.
The three democratic governments identified above – Allende’s
Chile. Walesa’s Poland and Bachelet’s Chile – are different in their approach
towards social and economic matters. Allende preferred government control on
all big industries and the economy. Walesa wanted the market to be free of
government inderference. Bachelet stands somewhere in the middle on this issue.
Yet these three governments shared some basic features. Power was exercised by
governments elected by the people and not by the army, unelected leaders or any
external power. The people enjoyed some basic political freedoms.
From these two stories let us draw a rough way to identify a
democracy. Democracy is a form of government that allows people to choose their
rulers. In’a democracy:
·
only leaders elected by people should rule the country, and
·
people have the freedom to express views, freedom to organize and freedom
to protest.
We shall come back come back to this question in Chapter Two
and develop a definition of democracy. We shall also note some features of a
democracy.
1.1
THE CHANGING MAP OF DEMOCRACY
Twentieth century was full of the kind of stories we have read above:
stories of transition to democracy. of challenges to democracy, of military
coups, of struggles of the people to bring back democracy. Was there a pattern
to these stories that record both the march towards democracy and the setbacks
to democracy? Let us use the basic features we noted earlier and identify
democracies among different countries of the world. This is what the three maps
shown here do. Take a look at these three maps below and find out if there was
a pattern in the way democracies have evolved in the twentieth century. The
first map depicts the countries that were democratic in 1950, a few years after
the end of the Second World War. This map also shows countries from this set
that had already become democratic by 1900. The second map presents a picture
of democratic regimes in 1975, after most of the colonies had gained
independence. Finally, we take another leap and look at democracies in the year
2000, at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
As we look at these maps, let us ask ourselves some questions. How has democracy marched through the twentieth century? Is there a clear pattern of expansion? When did the expansion take place? In which regions?
Let us summarise the main points that emerge from a reading of these
maps. You need to go back to the maps to answer the question that comes after
each point.
· Democracy has expanded throughout the
twentieth century. Is it correct to say that at each point in these maps, the
number of democratic countries is larger than at the previous point in time?
· democracy did not spread evenly in
all parts of the world. It was established first in some regions and than
spread to other regions. Which continents in the world had a large number of
democracies in 1900 and 1950? and which continents did not have almost any?
· while a majority of countries are
democratic today, there are still large parts of the world that are not
democratic. Which regions in the world account for most of the countries that
were not democracies in 2000?
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