By Katarzyna Kotula, HIA Fellow
Solidarity,
struggle, freedom, faith: these values are universal and essential to every
nation, a nation whose society wants to live in peace and respect for minority
rights. However, the importance of these values in everyday life is of
particular note to Poles who fought in solidarity in defense of these ideas. In
general, the HIA Fellows’ attention was focused today on key parts of recent
Polish history, namely the socialism and Solidarity movement and on the role of
the Roman-Catholic Church in the Polish society (in the past and today).
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| Czesław Bielecki listens to a question from an HIA Fellow Photo by Benjamin Overton |
Without a doubt,
a turning point in the history of communism was the “Solidarity” movement in
Poland. The Independent Self-Governing Trade Union "Solidarity" was
founded in 1980 to defend the rights of workers, and since 1989 has also become
one of the main centers of opposition against the government of the Polish
People's Republic. Mr. Czesław Bielecki - Polish architect, journalist and
politician, an opposition activist in the Polish People's Republic explained to
participants the importance of the “Solidarity” movement for Polish society,
but in a broader historical perspective. In his very interesting lecture, Mr.
Bielecki outlined the phenomenon of "Solidarity" movement, how the
situation in Poland affected other countries of the Eastern Bloc, and the
contemporary perception of the ideals and values of "Solidarity" by
the new generation.
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| HIA Fellows reflect on the key elements of the "Solidarity" movement Photo by Benjamin Overton |
“Solidarity”
succeeded among others thanks to the great support and help from the Catholic
Church. “Solidarity” was not the only situation when religion played a key role
in Polish history. But about this issue the participants were able to talk with
Mr. Marek Zając – a Polish journalist and writer specializing in religious and
social activities. In a very interesting way, Mr. Zając explained the meaning
and role of religion in the history of our country beginning from the Middle
Ages and ending with contemporary times. As argued Mr. Zając, it is really
impossible to understand "the Polish soul" and the Polish history
without knowledge about the role of the Catholic Church in this history. Mr.
Zając ended his lecture with a reflection on religion (or lack of thereof?) in Polish
society today. He noted
that although religion has always played an important role in Polish society,
the current generation of Poles is increasingly secular. However, it is
difficult to just abandon centuries of tradition. Will Poland become secular?
This will be an interesting trend to follow in the future.
In both
cases, questions to Mr. Bielecki and Mr. Zając seemed to have no end. Fortunately,
participants were able to share their doubts, comments and observations during
a Fellows Discussion. In order to somehow organize acquired knowledge and as a
summary of the day the participants divided into three groups were asked to
answer the questions about what factors shaped Polish solidarity, why the “Solidarity”
movement was successful and what are the universal lessons from this movement.
I think the
best commentary summarizing this day will be the words of one of the invited
guests. According to Mr. Bielecki, the transition from captivity to freedom –
if we are thinking about everyday freedom, which cannot be bought and cannot be
received as a gift – is a truly multidimensional revolution. You need to
envelop it with your mind and take it into your hands. In the end, perhaps
freedom is only something in our minds.
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