Lets celebrate 25 years o freedom Together. Lets celebrate it Razem. https://youtube/watch?v=W-LPE_PYoH8 History: The events of 1989 were foreshadowed the social protests of April-May 1988. Annus mirabilis 1989 – the miracle year of 1989, the year of the fall of the communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe, the year of democracy’s victory over totalitarianism. It marked the final act in the political drama which had begun in the strike summer of 1980 with the emergence of the Solidarity movement. The first session of the Round Table took place on February 6, 1989. When opening the discussions at the Namiestnikowski Palace in Warsaw, Lech Wałęsa said: “We’ve come a long way, all of us. The road before us is long and bumpy, the outcome of our efforts is uncertain. We’ve gathered at this table to reach an agreement – to the highest degree possible – with regard to Poland’s affairs” Kiszczak revealed that one of the main objectives of the talks were “non-confrontational elections”. On April 7, 1989 the Sejm amended the constitution to establish the Senate and the office of the President. A new electoral law was also passed. According to agreement 65 % of seats in the new Sejm were reserved for the signatories of the PRON coalition. The remaining 35% of seats were given to independent candidates. The Sejm elections were to be entirely free. The President was to be elected jointly by the Sejm and the Senate. The voting was scheduled to take place in the beginning of June. The “W samo południe” (“High Noon”) poster became a symbol of the 4th June 1989 elections. On June 23, the pro-Solidarity members of the parliament formed the Citizens’ Parliamentary Club (OKP), led by Bronisław Geremek. Mikołaj Kozakiewicz was appointed Marshal of the Sejm and Andrzej Stelmachowski became Marshal of the Senate. There was a disagreement over who should be named president. Gazeta Wyborcza published an article penned by Adam Michnik titled “Your president, our prime minister” which outlined the proposed division of power between PZPR and the opposition. The presidential election took place in an incredible tense atmosphere and General Jaruzelski came out victorious by a one-vote margin. Not all members of the government coalition chose to vote for Jaruzelski. It was a clear sign of the Party’s decline. On August 1, Czesław Kiszczak’s candidacy for prime minister was put forward by President Jaruzelski. When Kiszczak failed to form a government, Lech Wałęsa orchestrated a coalition and on his initiative, Jaruzelski passed the task to Tadeusz Mazowiecki. He was appointed Prime Minister by the Sejm on August 24, 1989. Under Mazowiecki, PZPR retained the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Krzysztof Skubiszewski was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jacek Kuroń – Minister of Labor and Social Security and Leszek Balcerowicz took the office of Deputy Prime Minister. The newly-created government secured the votes of 402 of 415 members of the Sejm in attendance. The autumn of 1989 marked the beginning of dynamic transformations in Central and Eastern Europe which came to be known as “the autumn of the nations”. In September Hungary opened its Austrian border to East German refugees; On November 9, following a series of demonstrations in various cities of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), the West Berlin border was also opened. Berliners on both sides of the Wall started to tear it down, piece by piece. The process of German reunification began. The statement made by Mikhail Gorbachev at a politburo meeting in 1986 proved to be prophetic: “If we lose our hold on Poland, we won’t be able to keep our hold on the GDR”[4] Later that November, the Zhivkov regime fell in Bulgaria and in a matter of weeks, the “velvet revolution” unfolded in Czechoslovakia. As December drew to a close, Romania saw the bloody overthrow of the Ceausescu dictatorship. Read more on razem89.pl/en/1989-the-miracle-year
Posted on: Wed, 04 Jun 2014 07:20:57 +0000
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