Solidarity Anniversary

A three-day celebration of the 25th anniversary of the founding of Solidarity, the union led by Lech Walesa, is underway in Gdansk, Poland. The BBC alao has an interview with Mr Walesa. An excerpt:

Let me ask you about the fears of many Polish people. There were fears that you might win at the negotiating table but that would not be the end.

There were 200,000 Russian troops based permanently in Poland and a million more on our borders. And they had weapons of mass destruction as well. We knew all about that. But we were determined not to go back to work. They could kill us but they could not defeat us. They could us disperse us but they could not force us to work. So in fact the Communists did not have very effective weapons to use.

When the moment of victory came how did you feel?

When we were approaching the end of our battle I stood up and said 'You're all happy but I'm worried and frightened of what lies ahead of us'. Those who were carrying me on their shoulders then could soon be throwing stones at me.

So in a way the difficult part started after 31 August?

You've got to understand. It was clear to us that following this way would eventually lead to the collapse of Communism, the Warsaw Pact would cease to exist, but the whole pleasure of that would be at the expense of our economy, our cooperation, and our markets.

So how much was it the action of Solidarity which eventually brought down the Berlin Wall?

It did more than anything else that happened anywhere in the world. The further history moves on, the clearer it becomes how important that moment was.

The European Union couldn't have expanded, the unification of Germany would not have been possible. And other countries wouldn't have got their freedom if the Poles had not broken the Soviet bear's teeth. When other countries did their own thing, the bear could no longer bite.