Twenty-One Demands: A Call for Workers’ Rights and Freedoms (1980)
Polish resistance to Soviet domination in the 1980s found a point of focus in the activities of the anticommunist shipbuilder’s union Solidarność (Solidarity). Labor unions and strikes were illegal in the Soviet empire, but Solidarity, headed by worker Lech Walesa, successfully directed a group of ex-communist ally parties in broad resistance to the Soviets. In 1980 workers hung a pair of wooden boards with “Twenty-One Demands” at the entrance to a shipyard. The demands reflected a key aspect of Solidarity’s program, a determination to link the specific concerns of shipyard workers to broad-based reform. As you read the demands, think about the kinds of changes the workers wanted. What kind of future did they hope to create for their country?
“The Twenty-One Demands,” in The Passion of Poland, by Lawrence Weschler (New York: Pantheon, 1984), pp. 206-208.