The fall of Communism
Poland: Talking to the opposition
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Dossier index
In February 1989 Poland's Communist government took the unprecedented step of sitting down to talk with the banned Solidarity trade union in a bid to diffuse growing social tension - a key step in the country's eventual transition to a multi-party democracy.
The Polish Roundtable Talks took place in Warsaw from 6 February to 4 April 1989
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
The Round Table Talks were held in Warsaw from 6 February to 4 April 1989 and were chaired by Interior Minister Czesław Kiszczak and Solidarity leader Lech Wałęsa. The 57 people present included government officials, members of Solidarity, and representatives of other opposition groups.
The ruling Communists realised that they needed to make some concessions, including legalising trade unions, in order to deal with the growing public demand for change and find a way out of the economic crisis. But the final Round Table Agreement effectively paved the way for the party's removal from power.
The agreement enabled the semi-free parliamentary elections that June, in which the newly-legal Solidarity party gained a landslide victory, giving them the platform they needed to push for further reform.
The Round Table Talks meant Poland saw a peaceful transition to democracy, but were by no means easy for those involved. Solidarity's leaders found themselves sitting down to talk with the regime responsible for an earlier military crackdown on their union - with people ultimately responsible for jailing and killing other opposition activists.
In a series of audio reports, Euranet's correspondents set out to discover the history of the landmark talks and legacy they have left in Poland and across Eastern Europe:
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