Making Rightful Use of Your Citizenship

 By Al Baker - Posted at Forget None of His Benefits:

But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us in public without trial, men who are Romans, and have thrown us into prison, and now are they sending us away secretly? No indeed! But let them come themselves and bring us out,” Acts 16:37

In the 1970s Poland’s Communist government raised food prices while wages were stagnant. This and other stresses led to protests in 1976 and a subsequent government crackdown on dissent. In response to this government action, several groups, including Roman Catholic bishops, began to form underground networks to monitor and oppose the government’s actions. Labor unions formed an important part of this network. The Polish economy was in serious trouble. In 1979, its economy shrank by two percent for the first time since World War II, and foreign debt reached around $18 billion by 1980.

The trade union Solidarity emerged on August 31, 1980 at the Gdańsk Shipyard when the Communist government of Poland signed the agreement allowing for its existence. On September 17 of that year, over twenty Inter-factory Founding Committees of independent trade unions merged at the congress into one national organization called Solidarity. Lech Wałęsa, a courageous dock worker in Gdansk with keen political instincts, along with others, formed a broad anti-Soviet social movement ranging from people associated with the Catholic Church to members of the anti-Soviet left. Polish nationalism, together with pro-American nationalism and support from President Ronald Reagan, played an important part in the development of Solidarity in the 1980s. However, in September 1981 the government attempted to destroy the union with martial law and several years of repression, but the increased notoriety of Solidarity emboldened the average working man and the government had no choice but to start negotiating with the union.

Even after decades of religious and civil repression by the atheistic communist regime the people of Poland remained very committed to Roman Catholicism. Pope John Paul II, a citizen of Poland, visited his country in 1979 and hundreds of thousands of people gathered in the streets to hear him and this energized the people even more to seek democracy. There is no question that the strong Roman Catholic presence in Poland played a major role is dismantling communism in that country and the rest of Eastern Europe.

In 2017, Solidarity backed a proposal to implement blue laws to prohibit Sunday shopping, a move supported by Polish bishops. A 2018 Polish law banning almost all trade on Sundays has taken effect with large supermarkets and most other retailers closed for the first time since the 1990s. Abortion, except in the case of rape or incest and the endangered life of the mother is illegal in Poland.

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