The Round Table Talks started on February 6, 1989

Today marks the twentieth anniversary of launching the Round Table Talks – a series of negotiations that took place between the then ruling communists and a part of the democratic opposition. The talks initiated the demolition of the communist system in Poland and the whole CEE region.

After communist rule was imposed by the Soviet Union on Poland in 1944 numerous, but unsuccessful attempts were taken by the Poles to regain freedom. The most notable included the underground military resistance movements in 1944-63, students protests in 1968, or the workers’ strikes in 1970, 1976 and 1980.

The chance for change occurred in the late 80s, as the decades of the centrally planned Marxist economy led to immense crisis and a market collapse. Public dissatisfaction increased and a series of strikes erupted. Consequently, the communist government consented to talks with selected members of banned trade union Solidarność in 1989.

Round Table Talks start

The talks started February 6,1989, and were held mainly in the historical Namiestnikowski Palace on ul. Krakowskie Przedmieście in Warsaw – the current Presidential Palace. The round table symbolized the equality of the sides and the will to reach the agreement.

The opposition members included such figures as Lech Wałęsa, Zbigniew Romaszewski, Adam Michnik, Jan Olszewski, Jarosław and Lech Kaczyński, and Bronisław Geremek. The communist coalition was represented by Aleksander Kwaśniewski, Leszek Miller and Andrzej Olechowski, among others. A group of Catholic priests accompanied the talks as independent observers. A number of participants of the talks later became prominent figures of the 1990s and 2000s.

The Round Table Agreement was signed on April 4, 1989 and the most important postulates included:
• Legalization of independent trade unions including Solidarność, which became a legalized political party
• The introduction of the office of President - thereby annulling the power of the Communist party general secretary
• The restoration of the Senate as the second legislative chamber, along with Sejm
• The access to the media and revival of the Tygodnik Solidarność weekly

The agreement also assured partially free elections, where the opposition was given 35 percent of the seats in the Sejm and an entirely free election to the Senate.
The elections that took place on June 4, 1989 brought a landslide victory to Solidarność, which took 99 percent of all the seats in the Senate and 35 percent the seats in Sejm – the total of the seats permitted. Tadeusz Mazowiecki became the first non-communist Prime Minister.

The communists did retain a considerable amount of power, with general Jaruzelski becoming the president and General Czesław Kiszczak running the Ministry of Interior and Administration. It was not until 1990 that the first presidential elections took place – won by Lech Wałęsa. In turn the first fully free elections took place in 1991.