Election posters of “Citizens’ committee with Lech Wałęsa” candidates

The article solves the mystery of the “Citizens’ Committee with Lech Wałęsa” election posters that paved the way to the victory of Solidarity in June 1989. For 25 years the issue of posters has not raised any controversy. The historians presupposed that each member of the Committee had had an election poster with the leader of Solidarity movement on it. The article refutes that myth. Having analyzed historical documents and eyewitness memories, the author uncovers which candidates did not have this kind of poster.

The agreement of the round table signed on April 5, 1989, resulted in the creation of the government of Tadeusz Mazowiecki (September 12, 1989) and the end of communist rule in Poland. However, it should be pointed out that the agreement of the round table is currently often criticized. It is claimed, among other things, that the agreement was a form of “unification of the elite” (the term Jack Kuroń) to obtain financial and political benefits. As a result, the mixed communist-solidarity elite has taken over power in the country, guided solely by their own interests. It is also stressed that the contract has enabled the Communists to retain enormous influence in the special services, state administration, various institutions, the economy, and finance. On the other hand, these irregularities have been attributed to the solidarity elites who consider the round table agreements to be persistent. Other parts of the solidarity elite treated the round table exclusively as tactical action to take power away from the Communists.