The Solidarity Congress, 1981

The 1981 Solidarity Congress summed up its intellectual and political heritage. This edited translation of that Great Debate is a source for Solidarity's values, policies, internal wrangles and political strategies. It is an historical document on the Polish Crisis of the 1980s and the role of labour and social movements under communism. But the 1981 debate is also crucial for understanding the ideas and strategies of the current Polish opposition and the social response to Communist Reform in the late 1980s. As such it provides a guide to the comparative prospects for Communist Reform and the possibilities for Pluralism and Democracy in communist systems.