Date of Award

2011

Degree Name

Sociology

College

College of Liberal Arts

Type of Degree

M.A.

Document Type

Thesis

First Advisor

Richard Garnett

Second Advisor

Marty Laubach

Third Advisor

Brian Hoey

Abstract

The aim of this study is to arrive at a holistic understanding of how and why the Polish Solidarity Movement succeeded, against great odds, within a regime hostile to its existence. From this movement emerged Solidarnosc, the first independent labor union in the Communist Bloc. Solidarnosc evolved into a political party that succeeded in replacing the Communist Party in Poland. Seven factors are elaborated on, each contended to have facilitated Solidarnosc's success. Some factors occurred naturally (such as the structural conduciveness of Poland's industrially based economy), some occurred fortunately (such as the political opportunity afforded by Mikhail Gorbachev's liberalizing policies), and some were deliberately constructed (such as use of samizdat communications in mobilizing the movement). This study is a synthesis of these various facilitating factors. Ethnographic description is also part of the explanation, as is inclusion of eclectic factors that do not "pigeon-hole" well into conventional social movement theory compartments.

Subject

Poland - History - 1980-1989

Subject

Poland - Politics and government - 1980-1989.

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