Search

This is an edited version of an interview conducted in 1991 and first published in New Politics 4, no. 2 (1993): 155–72. The editors of EEPS publish this version after the recent death of Karol Modzelewski, 1937–2019. In the 1991 interview, Modzelewski reflected on the difference between Solidarność 1980–1981 as a mass social movement and the very much changed Solidarność that in 1989 formed the first non-Communist government in the Soviet bloc. His comments have a premonitory relevance for Polish politics today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the study, which examines several terminological choices to clarify the theoretical implications of revolution and restoration and analyzes the impact of their working definitions to the unwanted social revolution case in Poland. The study reveals working definitions that coincide with the principle events, including the parliamentary elections in June 1989, the formation of the Solidarity-led government of Tadeusz Mazowiecki in August 1989, and the adoption of the shock therapy economic program. Moreover, the June elections and the early days of the Mazowiecki government were described as a popular recession that favors elite action while the relationship between social movement and political regime were found different in 1980 to 1981.