IV 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 504 

Recognizing and congratulating the Republic of Poland on the 20th 

anniversary of the Polish parliamentary elections on June 4, 1989. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 4, 2009 

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. WOLF, Mr. KANJORSKI, Mr. PITTS, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART

of Florida, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. MCCOTTER, Mr. DINGELL, Mr. COHEN, 

Mr. KIND, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. 

MCMAHON, and Mr. COURTNEY) submitted the following resolution; 

which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Recognizing and congratulating the Republic of Poland on 

the 20th anniversary of the Polish parliamentary elections on June 4, 1989. 

Whereas the Soviet Union and the Republic of Poland’s Communist Party used the Polish elections of 1947, in which 

they brutally persecuted non-Communist candidates and 

grossly falsified voting returns, to impose a Communist 

government on Poland; 

Whereas after 1947, Poland’s Communist government did not 

permit genuine opposition candidates to campaign for 

election or to appear on election ballots; 


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•HRES 504 IH 

Whereas Poland’s Communist government was not an independent national government but was subservient to the 

Soviet Union, to which it formally ceded approximately 

one-third of Poland’s territory; 

Whereas the Polish people never accepted the legitimacy of 

the Communist government, but repeatedly challenged its 

totalitarian rule, including in the revolutionary strike 

movements of 1956, 1970, and 1976; 

Whereas in 1956 and 1970, the Communist government responded to these challenges by firing on assembled strikers, killing large numbers of workers, and by manipulating social prejudices to set against each other industrial workers, farmers, and intellectuals; 

Whereas the Soviet Union responded to powerful anti-Communist movements in eastern Europe with armed force, 

most notably in the 1944–1945 crushing of the Polish 

Home Army, the 1956 invasion of Hungary, and the 

1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia; 

Whereas in 1979, Pope John Paul II visited his native Poland and inspired millions of Poles with the ideals of social solidarity and respect for human dignity, and urged 

them to, ‘‘Be not afraid’’; 

Whereas in 1980, shipyard workers in Gdansk responded to 

government-ordered price hikes with a strike calling for 

the legalization of independent labor unions, freedom of 

expression, and economic reforms; 

Whereas the Gdansk strike movement quickly spread 

throughout Poland, establishing itself as the Solidarity 

labor union, the first independent labor union in a Communist country, with a membership of approximately 80 

percent of the Polish labor force; 


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•HRES 504 IH 

Whereas the Solidarity labor union became a broad social 

movement, uniting industrial workers, farmers, intellectuals, and students, and demanding respect for human 

rights; 

Whereas from 1981 to 1983, Poland’s Communist government imposed martial law and arrested thousands of Solidarity leaders but failed to completely suppress Solidarity; 

Whereas in 1988, new waves of Solidarity-led strikes compelled Poland’s Communist government to negotiate with 

Solidarity; 

Whereas from February to April 1989, Solidarity leaders and 

the Communist government negotiated an agreement for 

a free election in which Solidarity would run candidates 

for 100 percent of seats in the Polish Senate and 35 percent of seats in the Polish Sejm; 

Whereas Poland’s Communist government controlled the 

major media, and observers and public opinion polls predicted that Poland’s Communist Party would decisively 

win the election; and 

Whereas the Polish parliamentary election of June 4, 1989, 

was a landslide victory for Solidarity, which won 160 of 

the 161 seats it competed for: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) congratulates the Republic of Poland on the 

3 20th anniversary of the Polish parliamentary elec4 tions, the first free and democratic election in a 

5 Communist-bloc country; 


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•HRES 504 IH 

1 (2) recognizes that the June 4, 1989, election 

2 enabled Solidarity to form the first non-Communist 

3 and democratic government in eastern Europe since 

4 1948; 

5 (3) recognizes that the June 4, 1989, election, 

6 by showing the strength of citizens united in soli7 darity against totalitarianism, inaugurated a series 

8 of democratic revolutions that within 6 months 

9 ended Communist rule in Hungary, East Germany, 

10 Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, and Romania, and after11 ward in Yugoslavia, Albania, and the Soviet Union; 

12 (4) commends the Solidarity labor union for re13 jecting the ideology of class struggle to make an 

14 original proposal of the solidarity of citizens from 

15 different social groups in a common struggle for 

16 freedom, human dignity, and justice against totali17 tarianism; and 

18 (5) commends the Polish people for the remark19 able courage and commitment to freedom, human 

20 dignity, and justice which it showed in freeing itself 

21 from Communism, which greatly contributed to 

22 other peoples doing the same, and recalls the his23 toric Polish motto, ‘‘for your freedom and ours’’. 

Æ 


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