Polish Solidarity Revolution. Sol Jae, Lucian

Question 1: What methods did the group use to express their frustrations and ultimately lead to a revolution? It all started on 1970, when workers in Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk couldn’t afford food because of the price increase by the Communist party. So therefore the workers decided to march to the Communist party headquarters and burned the entire place. Violence struck everywhere and a lot of people were left to die. Years later the food still increased by the government which enraged the workers and sent waves of attacks. On 1978 Pope John Paul II encouraged the angry workers to force the Communist workers forced to use defensive matters. Which led into multiple strikes on 1980 during summer which forced the government to raise meat prices again. After the raise, on 1981, General Wojciech Jaruzelski, first secretary of the Communist party, sent out military operations and arrested the solidarity leaders.Question 2: How is your revolution similar and/or different to one of the revolutions previously studied? The Polish Solidarity Revolution is similar to the French Revolution because they were both started because of the rising price of food and a government that was widely disliked. Another similarity is that in both cases a ruling class was overthrown. The Polish Communist party was similar to the nobles and royal family in the French Revolution. It is different because there was no large scale fighting like the storming of the Bastille like in the French Revolution. One other difference is that in the polish revolution there were outside troops that helped the government maintain its stability in the French Revolution there was no outside help when King Louie was in power. Question 3: What was the eventual outcome of the revolution, and did the nation/people become better due to the revolution?The revolution was a success it threw out the communist government in Poland and created a new democratic government. The people became better off from the revolution because there is more individual and economic freedom. The nation became better because it changed from being a poor country to one that has a chance in developing; it is also free of being controlled by the Kremlin. Question 4: Eventually the solidarity was recognized and the Polish government and the solidarity signed a 400-page contract getting rid of political and economic reforms.On June, 1989, the first free elections were held, and both the communist and the solidarity parties were allowed to join. Poland was a non-communist country after this, because Lech Walesa had won the election. Question 5: Briefly state whether or not your revolution follows Crane Brinton’s stages of revolution.We see most of this in the Solidarity movement, especially symptoms and rising fever. One difference is that conflict was not too bloody as the Communist government gave in before bloodshed like that in France occurred, so over all it does fit a lot of the structure.   Bibliography:   Dovonan, Jeffrey. "Poland: Solidarity -- The Trade Union That Changed the World." RadioFreeEurope, Radioliberty. 24, August, 2005. 29 Jan 2008 .   "History of solidarity." Wikipedia.org. 29 Jan 2008 .   "Solidarity In Poland." Seventeen moments in Soviet history. 29 Jan 2008 http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/08/8b89d311-5067-4c03-9aa6-72500d1f986d.html.