To What Extent was Solidarity to Blame for the Breakdown of Communism in Poland?

... rtion of the population. The whole movement could easily have been suppressed if genuine economic reform had brought about improvement in living standards.

However, the collapsing Polish economy was due to a fundemental flaw in the entire communist system. The command economy had brought staggering inefficiency. The very exercise of telling people what to do and how to do it had quelled all initiative of the management. Furthermore, with no incentive to produce goods or work more efficiently the economy of Poland had been slowly stagnating over many years. In addition, as the USSR experienced increasing economic problems, Moscow began to drain the resources of its satellite states in order to compensate for Russia's own problems, further worsening the economic difficulties of states such as Poland.

It was the economic

Was Solidarity a product of communist oppression or of Polish rebellion?

How did Solidarity emerge?

Why did it survive?

Despite the unquestionable significance of Solidarity in bringing about the breakdown of communism not only in Poland but also in Eastern Europe, it was the refusal by Gorbachev to crush the uprising by force that allowed Solidarity to succeed. Glasnost and Perestroika provided the foundations for an independent Poland to emerge. Gorbachev, unlike his predecessors, was not prepared to roll in the tanks to enforce Soviet rule, instead he accepted Poland's autonomy and in doing so changed the world irrevocably.

What effect did Gorbachev's policies of Glasnost and Perestroika have on the Solidarity movement in Poland?

What were Gorbachev's policies of Glasnost and Perest ...