The Thirtieth Anniversary of the Sejm and Senate Elections in 1989. Systemic Transformation in Poland and its Consequences for Europe and the World

Abstract

This article is devoted to elections to the Sejm and Senate on 4 June
1989, about which historians and political scientists have argued to this day.
Some think that they had historic, profound significance in the struggle for
sovereign and democratic Poland, and others claim that they were the result
of a conspiracy between communists and the opposition centered around
Solidarity, headed by Lech Wałęsa. The indisputable fact is that they were
the result of negotiations and agreements reached at the ‘round table’, which
inaugurated the process of radical changes in Europe. It went down in history
under the name of the ‘autumn of nations of 1989’.
The author tries to redefine the ‘autumn of nations of 1989’ and shows
the essence of this process and its consequences for Poland, Europe and the
world. He puts forward interesting hypotheses and theses, among others he
states that thanks to this, the path of ‘return to Europe’ and membership of
the Euro-Atlantic structures, that is of NATO and the European Union, as
well as of other international organisations, opened for Poland. As a result,
today Poland is no longer a state in ruin, as it was in 1989. It is a sovereign,
wealthy and democratic country respected in the world.