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“Nie ma wolności bez Solidarności”

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Jan Krzysztof Bielecki, circa 1989.

Jan Krzysztof Bielecki in 2004.

Jan Krzysztof Bielecki looks back at a time when solidarity earned his country freedom

By early 1989 Poland was clearly moving from a centralised one-party system to multi-party democracy. The question was whether the shift could be accomplished without a bloody revolution. When the ruling communists agreed to permit the upstart Solidarity movement to have a few seats in Parliament, former truck driver Jan Krzysztof Bielecki was selected to lead the delegation.

The communists could not hold onto power for long. In September of that year – in events that would herald the fall of the Berlin Wall – the communists failed to establish a government and ceded control to noncommunists. Trade union leader Lech Walesa eventually became the first popularly elected president of Poland, and selected Mr Bielecki as his prime minister. Mr Bielecki introduced free prices and expanded the scope of private enterprise.

Mr Bielecki’s next stop was London, where he served for nine years as Polish Board Director at the EBRD. Last year Mr Bielecki returned home to be CEO of Bank Pekao, Poland’s biggest bank. EBRD Press officer Axel Reiserer interviewed Mr Bielecki in his Warsaw office.

Q: How do you remember 9 November 1989, the day the Berlin Wall fell?

A: Everybody was concerned whether this was going to happen bloodless or not. That was the only question. I remember a discussion I had a few months earlier in Bonn (West Germany) when one of the questions was: Is East Germany on the verge of introducing some kind of martial law as Poland faced in 1981? Because they were shocked that Egon Krenz had become secretary general of the communist party. And I said: Not at all. I am happy, because this is the first signal that the regime is collapsing. I smelled the end, and they did not believe me too much. And when I saw the Berlin Wall going down, I was extremely happy.

Q: You smelled the end in East Germany because you already had this experience in Poland before?

A: Yes, exactly. I witnessed it and I participated and I knew exactly how painful (General Wojciech) Jaruzelski’s regime was for us. But I also knew that history was accelerating.

Q: When martial law was imposed in Poland in December 1981 you suffered from it personally.

A: Yes, yes. When martial law was imposed on 13th December some of my colleagues were already arrested the day before, because the communists were so anxious to capture the most important people. So I was informed that something was in the air and I fled from my house and we managed to organise a strike in the Gdansk shipyard. We started on Sunday, 13th December, and lasted three days. Then the army broke the strike and invaded the shipyard with tanks. They put us into prison. Of course I knew the regime could be very determined. But in 1989 the situation was very different because that wind of change was already moving around the region.

Q: When you were arrested in 1981, did you have any hopes for an end of communist rule?

A: No, no. At that time, especially in 1982, the mood in Poland was extremely gloomy. People came to the conclusion that the dream of “Solidarity” was over. 99 per cent of the population came to the conclusion that we had to become “realistic” and adjust to the changes.

Q: And what did you think?

A: I also thought the regime could last forever. Nevertheless, the situation was such that you could not give up.

Q: When did the situation ease in Poland? Which role did the changes in Moscow and Gorbachev’s reforms play?

A: In our opinion the changes of perestroika brought some changes and the regime was not as brutal as before. But nevertheless it was still strong. Our chances were better in 1988 when we organised again two big strikes in the Gdansk shipyard. They were not very successful, but at that time the system was cracking. It was maybe not yet falling apart, but it was cracking.

Q: What were your aims at that time?

A: At that time we simply pushed for the re-establishment of “Solidarity”. We had a very powerful slogan at that time, which helped us to survive ten difficult years. We were saying: “There is no freedom without solidarity”, because in Polish that sounds very nicely. You can go to a rally and shout: “Nie ma wolności bez Solidarności”. There is this melody, very simple, ba-ba-bam!

Q: How long were you imprisoned?

A: A couple of weeks.

Q: What happened next?

A: I returned to my previous job at an economic institute in Gdansk. There they (the authorities) organised the screening and vetting of all employees and we were supposed to sign some kind of loyalty letter. I refused, so they sacked me. Then I was unemployed for seven months and then I became a truck driver for the next three years. At the same time I was involved in the so-called underground, “Solidarity” movement.

Q: When the Berlin Wall fell, Poland did already have its first non-communist prime minister for almost 40 years, Tadeusz Mazowiecki. And you were a member of parliament.

A: Yes. We saw quite an acceleration of events driven by the fact that in 1989 we (“Solidarity”) had this small representation in the Sejm and took 99 per cent of the seats in the Senate after the partially free elections in that year. Then we had the Mazowiecki government until (Lech) Walesa pushed for real change and decided to go for direct elections of the president. When he became president in 1991, Walesa appointed me as prime minister.

Q: What do you think were your greatest achievements as prime minister?

A: The situation was enormously quick, so I was lucky because it was easy to have a lot of achievements. We were obliged to stabilise the situation and at that time it meant bringing down inflation from something like 250 per cent to less than 40. We needed an agreement with the Paris Club to write of some debts in order to just start breathing in the economy, because at that time Poland was bankrupt. We managed to dissolve the Warsaw Pact and the Russians were furious when we discussed this issue. Also we managed to dissolve Comecon, although the Russians did not like that and tried to blackmail me: If you leave Comecon, your deliveries of gas and oil will be problematic, they said.

Q: In your negotiations with Moscow, did you ever feel threatened or were you scared?

A: No, no. We were only scared when they tried to negotiate with us the date for the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Poland, because they probably made a mistake. Gorbachev said to me: If you are asking for a date, we can give you one, but it is going to be 1993. They probably thought, if I get such a late date, I will probably lose the elections and therefore for political reasons would not accept this quite delayed date. But I was prepared to take any date just to get one.

Q: Was there a specific moment in Poland after 1989 when people felt communism was definitely over?

A: That was a big question. After the fully free elections in October 1991, when the communist party and the whole camp of ex-communists got only ten per cent, you could feel that it was over. But we were too optimistic, because they returned to power in 1993. However, they were by then forced to stand up to certain standards.

Q: Do you think the parties that were returned to power in 1993 were still communists in belief?

A: They were never communists in belief, they were always opportunists in belief. This is exactly why we are having problems today with corruption and a lack of ethical standards in business. A lot of people just thought: Communism is over, let´s make some money for ourselves.

Q: How long did you last as prime minister?

A: One year. Then I returned to parliament because I refused to stand again as prime minister.

Q: Why?

A: Nobody could understand that. But I was young and tired, really exhausted. Later I returned to the Suchocka government (1992-93) as a minister for nearly two years. After the 1993 elections when the communists returned to power, I left for the EBRD.

Q: Here, in addition to your inside knowledge, you also gained an outside perspective on Poland. What is your view on how Poland has developed?

A: Poland was considered a “tiger” among the emerging markets countries and than we slowed down considerably for the first time at the beginning of 2000 and this slow-down was overlapped with scandals and corruption. Now we try to recover, economically and politically.

Q: What did the developments of the past 15 years mean for ordinary people in Poland?

A: Poland in that respect was unique. More than 60 per cent were happy with the changes at a time when in Russia the corresponding figure was 10 per cent.

Q: After 15 years of enormous changes, do you think Poland today is an “average” European country?

A: Poland is already a very good European country with a defined spirit. And this defined spirit will last forever. It means that we can always express stronger views than others. Sometimes this can also be constructive.

Q: Poles are known to be very freedom-loving and romantic?

A: Yes, that is why I´m saying defined spirit, because you cannot impose any yokes on the Polish people. This is a characteristic. This will last forever. Our romanticism is maybe a little bit fading. Young people are very pragmatic, maybe a little bit too much.

Q: What are the core values for the young generation in Poland?

A: To be professional. They think to be professional means a better career and a better contribution to the country. They believe that hard work is essential.

Q: And what is Poland’s contribution to Europe?

A: Our entrepreneurial drive. To be entrepreneurial always comes with the spirit to look for adventure and to take risks. We are not risk-adverse. We do not know complacency, we look for challenges, we are hungry. Poles are hungry.

1 November 2004