California Close-Up; Solidarity: The Fight for Free Trade Unions
Description:
"This documentary entitled Solidarity: The Fight for Free Trade Unions tells the story of the rise of the industrial trade union Solidarity as seen through the eyes of those who helped create it. Featured in this tape are former members of KOR and the Solidarity press spokesman and member of the Warsaw presidium, Janusz Onyskiewicz, as well as Polish citizens who witnessed the dramatic events of August 1980. The Nobel Prize winning poet Cszelaw Miloz, an important Polish cultural figure, is also interviewed. "Historic sound material is used in this documentary. This includes a tape of the food riots in Gdansk in 1970, Walesa's announcement of the signing of the Gdansk Accord and the Bydgoscz Tape. The music used was recorded at a Solidarity music festival in Gdansk in the summer of 1981. "It was the intention of this documentary to describe the social and political factors which led to the formation of Solidarity and to describe, as well, the cultural change Poland has undergone during the tumultuous year which culminated in Solidarity's First National Congress. This program aired again after the imposition of martial law with a new introduction."--1981 Peabody Awards entry form.
