This is a very important book about an under-research topic: How western European support for the Solidarity movement in Poland influenced that movement and the future of European politics. It is a must read for students of contemporary international history and the history of the Cold War.
O. A. Westad, London School of Economics Up to now, no one ... Read morehas systematically and comparatively studied the efforts made by Western trade unionists for the sake of Solidarity and the differences between particular unions. This highly successful book by Idelsbald Goddeeris, who for years has been studying this question, is based on meticulous source studies carried out by an international group of outstanding specialists. The reader is offered a lively and attractively written impression and contribution to the history of European syndicalism and the final disintegration of the post-Stalinist regimes, which signified the end of the Cold War.
Andrzej Paczkowski, Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Political Sciences Solidarity was a phenomenon of global significance, its impact felt wherever in the world people struggle for democracy, social justice, and civil rights. First and foremost, though, it was a trade union. The contributors to this excellent volume show that Solidarity and contemporaneous labor organizations in Western Europe cannot be understood apart from one another. So too, today's European Union has roots in the often contradictory interactions among social movements that receive long-overdue study here.
Padraic Kenney, Indiana University The explosive events of the Polish summer of 1980 aroused powerful immediate reactions and studied responses by labor strategists and tacticians as Solidarnosc, the independent Polish labor union federation, emerged and grew quickly. The task undertaken by editor Goddeeris and 14 other authors of 11 chapters is formidable, but they accomplish the mission with both forcefulness and subtlety. The labor federations of the nine Western European countries subject to the study receive detailed attention, as do international organizations such as the World Confederation of Labor and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions. The authors also flesh out the environments of each organization, for some federations and unions had more complex constituencies and international relationships than did others, and all dealt with the actions and public rhetoric of political parties as well. Nonetheless, most labor unions outside the Eastern European bloc came to support Solidarnosc in diverse ways. That Solidarnosc emerged and survived was due in no small part to the efforts of the Western European unions, not only financially, materially, and educationally, but in their successful propagation of the conviction that workers' rights are basic to democracy, and that democracy sustains a high quality of material and cultural life for all. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. Solidarity with Solidarity is an excellent international inventory of current national research on Western trade union support for Solidarnosc, providing scholars with a clear overview while at the same time qualifying a number of entrenched myths. Above all, it leaves us with more inspiring questions to answer and connections to analyze.
International Review Of Social History
Throughout the book similarly fascinating examples of national responses are drawn out. For anyone with an interest in the history of Solidarity or solidarity movements more generally, this is a highly recommended book, bringing to light new and important archival material.
European Review Of History
This book is, quite simply, an extraordinary contribution to historical scholarship, not only of twentieth-century Poland, but indeed of modern Europe tout court. Its editor, the Belgian historian Idesbald Goddeeris—a well-established scholar of East–West transnationalism in Europe—has performed a great service in designing a volume that brings together 14 contributors crosscutting nine different national historiographies as well as the scholarship on trade-union internationalism.
Journal of Contemporary History
Show Less