THE ROUNDTABLE TALKS OF 1989: PARTICIPANTS, POLITICAL VISIONS, AND HISTORICAL REFERENCES

Abstract

In East Central Europe the Poles began the first transition to democracy, and therefore the Polish opposition had to behave in a most cautious manner. Originally the Polish roundtable talks were not so much about paving the way for a full democracy, rather they were meant to produce an agreement. This agreement was designed first to legalize Solidarity and second to set up semi-democratic and partially fixed elections. As a result the June 1989 elections in Poland could not be evaluated as fully democratic ones.