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Polish Solidarity Campaign
Britain's Polish Solidarity Campaign (PSC) was a UK-based campaign in solidarity with Solidarity (the Solidarność trade union) and other democratic forces in Poland. It was founded in August 1980 by Robin Blick, Karen Blick, and Adam Westoby, and continued its activities into the first half of the 1990s. The campaign was not named after Polish Solidarity (of whose name the founders became aware only later on); rather, it was inspired by the Chile Solidarity Campaign and the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign. Founding and early membership Founded in 1980, most of the PSC's early members were ex-Communists, trade unionists and Labour Party supporters as well as left wing Polish exiles, including members of the Polish Socialist Party In Exile, and the main campaign centred on gaining support for Solidarnosc from British trade union movement. Founding members were Robin Blick, Karen Blick, and Adam Westoby. Within the first year, PSC had become a mainstream movement of support for So ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solidarność
Solidarity (, ), full name Independent Self-Governing Trade Union "Solidarity" ( , abbreviated ''NSZZ „Solidarność”''), is a Polish trade union founded in August 1980 at the Gdańsk Shipyard, Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Polish People's Republic, Poland. Subsequently, it was the first independent trade union in a Warsaw Pact country to be recognised by the state. The union's membership peaked at 10 million in September 1981, representing one-third of the country's working-age population. In 1983 Solidarity's leader Lech Wałęsa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and the union is widely recognized as having played a central role in the History of Poland (1945–1989)#Final decade of the Polish People's Republic (1980–1989), end of communist rule in Poland. This led to the appointment of the first noncommunist Prime Minister since the 1940s. In the 1980s, Solidarity was a broad anti-authoritarian social movement, using methods of civil resistance to advance the cause ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukraine to the east, Slovakia and the Czech Republic to the south, and Germany to the west. The territory has a varied landscape, diverse ecosystems, and a temperate climate. Poland is composed of Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 million people, and the List of European countries by area, fifth largest EU country by area, covering . The capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city is Warsaw; other major cities include Kraków, Wrocław, Łódź, Poznań, and Gdańsk. Prehistory and protohistory of Poland, Prehistoric human activity on Polish soil dates to the Lower Paleolithic, with continuous settlement since the end of the Last Gla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chile Solidarity Campaign
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. Chile had a population of 17.5 million as of the latest census in 2017 and has a territorial area of , sharing borders with Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage to the south. The country also controls several Pacific islands, including Juan Fernández Islands, Juan Fernández, Isla Salas y Gómez, Desventuradas Islands, Desventuradas, and Easter Island, and claims about of Antarctica as the Chilean Antarctic Territory. The capital and largest city of Chile is Santiago, and the national language is Spanish language, Spanish. Conquest of Chile, Spain conquered and colonized the region in the mid-16th century, replacing Incas in Central Chile, Inca rule; however, they Arauco War ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vietnam Solidarity Campaign
The Vietnam Solidarity Campaign (VSC) was originally set up in 1966 by activists around the International Group with the personal and financial support of Bertrand Russell. Ralph Schoenman acted both as Director of the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign and as executive director of the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation. Marxist activists including Tariq Ali, Ernie Tate, Al Richardson, David Horowitz, John La Rose and Pat Jordan also played a key role. Members of the International Socialists participated in the foundation of the VSC, but for the first year of its existence its presence was a token one only. It organised a demonstration of 20,000 people in October 1967 that for the first time ignored police warnings not to enter Grosvenor Square, where the United States Embassy in London was then located. In March and October 1968 two major demonstrations in London, sponsored by the VSC, drew more than 100,000 participants. Serious police violence was captured by press and tel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polish Socialist Party
The Polish Socialist Party (, PPS) is a democratic socialist political party in Poland. It was one of the most significant parties in Poland from its founding in 1892 until its forced merger with the communist Polish Workers' Party to form the Polish United Workers' Party in 1948. Józef Piłsudski, founder of the Second Polish Republic, was a member of and later led the PPS in the early 20th century. The party was re-established in 1987, near the end of the Polish People's Republic. However, it remained on the margins of Polish politics until 2019, when it won a seat in the Senate of Poland. History The Polish Socialist Party (PPS) was founded in Paris in 1892, during the period known as the Great Emigration. In 1893, a faction called the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania (SDKPiL) split from the PPS. The PPS focused more on nationalism and Polish independence, while the SDKPiL adopted a far-left (Marxist), internationalist stance. In November 1892, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
International Marxist Group
The International Marxist Group (IMG) was a Trotskyist group in Britain between 1968 and 1982. It was the British Section of the Fourth International. It had around 1,000 members and supporters in the late 1970s. In 1980, it had 682 members; by 1982, when it changed its name to the Socialist League, membership had fallen to 534. The International Group The IMG emerged from the International Group, a sympathising organisation of the International Secretariat of the Fourth International (IS). Its founders, Pat Jordan and Ken Coates, had broken with the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) in Nottingham in 1956. They were members of the Revolutionary Socialist League (RSL) in the late 1950s (which was later renamed Militant), Jordan becoming organising secretary. In 1961, they split to form the Internationalist Group in support of the IS against the leadership of the RSL, its British section. In 1963, the ISFI reunited with the majority of the International Committee of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Labour Party Conference
The Labour Party Conference is the annual conference of the British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party. It is formally the supreme decision-making body of the party and is traditionally held in the final week of September, during the party conference season when the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons is in recess, after each year's second Liberal Democrat Conference and before the Conservative Party Conference. The Labour Party Conference opens on a Sunday and finishes the following Wednesday, with an address by the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Deputy Leader of the Labour Party; the Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader's address is usually on the Tuesday. In contrast to the Liberal Democrat Conference, where Liberal Democrat Conference#All-member Conference voting system, every party member attending its Conference, either in-person or online, has the right to vote on party policy, under a one member, one vote system, or the Conservative Party Conf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Executive Committee Of The Labour Party
The National Executive Committee (NEC) is the governing body of the UK Labour Party, setting the overall strategic direction of the party and policy development. Its composition has changed over the years, and includes representatives of affiliated trade unions, the Parliamentary Labour Party, constituency Labour parties (CLP), and socialist societies, as well as ''ex officio'' members such as the party Leader and Deputy Leader and several of their appointees. History During the 1980s, the NEC had a major role in policy-making and was often at the heart of disputes over party policy. In 1997, under Tony Blair's new party leadership, the General Secretary Tom Sawyer enacted the Partnership in Power reforms. This rebalanced the NEC's membership, including by reducing trade union membership to a minority for the first time in its history. The reforms also introduced new seats: two for local government, three for the Parliamentary Party, three for the (Shadow) Cabinet, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neil Kinnock
Neil Gordon Kinnock, Baron Kinnock (born 28 March 1942) is a Welsh politician who was Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom), Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1983 Labour Party leadership election (UK), 1983 to 1992 Labour Party leadership election, 1992. He was a Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) from 1970 to 1995, first for Bedwellty (UK Parliament constituency), Bedwellty and then for Islwyn (UK Parliament constituency), Islwyn. He was Vice-President of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004. Kinnock was considered to be on the soft left of the Labour Party. Born and raised in South Wales, Kinnock was first elected to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons in the 1970 United Kingdom general election, 1970 general election. He became the Labour Party's shadow education minister after the Conservatives won power in the 1979 United Kingdom general election, 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greater London Council
The Greater London Council (GLC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council (LCC) which had covered a much smaller area. The GLC was dissolved in 1986 by the Local Government Act 1985 and its powers were devolved to the London boroughs and other entities. A new administrative body, known as the Greater London Authority (GLA), was established in 2000. Background In 1957 a Royal Commission on Local Government in Greater London had been set up under Edwin Herbert, Baron Tangley, Sir Edwin Herbert to consider the local government arrangements in the London area. It reported in 1960, recommending the creation of 52 new London boroughs as the basis for local government. It further recommended that the LCC be replaced by a weaker strategic authority, with responsibility for public transport, road schemes, housing development and regeneration. The Greater London Group, a research centre of ac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giles Hart
Giles Vernon Hart (20 November 1949 – 7 July 2005) was a trade unionist and British Telecom engineer working for BT Operate. Early life Hart was born in Khartoum, Sudan, when his father was head of English at Gordon College. He moved to England with his family when he was five years old, and attended Woodhouse Grammar School, now Woodhouse College, and read mathematics at Royal Holloway College. Political campaigning While working as an executive officer at Trinity House lighthouse authority, he set up a union branch. In the 1980s, he was chairman, secretary and treasurer of the ''Polish Solidarity Campaign'', the main British pro-Solidarność organisation, and edited a history ''For Our Freedom and Yours (1995)''. He was a prominent member of the British Humanist Association and chair of Havering Humanists, also chair of the H.G. Wells Society at the time of his untimely death. Death He died in the 7 July 2005 London bombings, when he was killed instantly when travelling to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eric Heffer
Eric Samuel Heffer (12 January 192227 May 1991) was a British socialist politician. He was Labour Member of Parliament for Liverpool Walton from 1964 until his death. Due to his experience as a professional joiner, he made a speciality of the construction industry and its employment practices, but was also concerned with trade union issues in general. He changed his view on the European Common Market from being an outspoken supporter to an outspoken opponent, and served a brief period in government in the mid-1970s. His later career was dominated by his contribution to debates within the Labour Party and he defended the Liverpool City Council. Family and early life Heffer was born in Hertford into a working-class family. His grandfather was a bricklayer and later a railway signalman, and his father was a boot-maker and repairer, although he owned his own business. In later life Heffer proudly declared "I am therefore completely proletarian in background". Heffer's family we ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
