ABSTRACT
The chapter presents the historical context of the political change of 1989 in Poland. The spectacular victory of the Solidarity camp in the elections marked a major watershed in the country’s history. From Kraków’s perspective, however, it only indicated the start of the transition period, as both the political and administrative power in the city still remained in the hands of the ancien régime. The first fully democratic elections in post-war Poland were not held until 27 May 1990. They were local elections to the new communes where the Solidarity Citizens’ Committees were spectacularly successful. The syndrome of the communist Polish state was finally broken, which meant a profound systemic and constitutional change that took place, as it were, on the fly during the Polish democratic revolution. The change followed several decades of communist dictatorship and of a command-and-control economy. Local authorities quickly became one of the foundations and engines for Polish transformation. The political breakthrough of 1989–90 determined the further development of the city, while the case of Kraków in 1990 was soon to provide an especially instructive chapter in the history of the Polish democratic revolution.
