Polish-Australian Relations in the Era of Solidarity 1980–1981: Perspectives Revealed in Warsaw’s Official Diplomacy

In the 1970s Polish-Australian relations were seen as marginal both in Warsaw and Canberra. From the perspective of Australian foreign policy the plight of Poland was fixed under Soviet control and, in bilateral relations, only limited trade and the Polish immigrant group constituted points of some interest. The diplomacy of the Polish People’s Republic strove to improve political relations with a view to developing economic cooperation. This static picture was complicated by the rise of the Solidarity movement in Poland. This study seeks to identify and document the most important areas in official Polish-Australian relations, as defined by the Foreign Ministry in Warsaw and the Embassy in Canberra, during the legal functioning of Solidarity in 1980–1981. Drawing on sources from the Archives of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the article examines how Polish communist diplomacy attempted to achieve its aims and to what extent it was successful. It argues that Warsaw managed to exert some influence on the Australian perception of the situation in Poland, particularly at the time of Minister Tony Street’s visit in November 1981, and consequently mitigated the immediate Australian reaction to the imposition of martial law.