The economic situation of Poland, like that of other so-called demoludes, was getting worse

and worse. Polish communists, taking the example of Gorbachev's reforms in the USSR, also

decided to liberalise the system to some extent. At the end of the 1980s, new waves of strikes

broke through Poland, and the communists, trying to salvage their situation, decided to start

talks with the moderate part of the opposition. The result of the so-called Round Table was the

organisation of the first partially free elections in the Eastern Bloc on 4 June 1989. They

proved to be a great success for the reborn Solidarity movement and showed very clearly the

low public support of the Communist Party. Although, according to the pre-election decisions,

the communists had a guaranteed majority in the new parliament, General Czesław Kiszczak,

the communist appointed as prime ministers, failed to form a government. However, the

opposition representative Tadeusz Mazowiecki, who led a broad coalition with the

participation of all parties in the parliament, managed to do so. On December 29, 1989, the

name of the country was changed to the Republic of Poland. In 1990, as a result of completely

free elections, the leader of "Solidarity", Lech Wałęsa, became the new president of Poland.

As in many other former Eastern Bloc countries, in Poland, too, the communists who were

detached from power, were renamed Social Democrats. Moreover, as a result of democratic

elections, they managed to rule in an independent Poland (1993-1997, 2001-2005), and the

former communist Aleksander Kwasniewski held the office of President of Poland for as

many as two terms of office (1995-2005). In 2002, the Polish Communist Party was also

recreated, but it did not have any support in the society. It is worth noting that in 2015, the

Communist Party called for a boycott of the parliamentary elections, thus referring to the

worst traditions of its pre-war namesake.