4 JUNE 1989 | HIGH NOON

Oppositionists and the people who wanted change in Poland came together in Citizens’ Committees endorsed by Lech Wałęsa. They did not have their own, legal and widely distributed newspapers, while their access to public media was very limited. Solidarity knew that it had to run a campaign that would be effective, going beyond the media, monopolised by the communist authorities. To this end—next to campaign trail, TV and radio shows, and the press—the Citizens’ Committee focused on posters and flyers, pasted and distributed in cities, towns and workplaces.

Out of the posters and graphic art dedicated to the June 1989 elections, the most identifiable one today is the poster by Tomasz Sarnecki: 'High Noon. 4 June 1989'. It presents the Marshal from the Western 'High Noon', with the movie star Gary Cooper in his most famous role. Instead of a Colt, the Marshal in the poster carries a ballot paper in his hand, with the Solidarity logo pinned at his heart. 

‘A Photo with Wałęsa’ became one of the icons of the June 1989 election. It was Andrzej Wajda and Bronisław Geremek who came up with the idea to produce a series of election posters in which Solidarity’s candidates to the Polish Parliament would be supported by Lech Wałęsa himself, well-respected as the legendary leader of the democratic opposition.A total of 238 photographs of Citizens’ Committee candidates were taken with Lech Wałęsa, although—as has been determined through research—in several cases, names or pictures happened to be mixed up before printing.

The June 1989 elections brought about a decisive victory to the Solidarity opposition centred around the Citizens’ Committee endorsed by Lech Wałęsa. The candidates supported by the Committee won all the seats allocated to contenders not affiliated with the communist party: 35% (161 seats) in the Sejm (lower house of Parliament), as well as 99% of all the seats in the Senate.