"New Year's Day" - U2, 1983 (post-punk rock)

All is quiet on New Year's Day
A world in white gets underway
I want to be with you
Be with you night and day
Nothing changes on New Year's Day
On New Year's Day

I will be with you again
I will be with you again

Under a blood red sky
A crowd has gathered in black and white
Arms entwined, the chosen few
The newspapers says, says
Say it's true it's true...
And we can break through
Though torn in two
We can be one

I...I will begin again
I...I will begin again

Oh...
Maybe the time is right
Oh...maybe tonight...

I will be with you again
I will be with you again

And so we're told this is the golden age
And gold is the reason for the wars we wage
Though I want to be with you
Be with you night and day
Nothing changes
On New Year's Day

Happy New Year, Auld Lang Syne, and all that good stuff! Welcome, 2009 today, and in January 1983, Irish rockers U2 broke through the Billboard Top 10 with "New Year's Day", hoping to fan the flames of political unrest in Europe. As is true for all U2 songs, Bono and the gang never actually intended for this one to become an instant pop hit (and eventual rock classic). Even though the band is part of the "entertainment industry", if you know anything about U2 then you know that very little of their music (if any) is written for entertainment. "New Year's Day" is no different. Frontman Bono had originally penned the lyrics as a love song to his wife; however, true to U2 custom, they were eventually re-fashioned to suit a more political purpose. The lyrics we know today were inspired by Poland's Solidarity Movement, co-founded by human rights activist, Lech Walesa.

The Solidarity Movement began in 1980 in the shipyards of Gdansk, Poland. Prior to the forging of Solidarity, Poland experiened a 'shortage economy', which was politically engineered by the oppressing Communist regime to keep the country and its citizens "in check." It is a dispicable tactic which has been used more than once by rulers who wish to maintain political power by keeping the people physically and emotionally weakened by depriving them of their life's essentials so that they are too weak and fearful for any uprising to occur; plus, if the government provides the essentials, the people would be forced to do completely without should there be a revolt. In essence, the government forces the people to be so depraved and dependent that they cannot retaliate against the government's harsh and unfair treatment. This artificial, intentionally engineered state of depravity put stress on the every day lives of the people of Poland, who were unable to buy even such basic amenities as toilet paper and bread. To even try to receive such items, they waited in endless queues, which even then rarely had a positive outcome.

History also records the boundaries of the collective human spirit. While man and his neighbors may suffer together and bend under the pressures of his rulers for what feels like an eternity, they are not infinitely flexible, nor can they withstand such stress without limits. In July of 1980, the Polish government was again "forced" to raise the price of goods while at the same time lower the rate of workers' wages. This was the last straw for Poland's labor force. On August 14, at the Lenin Shipyards in Gdansk, the shipyard workers united, their tempers additionally fueled by the firing of outspoken activists. Walesa continued to give a voice to the workers, even more adamantly than ever. He instigated the monumental strike which demanded the institution of legislation for independent labor unions.

Even with a lack of any form of organized network, labor force strikes spread throughout the country. Dispite the government's ability to control media and communication, no matter how hard they tried, they could not disconnect Gdansk from the rest of the country. The Polish government instituted national censorship, even disconnected phone lines. Nonetheless, underground presses succeeded in passing the story from one place to the next. Walesa's and the dock workers' message had spread across Poland and the Eastern Bloc like wildfire. Within 2 days, on August 16, other strike committees joined Walesa and the crew in Gdansk. Two days after that, the unified strikers successfully put forth 21 demands. These demands called for the formation of independent labor unions, an end to media censorship, the right to strike, new rights for the Church, the freeing of political prisoners, and improvements to the national health system.

On August 18, the Szczecin shipyard joined the Gsansk shipyard and ingnited a slew of labor strikes all up and down the Polish coast. Within days, the entire country experienced factory shut-downs. Industry was grinding to a halt as more and more unions formed. Because of the monumentous effort made by the shipyard workers of Gdansk, they and the other strikers began to receive international media coverage. Of course, international media cannot be censored by the local, domestic government, and when human rights activities receive international notoriety, they often also gain international support. It was because of this international news coverage and support that this strike effort was such a success - Walesa and his collegues were able to hold out much longer than any other effort to overthrow the oppression experienced as a result of greedy government.

Poland's Soviet government couldn't ignore the people anymore. On September 3, the Governmental Commission was sent to Gdansk with an agreement to be signed, which ratified many of the workers' demands. This became known as The Gdansk Agreement, and is today often considered to be the first blow dealt in dismantling the Soviet empire. By successfully achieving the right to form unions free from Communist Party control or influence, Walesa and the other shipyard workers showed the world that it WAS possible to introduce democratic changes to the communist political structure!

On September 17, Solidarnosc ("Solidarity") was born. This was the very first completely independent, Communist-Party-free labor union in the entire Soviet Bloc. In the two years that followed, 10 million people joined Solidarnosc or one of its sub-organizations. People from all walks of life were quick to sign up: students, intellectuals, workers, farmers, etc. As much as 80% of Poland's workforce eagerly enrolled. This was the only time in history that such numbers of a country's population ever voluntarily joined any single organization.

Solidarity escalated into something much greater than an economic reforem effort; it snowballed into an international governmental revolution. However, to the credit of Walesa and Solidarity, unlike their opponents, they never once used violence. But no matter how peaceably they assembled (or dis-assembled as it were), Solidarity members still endured governmental backlash.

Moscow did what they could to put leadership into power to tighten the loosening Soviet grip on Poland, including the renig of certain terms agreeed upon in the Gdansk Agreement, particularly the term involving censorship, which was again instituted and implemented even more vigorously than before. In 1981, conflict had escalated enough for the Soviet government to declare Poland in a state of martial law. Martial law gave the government free reign. As a result, thousands of members of Solidarity were arrested in the middle of the night. Riot police patrolled the streets and easily put down workforce riots, which was Solidarity's staple push-back for when the government pushed. Still refusing to resort to violence and insurrection, it seemed as if Solidarity was crippled and perhaps the movement quashed forever. Solidarity was delegalized and banned.

Of course, whenever a good cause becomes illegal, it goes underground. It never lost its international support. Never in the history of the world has any cause been so supported. Reagan, Thatcher, the Pope, Carrillo (head of communist Spain); NATO, Christians, Western communists, liberals, conservatives, and socialists - all voiced support for Solidarity's cause. Ronald Reagan and the U.S. imposed sanctions on Poland, which forced the government to ease its policies. The CIA and the Catholic Church even provided monetary funds, training, and equipment to the Solidarity underground. No matter what the Soviets did to try and stop Solidarity, they couldn't. It was inevitable that even under harsh restrictions and martial law, the Solidarity movement would continue to gain momentum and change the world for the good of the people, systematically dismantling the Soviet Bloc brick by brick until it's final collapse in 1989.

The moral of the Solidarity story is: Never give up. Members were limitlessly persecuted. Thousands were thrown in jail. Their terms were agreed upon and then retracted. Because of their movements, the country's people were forced to endure periods of martial law. It may have taken 10 years, but in the end it was worth it. Today, Poland stands an independent democracy, thanks to a handful of dock workers who maintained the courage of their convictions. Their spark for democracy and independence spread throughout all of Communist Europe and changed not only the and fortunes of the people of one country, but also those of an entire continent.

Many people sacrificed much and risked their lives for the movement's success. History has not passed without recognizing them, particularly Lech Walesa, who earned the Nobel Peace Prize in October of 1983. In 1990, he was elected President of Poland and was the first Polish President ever elected by a popular vote.

"New Year's Day" - U2, 1983


~Information solidified from:
http://www.gdansk-life.com/poland/solidarity
http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1060898.html
http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-protest/polish_democracy_2782.jsp

"Wind of Change" - The Scorpions, 1989 (rock)

I follow the Moskva
Down to Gorky Park
Listening to the wind of change
An August summer night
Soldiers passing by
Listening to the wind of change

The world is closing in
Did you ever think
That we could be so close, like brothers
The future's in the air
I can feel it everywhere
Blowing with the wind of change

Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow dream away
in the wind of change

Walking down the street
Distant memories
Are buried in the past forever
I folow the Moskva
Down to Gorky Park
Listening to the wind of change

Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow share their dreams
With you and me
Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow dream away
in the wind of change

The wind of change
Blows straight into the face of time
Like a stormwind that will ring the freedom bell
For peace of mind
Let your balalaika sing
What my guitar wants to say

The Meine brothers, whom you and I know as a couple of serious guitar shredders who hail from Germany (aka The Scorpions), began writing this song in 1989 after a visit to Moscow. They were actually the first hard rock band ever to play in Russia. They returned the following year to play the Moscow Music Peace Festival. It was then that the words to this song were written. They were inspired by the site of thousands of Russians cheering them on, even though they were German. Lead singer Klaus Meine is quoted as saying, "Everyone was there: the Red Army, journalists, musicians from Germany, from America, from Russia - the whole world on one boat. It was like a vision; everyone was talking the same language. It was a very positive vibe. That night was the basic inspiration for Wind Of Change."

It was the same year this song was written that the world changed forever. Modern history will record that in late summer of 1989, Communist Europe ceased to be. "Wind of Change" rose to be the unofficial theme song of the dismantling of the Berlin Wall, late in the summer of 1989.

The Berlin Wall was erected in 1961 and separated two German states for 28 years. West Berlin was free. East Berlin was not. The Wall was over 96 miles long and was actually two walls back to back. In 1975, the final modifications to The Wall were added, constructed from 45,000 sections of reinforced concrete each 12 feet high and 4 feet thick. It had 116 watchtowers, 20 bunkers, barbed wire, canine patrols, fakir beds (beds of nails under balconies) and anti-vehicle trenches that guarded a "no man's land"...the death strip area in between the two walls. It was paved with raked gravel, which made it easy to spot foot prints.

When the border between East and West Berlin was officially closed at midnight on August 13, 1961. East Berlin was controlled by Josef Stalin and became a socialist state. Families were abruptly separated. People who commuted to work from East to West were instantly either homeless or without employment. At least 136 people are confirmed killed trying to escape from East to West Berlin (but there were probably many, many more "unconfirmed"), and countless documented and undocumented desperate successful and failed escape attempts.

Ironically, the collectiveness The Scorpions (and everyone else) experienced at the Moscow Music Peace Festival would not end when the Music Peace Festival ended. "Wind of Change" celebrated the political shift in Eastern Europe. Although "Winds of Change" wasn't written specifically about the Berlin Wall, the feelings of the world and the lyrics of the Meines was somewhat of poetic foreshadowing. The Berlin Wall was an icon of the rule of tyranny and poverty behind the Iron Curtain, and it was one of the largest, most real, tangible, material objects that smacked the face of humanity and said that the Cold War was real...and it was so much more than simple politics. When the Berlin Wall came down, it signalled the beginning of total collapse of the Iron Curtain in Europe, which would trickle all the way up to the very hub of communism: Mother Russia. The Cold War, which had gripped the world and glued us to the edge of our seats for five decades, was finally over.

In 2005, viewers of the German television network ZDF chose "Wind of Change" as song of the century. It is the highest ever selling song in Germany, and is frequently played with footage of the Wall coming down. This song is also widely known in Germany as the song of German reunification (and the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, generally), even though it only rose to popularity two years after.

A key to some of the lyrics:

Moskva - the name of a river that runs through Moscow

Gorky Park - an amusement park in Moscow

balalaika - a musical instrument of Russian origin that is fretted and has three strings and looks an awful lot like a Gibson Flying V guitar.

"Wind of Change" - The Scorpions, 1989

(gathered freely from east to west and various places in between)