ABSTRACT
The Round Table presents a unique opportunity to study the genesis of a new political culture. The so called Round Table, an institutionalized forum for dialogue between the Communist Party and several major opposition groups mediated by the church, took place in a castle in Warsaw at the beginning of 1989. This dialogue also symbolized national unity. The Round Table negotiations that were held in Warsaw between February 6, and April 5, 1989, had a historical precedent in the negotiations between the government and the strike leaders in Gdansk and other strike centers in August 1980. The Gdansk negotiations ended with the signing of an agreement that stipulated political and economic reforms. According to the observations of trained social scientists who took part in the talks as chief negotiators or as experts a sharp dichotomy prevailed in the beginning.
