for the polish strikers, it was a day worthy of hyperbole, lech walesa telling his followers, "we areow co-masters of this land." lech walesa and solidarity are showing that you could have an independent union in a communist country. and the question was, how independent were they going to be allowed to be? how the u.s. deals with poland, with the eastern bloc, and, of course, with russia will be early challenges for the foreign policy of the president-elect, ronald reagan. zelizer: reagan had spent much of his career blasting the soviet union and attacking any republican or democrat who had said we can negotiate. he had been the leading opponent of détente during the 1970s, the policy of trying to ease relations with the soviets. brinkley: what he disliked about détente was that they were hitting the negotiating team as equals. reagan thought, "there are two superpowers, but we have moral superiority because democracy's inherently good and sovietism is inherently bad." the only morality they recognize is what will further their cause, meaning they reserve unto themselves the right to