Solidarity. The Martial Law in Poland. First days

The introduction of martial law on December 12th 1981 was one of the turning points in Polish history. It was on that night when all hope for changing the economically insufficient, ideologically foreign communist political system – which disregarded Polish culture and history – was lost. After nearly sixteen months of slow liberalisation of communism in the country, the repressions towards dissidents (far more severe than during Edward Gierek’s rule), intensified censorship, party-controlled culture and science, and the omnipotence of the communist leaders made a comeback. Underground structures of Solidarity emerged as an answer to the violence spreading all around, making it impossible for the government’s Security Service to handle the situation. This book is meant to portray the social and political moods which accompanied the introduction of martial law in Poland, as well as describe in detail the preparation procedures and analyse the course of events during this coup d’etat in December 1981. The demonstrations, protests, conspiracy and forming of Solidarity’s structures are described in a separate chapter. Finally, we touch upon the Catholic Church’s attitude towards the national situation and the legal aspects of the martial law introduction. The book’s chronology range is focused mostly on December 1981, although in some cases there was a need to present the earlier and later events as well.