Martial law was declared 40 years ago in Communist Poland

The Martial law declared by General Wojciech Jaruzelski represents a key event in recent Polish history. Up until this day, many people still remember these times during which the Communist regime in Warsaw decided to declare war on its own citizens. 

As a matter of fact, the government of the Polish People’s Republic drastically restricted the freedom of the Polish citizens. Mass arrests, a curfew from 9pm to 6am, beatings by the government military junta, phones disconnected, postal censorship, rationed food,… Special units and tanks were deployed in the streets of the country’s main cities in order to demoralise potential protesters. 

The Polish population was informed about the imposition of Martial law on the 13th of December 1981 at 6.00 am. An iconic speech by General Wojciech Jaruzelski was broadcast on the radio and later on TV. Poland’s Communist leader was warning about the alleged dangers associated with struck and rebellion against the authorities.  

For more than one and a half years, Poland was trapped in a situation close to a civil war. They were denied basic freedoms and often humiliated. In this context, the Catholic Church was often perceived as an Island of hope for a better future. The Martial law finally ended on the 22nd of July. 

The early 1980s were a time during which the hope for the collapse of communism was on the rise across Eastern Europe. The pilgrimage of Pope John Paul II to Poland followed by the development of the Solidarity movement most definitely scared Moscow and its satellites.

On the 14th of August, 1980, a strike broke out in the Gdańsk Shipyard in which the protesters demanded an increase in wages and the return of several dismissed workers. The then ruling Polish United Workers’ Party managed to end the conflict peacefully. The strike moved from Gdańsk to Szczecin, and the miners in Jastrzębie also began to protest. Dozens of places across the country stopped working at once. The Inter-Enterprise Strike Committee was created and the right to create trade unions independent of the authorities was demanded. The result of long negotiations between the government and the workers was the establishment of the Founding Committee of NSZZ „Solidarność”.

Without falling into historical determinism, today’s perspective allows us to state that freedom had to prevail. The number of people affiliated with the legendary Solidarity opposition movement led by Lech Wałęsa and Anna Walentynowicz among others approximated 10 million. In other words, a victory against communism, in the long run, was simply impossible. 

In late January 1982, British Prime Margaret Thatcher expressed her solidarity with the Polish freedom fighters in an official statement which is worth remembering:

Poland has a special place in British history and British hearts. My generation will never forget that Poland was Britain’s ally from first to last in the Second World War. Polish squadrons flew with ours in the Battle of Britain. Polish soldiers fought with us in Monte Cassino in Italy. Polish sailors died with us to keep open the Atlantic lifeline from America. Now again, we are inspired by the people of Poland. Their longing and struggle for freedom have kindled new hope in their country and all over Eastern Europe. More than that, they remind us in the West of the precious quality of our own freedom. They know what it is like to live without it.

Four decades later, there are still some controversies regarding the interpretation of this event. 

On the one hand, some argue that such a decision from the Communist authorities was motivated by a willingness to prevent a Soviet military intervention and should therefore be regarded as a lesser evil. 

https://twitter.com/PolishEmbassyUK/status/1470294921500319747?s=20

On the other hand, the vast majority prefers to emphasise the human tragedy which was provoked by Communist rule. Indeed, it is estimated that the Martial law established by Jaruzelski made thousands of injured and killed around 100 Polish citizens as a consequence of the people’s clashes with the police and militia.

Author: Sébastien Meuwissen

Photo: IPN

 

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