Martial law was declared on 13 December 1981 in Poland when General Wojciech Jaruzelski and his associates decided to stop the rapid development of the first independent trade union in the communist bloc, “Solidarność.” The Polish party wanted to prove to the Soviet leadership that it could destroy civic society in its own country. 

The process of preparation for introducing martial law in communist Poland started on 10 November 1980 when the communist state was forced to officially legalise the “Solidarność” trade union. 

That meant now, for the first time since 1945 Poles could become a part of an organisation that was free of direct involvement from the state. Such an occasion was enthusiastically welcomed – some 10 million Polish people joined the movement. 

Earlier, on 3 September 1980, the Soviet authorities prepared special instructions for the new leadership of the Polish communist party. The PZPR was recommended to “prepare a counter-attack” to “return to the lost positions in the working class”. The worst aspect of the entire situation was that the opposition movement was founded on workers, who shall constitute the core base of support for a communist state. 

At that time various pieces of legislation were drafted and some 100,000 copies of the martial law proclamation posters were printed in the Soviet Union. The military also prepared special commissioners to become heads of various institutions such as TV, Radio and the most important industrial sites.

Polish historian Andrzej Paczkowski wrote about the atmosphere of those days:

“Since the summer of 1980, a virtually permanent state of unrest prevailed in Poland, intensified by the deepening difficulties of everyday life. […] Often recurring periods of mobilisation and an increased feeling of threat had, in a sense, made people indifferent to signals of planned actions by the authorities,”.

The decision to impose martial law was approved on 5 December 1981 by the Politburo of the PZPR Central Committee. General Jaruzelski (head of the communist party in Poland) was given the freedom to choose a specific date to launch the operation. 

On the night of 8-9 December 1981, during a meeting with Soviet Marshal Kulikov, who was staying in Warsaw, General Jaruzelski informed him of the planned operations, without, however, giving a specific date for their start.

On 12 December 1981, even before midnight, units of the Ministry of the Interior, consisting of special groups such as ZOMO (Motorised Reserves of the Citizens’ Militia), anti-terrorist units, SB officers, and the so-called Vistula Units with the support of the regular army, began their operations.

As part of Operation Azalia, the forces of the Interior Ministry and the Polish Army occupied the facilities of the Polish Radio and Television and blocked domestic and foreign connections at telecommunications centres.

ZOMO troops occupied the premises of the Solidarity regional boards, detaining all people staying there and confiscating the communication and printing equipment they found.

The main blow for Solidarność was struck in Gdansk, where the National Commission of the Solidarity Trade Union was meeting to discuss a possible general strike. Around 30 members of the National Commission and several advisers were detained overnight in Gdansk.

Very few were able to escape thanks to the help of workers or railroad officers. 

Most Poles found out about the start of martial law in the morning. Shortly after 6:00 a.m., Polish Radio broadcasted the famous Wojciech Jaruzelski’s speech for the first time.

The head of Solidarność, Lech Wałęsa was arrested and kept in Arłamów in the Bieszczady mountains in south-eastern Poland. 

Around 5,000 people were arrested in the first days of martial law and held in 49 detention centres across the country.

The introduction of martial law was opposed by the United States and other Western countries. 

On 23 December 1981, US President Ronald Reagan announced economic sanctions against the People’s Republic of Poland and, a few days later, announced that the US would also extend sanctions to the Soviet Union, which, bore “grave and direct responsibility for the repression”.

On 31 December 1982, martial law was suspended and on 22 July 1983, it was revoked with some of the repressive legislation remaining in place. 

The exact number of people who died as a result of the imposition of martial law is not known. The lists of victims presented range from dozens to over a hundred names. 

One of the most serious events during the martial law was the pacification of the Wujek Mine in Katowice. During the militia attack on the mine, some 9 miners were shot dead by special ZOMO task forces armed with automatic pistols. 

It is important to understand that a huge part of deaths related to imposing martial law were those of people who were unable to call an ambulance or other state emergency support because of deliberate severance of the telephone network for civilians.

The number of people who lost their health during this period as a result of harassment, beatings during investigations or street demonstrations, or as a result of not being able to call for help due to blocked telephone connections also remains unknown.

Source: PAP, Dzieje.pl

Tomasz Modrzejewski

Photo: Mariusz Szyperko