Historica Wiki
Advertisement

Martial law in Poland was a period of Polish history that lasted from 13 December 1981 to 22 July 1983 as the communist Polish People's Republic enacted martial law to deal with the Solidarity trade union movement and other democratic protesters.

In 1970, Edward Gierek became the communist leader of Poland. Determined to make Poland the wealthiest and most economically significant communist country of the Eastern Bloc, he abandoned the principles of a centrally planned Marxist economy, loosening the grip on state-owned enterprises and state-controlled prices while allowing for small business growth. He also borrowed large sums of money from Western Bloc creditors, establishing heavy industry, mines, and manufacturing facilities that would produce goods for export. The money was spent on social housing and expanding road connections, linking Warsaw to Silesia for the first time in 1976. However, Poland's accumulating debts led to foreign creditors refraining from granting Poland loans, and the 1973 and 1979 oil crises damaged the fragile economy. Consumption surged, and the country was forced to minimize expenses in order to repay its debts, export goods, and increase production. Food rationing began in 1976, power outages became commonplace, and living standards sharply declined.

In response to the Communist Party's mismanagement, the Independent Self-Governing Trade Union "Solidarity" was established in August 1980 at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk. This union encouraged farmers to refrain from selling agricultural products to the state as a sign of protest. In September 1980, Gierek was expelled from his party for "corruption" and was replaced by Defense Minister Wojciech Jaruzelski. The country nearly fell into civil war as the Polish government cracked down on Solidarity and anti-communist sentiment spread. Jaruzelski began planning the implementation of martial law on 22 October 1980, and he sent members of the Security Service to infiltrate Solidarity headquarters to create internal conflicts within the organization. Jaruzelski also planned radical actions involving the army, intending on solving the conflict without a Soviet military intervention that could provoke a national uprising. However, the Soviets increased their military presence at Borne Sulinowo with 600 tanks.

On 12 December 1981, the Polish Council of State approved nationwide martial law and created the Military Council of National Salvation (WRON), a military junta. At midnight on 13 December, the Motorized Reserves of the Milicja Obywatelska (ZOMO) began to arrest Solidarity members, and 80,000 Polish People's Army soldiers and 30,000 policemen were deployed for action, as were 1,750 tanks, 1,900 armored combat vehicles, 500 militarized transport units, 9,000 cars, and several helicopter squadrons. Three days after martial law was imposed, miners in Katowice went on strike. Jaruzelski sent eight ZOMO squads to suppress the strikes, killing 9 strikers and injuring 21. On the same day, 30,000 protesters assembled in Gdansk, and they were dispersed by ZOMO outside the PZPR headquarters. On 30 April 1982, miners in Wodzislaw Slaski blew up a monument dedicated to the Red Army. On 14 August 1982, riot police severely beat 80 prisoners at the Kwidzyn internment camp. Lubin and Wroclaw became hotspots for Solidarity rallies, and both demonstrations were aggressively crushed. The crackdown killed over 90 protesters.

On 23 December 1981, the United States imposed economic sanctions against Poland, suspending its most favored nation trade status in 1987 and vetoing Poland's application for membership in the International Monetary Fund. The CIA transferred $2 million yearly in cash to Solidarity, while the AFL-CIO raised $300,000 for Solidarity and the National Endowment for Democracy donated $10 million. On 22 July 1983, martial law was lifted, but several restrictions on political activity remained in place.

Advertisement