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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 September 2009
Was the use of force possible in August 1980? Yes, it was possible. Would it have been possible to introduce martial law at an earlier date? Yes, this too would have been feasible: the authorities disposed of the necessary means then as they do today. Was the dissolution of trade unions possible when martial law was first introduced? Yes, this possibility did exist.
Wojciech Jaruzelski, Sejm, October 1982When the independent self-governing trade union Solidarity was finally delegalised in October 1982, the authorities might well have felt that they had displayed exceptional magnanimity and tolerance in permitting it to have existed at all, then only to have suspended its activities during the first nine months of martial law. In truth, however, the sudden demise of Solidarity must have exceeded the wildest expectations of the Polish generals and party leaders. What were the principal factors which brought about the dissolution of a ten million member social movement?
At the most general level three factors can be identified: (1) the might of the state security apparatus; (2) the element of surprise produced by the authorities’ two-track policy; and (3) the change in the character and tactics of Solidarity.
The most obvious explanation is that Solidarity never possessed either coercive or real political power whilst the authorities did. The imposition of martial law exposed a double failure, as Gitelman has argued: ‘The PUWP failed because it had power but little authority.
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