7 - Solidarity and the regime at the end of 1981

Summary

By the end of 1981, Poland was divided and tired. The exhilaration of 1980 had been replaced by fatigue and frustration a year later. The causes for this were numerous and cumulative. The solidarity of the summer of 1980 had given way to bitterness and divisiveness within the movement. The sense of strength and power bred of the movement's unanimity had frittered away in the face of the obstinacy of the regime and the union's lack of progress in critical areas. Finally, and most importantly, the economy and standard of living had deteriorated even further during 1981, frustrating the main expectation that accompanied Solidarity's formation.

THE ECONOMY AT THE END OF 1981

Solidarity's most important promise was to bring a measure of efficiency to the economy that would allow improvements in consumption and the standard of living. It was perhaps too much to expect that major improvements could be accomplished within one year, but few people expected that the economy would get even worse. Nevertheless, already by the middle of 1981 there were clear indications of the worsening situation. In his report to the June 12 session of the Sejm, Premier Jaruzelski noted declines in industrial production, coal extraction, retail market supply and livestock production, all during a time when disposable income was up by 20%. Meat procurement for 1981 was expected to be 500,000 tons lower than the previous year (RFER, 6/19/81).