The Solidarity Revolution in Poland, 1980-1981

Abstract: This article, based upon in-depth interviews with anti-governmentleaders and activists, first explains the significance of theupheaval in Communist Poland in 1980–1981 and articulateshow the author became involved in this research and explainshis methodology. It then concentrates on the impact on the personallives of the participants and on social relations in Polandof the upheaval that produced an unprecedented-in-the-Soviet-blocindependent union with the right to strike. It shows how activistsdeveloped talents and cultivated abilities as they assumed responsibilitiesthat had previously been unavailable to them. It examines howworkers' lives changed as they grasped control of power: theirworking conditions improved; their status rose; they treatedone another better; they educated themselves. These changes,which contributed to the context in which the political struggleof that period took place, survived the suppression of the unionand ultimately contributed to bringing about the end of Communismin Poland.