Worker delegates at the Szczecin Shipyard during the September 1980 crisis in Poland.
Photograph by Stefan Cieślak, August 24, 1980, Archiwum autora, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sala_obrad_szczecin_1980.JPG.
1980-81 Polish Crisis
The Polish Crisis of 1980-1981 began with a wave of strikes across Poland and the formation of the first independent labor union in a Soviet bloc country – Solidarity. The crisis ended with the imposition of martial law in December 1981. Most of these documents are from Russian archives and record the Soviet response to the Polish crisis, including preparations for military intervention. There are also documents from other Eastern European archives which contain the Communist bloc leaders’ discussions and reactions to the events in Poland. See also the Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia and the Warsaw Pact.
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