On July 22, 1983, martial law in Poland is lifted. It had been in force since December 13, 1981.
During this period, the authoritarian government of the Polish People's Republic, led by General Wojciech Jaruzelski, drastically restricted normal life by introducing martial law in an attempt to crush its political opposition. Thousands of oppositionists were interned without trial and about 100 people were killed. Although martial law was lifted in 1983, many of the detained prisoners were not released until the general amnesty in 1986.
The official reason for the introduction of martial law in Poland was the deterioration of the country's economic situation, including the lack of goods in stores, the threat of an energy crisis, etc.
The most important argument for its introduction, later put forward by Wojciech Jaruzelski, was the prevention of the entry of Warsaw Pact troops into Poland for actions against political opponents of the communist regime, similar to the Prague Spring in 1968, Deutsche Welle recalls.
It all started in July 1980 with the rise in meat prices. A month later, a 51-year-old worker, Anna Valentinowicz, who had been committed to workers' rights, was fired from the shipyard in Gdańsk. Her dismissal caused the cup of patience to overflow. Several thousand dissatisfied workers in Poland declared a strike. This was the birth of the Solidarity trade union. Later, the protests spread throughout the country. Initially, the government gave in and announced that workers had the right to organize in a free and independent trade union. However, the real response of the state did not come until nearly a year later - in December 1981, martial law was declared in Poland. The national anthem and the address of the head of state, government and army, Wojciech Jaruzelski, were heard on the radio:
“Citizens, the responsibility that weighs on me at this dramatic moment in Polish history is too great. It is my duty to take on this responsibility. It is about the future of Poland, about my generation, which fought on all fronts of the war and devoted the best years of its life to this struggle. I announce that from today the Military Council for National Salvation has been appointed. In accordance with the constitution, the State Council today at midnight declared martial law throughout the country”.
The communist government in Poland is preparing to deal a decisive blow to the opposition trade union Solidarity. The confrontation is clearly visible. The Polish economy is in a state of collapse, the shops are empty, and strike committees are running the factories – recalls the first freely elected Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki:
“Ten million people were organized in Solidarity – an exceptionally mass movement. And it was very difficult to control this movement in the initial period. Each region competed to demonstrate its strength and heroism, so there were strikes for all sorts of things and in order to mobilize the people in the region.”
The communist state leadership, of course, leaves nothing untried to provoke resistance. In mid-December - when the fear of the approaching cold winter and the lack of food seized the people en masse, the party leadership of the communist party took matters into its own hands: the military took power four days before an announced demonstration in memory of the victims of the workers' uprising of 1970. At that time, the militia had fired on its own population.
Life under the dictatorship of weapons changes everyday life radically. Basic human rights are abolished. For example, the secrecy of correspondence is abolished. Telephone conversations are tapped, the country's borders are closed, even travel to Poland is possible with special permits. Public gatherings are banned, and a curfew is imposed after 10 p.m., strictly controlled by the army.
The repressions only delay the collapse of communism and the Soviet bloc in Eastern Europe.