MARTIAL LAW IN POLAND

'Martial law in Poland' () refers to the period of time from December 13, 1981 to July 22, 1983 when the government of the People's Republic of Poland drastically restricted normal life in an attempt to crush the political opposition against the Communist rule in the country.

Contents

Name

Martial law

Economic crisis

Unconstitutional

Soviet intervention debate

Picture gallery

See also

References

External links

Name

The phrase in Polish is ''Stan Wojenny'', which translates as "The State of War". While there was no actual war at the time, the military government led by General of the Army Wojciech Jaruzelski and the Military Council of National Salvation (''Wojskowa Rada Ocalenia Narodowego'', WRON) usurped for itself powers reserved for wartime, hence the name.

Martial law

The peaceful pro-democracy movements (Solidarity and other, smaller, organisations) were banned and their leaders, including Lech Wałęsa, imprisoned. During the initial imposition of martial law, several dozen people were killed. Commanders during the crackdown claim about a dozen fatalities, while a parliamentary commission in the years 1989-1991 arrived at a figure of over 90 deaths[1].
Solidarity leaders were interned overnight. Full military censorship and a six-day working week were re-imposed. As part of the crackdown, media and educational institutions underwent "verification", a process that tested each employee's attitude towards the regime and to the Solidarity movement. Some 2,000 journalists and teachers were banned from exercising their profession. The coal mines were placed under military control, and military courts were established to bypass the normal courts system, and e.g. imprison those spreading so-called "false information" [2].

Economic crisis

Even after martial law was lifted, a number of restrictions remained in place for several years that drastically reduced the civil liberties of people living in Poland. It also led to severe economic consequences. The military junta instituted major price hikes (dubbed "economic reforms"), which resulted in a fall in real terms of 20% or more in the income of the population [3]. The resulting economic crisis led to the rationing of most products and materials, including basic food.

Unconstitutional

After the downfall of Communism in Poland in 1989, members of a parliamentary commission determined that martial law had been imposed in clear violation of the country's constitution which had authorized the executive to declare martial law only between parliamentary sessions (at other times the decision was to be taken by the Sejm). However, the Sejm had been in session at the time when martial law was instituted. In 1992 the Sejm declared that the 1981 imposition of martial law had been unlawful and unconstitutional [4].

Soviet intervention debate

The instigators of the martial law, such as Wojciech Jaruzelski, argue that the army crackdown rescued Poland from a possibly disastrous military intervention of the Soviet Union, East Germany, and other Warsaw Pact countries (similar to the earlier "fraternal aid" interventions in Hungary 1956, Czechoslovakia 1968, and Afghanistan 1979-1989). Most historians disagree, citing a lack of sources confirming such a version of events.

Picture gallery

See also

★ Kopalnia Wujek (the Wujek Mine massacre)

★ Military Council of National Salvation

★ The end of Communist rule in Poland

References

External links

★ Photo gallery

★ 25 years anniversary (pl)

★ Jaruzelski declaring martial law (1)

★ Jaruzelski declaring martial law (2)