Victims Expose True Face of Communism on 40th Anniversary of Imposing Martial Law in Poland

A portrait of the Holy Virgin was set up at a wall of the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk where some 17 000 workers staged an 18-day strike. Gdansk, Poland, 25th August 1980: Lehtikuva/ AFP/AFP via Getty Images

Martial Law was imposed in Poland by the communist regime on Dec. 13, 1981, in order to suppress “Solidarity,” the anti-communist grassroots movement of Polish people.

Solidarity—the first trade union in the eastern communist block independent of the regime—was born in Poland in August 1980. The movement, which advocated workers’ rights and started demanding some reforms of the communist system, quickly grew in popularity and was joined by about 10 million Poles.