From Solidarity to Martial Law
The Polish Crisis of 1980–1981
Edited by Andrzej Paczkowski, Professor at
the Institute for Political Studies of the Polish Academy
of Sciences, and
Malcolm Byrne, Research Director of the National
Security Archive in Washington D.C.
With a foreword by Lech Walesa
95 documents on the events that represent a pivotal
moment in modern Polish and world history: 16 months
between August 1980 when the Solidarity trade union
was founded and December 1981 when Polish authorities
declared martial law and crushed the nationwide opposition
movement that had grown up around the union. Transcripts
of Soviet and Polish Politburo meetings give a detailed
picture of the goals, motivations and deliberations
of the leaders of these countries. Records of Warsaw
Pact gatherings, notes of bilateral sessions of the
communist camp provide additional pieces to the puzzle
of what Moscow and its allies had in mind. Materials
are included from Solidarity, too.
"An
important and very revealing contribution to a better
understanding of a particularly critical phase in the
Cold War. The documents provide a sense of intimacy
to the complex interactions between American and Soviet
decision makers as well as an insight into the internal
Communist debates." – Zbigniew
Brzezinski, former U.S. National Security
Advisor
"This volume puts the pieces together for the
last moment of communist control and the start of the
end of communism. With a set of documents, it tells
the story of the perceptions and misperceptions that
made for Solidarity, for martial law, and for communism's
failure. It is the “whodunit” of one of
the major events in the Cold War and required reading
for anyone who wants to understand how the communists
could have so much power and be so out of touch."
– Prof. Jane Leftwich Curry,
Santa Clara University
"The latest volume in a seres of National Security
Archive Cold War Readers devoted to presenting a 'truly
multinational approach to Cold War history' by documenting
'key episodes in the Cold War based on the latest archival
documentation from the former Soviet bloc and newly
declassified Western sources'. With the publication
of this volume, a broader audience can now easily access
this material to inform on-going research or simply
to become better informed on the decision-making processes
surrounding the imposition of martial law in Poland."
- Slavic Review
"There is no comparable compilation in English.
Highly recommended." - Choice
2007
596 pages
ISBN 978-963-7326-84-4 cloth $65.00 / € 49.95 /
£43.95
ISBN 978-963-7326-96-7 paperback $40.00 / €35.00
/ £30.00
This is the fifth volume in the series National
Security Archive Cold War Readers, editor: Malcolm Byrne
ISSN 1587-2416
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