Theses for the Discussion with the Polish Leadership

In response to another rise in prices, for meat products in particular, strikes erupted in the summer of 1980 in Poland among workers throughout the country, especially in the cities of Gdansk, Gdynia, and Szczecin. Strikers listed a total of twenty-one demands, including higher pay, more openness in media, less censorship, and the formation of free trade unions. To quell the situation, Poland's leaders made several agreements with the opposition, in particular with the Inter-factory Strike Committees. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, as this document indicates, was concerned about the course of events in Poland. Soviet authorities strongly advised Polish officials on how to proceed; they pressured their neighbors to strengthen the support of socialism and to counteract the antisocialist opposition by whatever means necessary. This source points to the behind-closed-doors discussions that took place among party leaders in the Soviet Union and between the Soviet and Polish leadership.