- SOLIDARNOSC
was swiftly and efficiently crushed. The element of surprise was very effective. By
the end of the year, the armed forces were incontestably in control of the country.
For many years, little was publicly known about the repressions of 1981—2.
But details would emerge in time. It turned out, for example, that the ZOMO
platoon which had caused the fatalities at the Wujek Mine had subsequently
been sent for special physical training in the Tatra Mountains. Unbeknown to
the zomowscy, their mountaineering instructors were Solidarity supporters to a
man, who set out to do their own detective work. By suitably plying their
charges with alcohol, they obtained detailed descriptions of events at the mine
and compiled a secret report. Twenty years later, the report would be produced
at the policemen's long delayed trial. Its authors would give evidence to the
effect that the platoon Commander ignored his orders not to open fire and that
three members of his platoon then shot at the strikers na leb i komore - in other
words with the clear intention of killing them.^6
Throughout 1982, Poland was officially ruled by a Military Council of
National Salvation (WRON) - popularly known as wrona or 'The Crow'.
General Jaruzelski presided over a group made up exclusively, according to its
own pronouncements, of serving Polish officers. Tens of thousands of innocent
citizens were arrested without charge. Some 10,000 were detained in forty-nine
internment camps. There were reports of beatings and deaths. Countless people
were coerced into signing 'pledges of loyalty' (that is, pledges of disloyalty to
Solidarity) on pain of their livelihood or their liberty. All official institutions,
from the Ministries to the railway stations or public libraries, were subject to the
orders of a military commissar, and were purged of unreliable elements. The
principal industrial enterprises were militarized. The work-force answered to
army discipline. The rules of martial law permitted the authorities to impose a
night-time curfew, to curtail all transport and travel, to record all telephone
conversations, to ban all social gatherings, and to punish the least sign of dissent
by on-the-spot fines or instant arrest. By the implicit admissions of the WRON's
own pronouncements, it had declared war on Polish society. On whom else? All
pretence of legality was cast aside. For weeks, official spokesmen denied that
Walesa, the leader of Solidarity, had been either arrested or interned. He was
'helping the authorities', but happened to be unavailable for comment. He was
eventually served with a pre-dated internment order, when an international out-
cry forced clarification of his position. Whenever the courts were rash enough
to acquit persons charged with alleged offences against martial law, the defend-
ants could be declared 'a threat to public order' and incarcerated in a psychiatric
ward. The Ministry of Justice saw no shame in such lawless proceedings, which
it openly reported presumably to intimidate an already frightened populace.
Despite repeated attempts, the remnants of Solidarity were unable to chal-
lenge the iron grip of the Military. The year 1982 began with a slogan, widely
chalked on walls by Solidarity sympathizers: Zima wasza, wiosna nasza -'the
winter is yours, the spring will be ours'. But spring never came. Minor demon-
strations and token strikes, usually on the 13th of each month, were contained.