The Solidarity Decade

This narrative history aims to provide a standard account of the last decade in Poland, the most momentous in its recent history, from the workers' occupation of the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk, in 1980, to the first free democratic elections of 1991. This decade was, above all, the decade of Solidarity, and one of Joanna Hanson's primary objectives is to provide a thorough assessment of Solidarity's role within Poland's transformation from communist to post-communist state. Drawing on extensive archival research, as well as interviews with key participants, this history of the "Solidarity decade" is written by someone who was present in Poland for much of the period. It should be of interest to all students of contemporary Polish and Central European affairs.