13 December: Martial law imposed

The ‘Solidarność’ festival, public joy over the registration of the union, made the Poles join it in throngs. In September it already had around ten million members. The communists realised that to retain control they needed to disband ‘Solidarność.’ In the night of 12 December 1981, the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the PUWP Jaruzelski imposed martial law. For nearly two years, the communist authorities sowed terror among the population using the army, militia and ZOMO units.