Martial Law was imposed in Poland by the communist regime on Dec. 13, 1981, in order to suppress “Solidarity,” the anti-communist grassroots movement of Polish people. Solidarity—the first trade union in the eastern communist block independent of the regime—was born in Poland in August 1980. The movement, which advocated workers’ rights and started demanding some reforms of the communist system, quickly grew in popularity and was joined by about 10 million Poles. The Communists agreed to legalize Solidarity only because they were forced to do so by the circumstances, said Piotr Brzeziński, Ph.D., a historian at the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) in Poland. “The strikes [leading to the birth of Solidarity] in August 1980 were so big that the communist authorities of Poland realized they were not able to suppress them and the 16 months of Solidarity’s legal operation began,” Brzeziński told The Epoch Times in an interview. After …