History of Poland (1945–1989) of Brezhnev, there could be no peaceful resolution to the situation that developed. The Soviets now expressed a preference for the conflict to be resolved by the Polish authorities, but Poland, according to Karol Modzelewski, was lucky to avoid a carnage of foreign intervention. Others, including the historian Antoni Dudek, feel that there was no sufficient justification for the imposition of martial law that followed. On 13 December 1981, claiming that the country was on the verge of economic and civil breakdown and alleging a danger of Soviet intervention, General Wojciech Jaruzelski began a crack-down on Solidarity. Martial law was
1981 warning strike in Poland not improve the situation, as it characterized the Bydgoszcz events as a "flagrant violation of law, which created new tensions". Most members of Solidarity's National Coordinating Commission (NCC) were in favor of an all-national, general strike, which would completely paralyze the country until all details of the Bydgoszcz events had been explained and those guilty punished. Only few were against such action, among others, Bronisław Geremek, who said that the decision for an unlimited general strike would be a decision for a national insurrection. Finally, during the March 23, 1981, meeting in Bydgoszcz, majority of members of the National Coordinating