Martial law in Poland Pact countries (similar to the earlier interventions in Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968). Public figures who supported the introduction of martial law (including some of the right-wing figures like Jędrzej Giertych) would also refer to that threat. In 2009, archive documents hinted that in a conversation Jaruzelski had with Viktor Kulikov, a Soviet military leader, Jaruzelski himself begged for Soviet intervention as his domestic control was deteriorating. Jaruzelski responded by claiming the document was 'just another falsification'. Martial law in Poland Martial law in Poland () refers to the period of time from December 13, 1981 to July
History of Poland July, but the collapse of the economy continued and so did the general disorder. At the first Solidarity National Congress in September–October 1981 in Gdańsk, Lech Wałęsa was elected national chairman of the union with 55% of the vote. An appeal was issued to the workers of the other East European countries, urging them to follow in the footsteps of Solidarity. To the Soviets, the gathering was an "anti-socialist and anti-Soviet orgy" and the Polish communist leaders, increasingly led by Jaruzelski and General Czesław Kiszczak, were ready to apply force. In October 1981, Jaruzelski was named first secretary of the