Public Opinion and Political Change in Poland, 1980-1982

During the 15 months of the flowering of Solidarity in Poland, an extraordinary amount of polling was done by government agencies and other groups, including Solidarity itself. A review of these polls, done with care and thoroughness in this book, brings no striking reevaluation of public attitudes at the time but confirms many general impressions and also throws light on such developments as the growing divisions within Solidarity in 1981. In general, although conditions were unsettled and the polls not foolproof, they provide a reasonably solid basis for judging the desires, values and moods of the Poles.