ABSTRACT
In July 1980, a movement of social and political protest began in Poland that was to shake the foundations of that nation and the rest of the socialist world. The formation in Gdansk of the independent labor movement, Solidarity, led to a national struggle for power that lasted nearly eighteen months. The conflict between the Polish government and Solidarity could be viewed as simply an abortive attempt at reform crushed by a repressive state. The emergence of a "new class" of political, managerial, and military bureaucrats is at the center of the conflict in Poland. "It is the bureaucracy which formally uses, administers, and controls both nationalized and socialized property as well as the entire life of society. A conflict also presents certain dynamics and modes of communication, performs certain functions, and contains a potential for limitation, including restraints on the use of force and violence.
