In 1980 and 1981, Poland became a remarkably open society, with a proliferation of new and independent ideas, organizations and publications. This openness also affected sociological research, and in particular public-opinion research. The government, academic research institutes, and even Solidarity conducted and published public-opinion surveys on all manner of subjects, including the most highly charged political issues. These surveys offer us a unique and candid snapshot of Polish society during one of the most turbulent and exciting periods of modern history.

In relying on public opinion data, this study focuses on the public rather than the elite, and on the public's perceptions of the elite (both Solidarity and the regime) rather than the elite's perceptions or policies. This work differs, then, from political histories of the Solidarity era, which largely focus on the top of the political system: on the composition, makeup and policy debates within the Party and within Solidarity, and the political competition between Solidarity and the Party. This, of course, was an important aspect of the events of 1980–2, but in some respects misses the unique features of the situation. To the extent that society, or the workers, had taken over the ‘leading role’ in Polish society, it is important to understand the values, attitudes, and beliefs of the workers and other social groups.

In showing the interaction between the political elites and the general population, the approach of this book is different from most other Western studies of communist political systems.