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Abstract
The article analyses the social forces and processes which have led to recent developments in Poland, i.e. social crisis and the emergence of Solidarity. Arguments focus on responses to the cycles of economic failure and political repression. These failures led to the loss of legitimacy of consecutive ruling groups. However, the forms of protest which took place prior to 1976 were rooted in the lack of experience of the Polish working class, its social characteristics, and its isolation from other social strata that were involved in separate protests of another sort. The appearance on the scene of the first generation of Poles brought up in the industrialized country, the past experiences of all Poles, and the emergence of the Committee for Workers' Defence (KOR) as a bridge between various strata and segments of the society were the crucial forces facilitating the organization of Polish society following the 1976 strikes.

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