Rebellion is a fascinating, multi-threaded story about how revolutions unfold. The story begins when the communist authorities in Poland promise a better life after the bloody suppression of strikes in December 1970. The availability of goods temporarily increased, and for a time the outside world seemed closer. Just a decade later, however, rebellion arrived nonetheless. This book provides the full story of the Great Strike of August 1980, the centre of which was the Gdan´sk Shipyard. This strike was a fight not only for bread, but also for dignity of the striking workers. The authorities were faced with the choice of either calling for assistance from Soviet troops or seeking a compromise. Many days of negotiations with the strikers resulted in an agreement that began a new chapter in Polish history and opened the way to demise of the communist system in Eastern Europe.

Anna Machcewicz PhD is a historian and journalist. She worked in the Polish History Museum and the Museum of the Warsaw Uprising, but also as a freelance journalist with Polish public TV, the BBC and the newspapers Polityka, Tygodnik Powszechny, and Newsweek. She is currently affiliated with the Institute of Political Studies at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw.