Comprehension Test on the Movement of Ideas and a Taste of Calculus

Comprehension Test -- We've Caught God by the Arm - Poland 1980

Your answer must be in complete sentences. Use proper English grammar and spelling. Penmanship, grammar and spelling will count in your grade.

1. Before Solidarity came to power in Poland, what was the relationship between the Polish government and the Soviet Union and between the Polish government and the U.S.?

2. Why was it ironic that a communist government was brought down by a labor union?

3. Early in the strike some workers called for expanding the list of demands to include free elections and an end to all censorship -- direct and sweeping challenges to the Communist Party's dictatorship. How might the conflict have turned out differently had the strike committee decided to include these political demands? Was dropping these demands a mistake, or was it a wise choice?

4. Industrial workers have played key roles in several of the stories presented in this series. Why have workers and their unions often been such effective vehicles for nonviolent action? What forms of leverage do workers possess that ordinary civilians do not?

5. In December, 1981, the government of communist Poland declared marshal law and arrested the leaders of Solidarity. As he was being led to prison Lech Walesa told his captors: "At this moment, you lost. We are arrested, but you have driven a nail into your communist coffin... You'll come back to us on your knees." What did he mean by this?