In the early spring of 1981 in Poland, several members of the Solidarity movement, including Jan Rulewski, Mariusz Łabentowicz, and Roman Bartoszcze, were brutally beaten by the security services, such as Milicja Obywatelska and the ZOMO.

On the 25th of March, Lech Wałęsa met Deputy Prime Minister Mieczysław Rakowski of the Polish United Workers' Party, but no agreement came from their talks.

The atmosphere in the country grew even more tense when the government of the Polish People's Republic denied any wrongdoing, stating that the security services were simply doing their duty to restore order.

The manoeuvres were regarded by many Poles as the preparation of a Soviet invasion of their country and Marshal Viktor Kulikov, Commander-in-Chief of the Warsaw Pact, told the Polish general staff that despite the political situation, the exercises would continue indefinitely.

[7] The government responded by sending a special commission to Bydgoszcz , headed by General Jozef Zyto, Deputy Prosecutor-General,[9] whose task was to clear up the situation and determine who was guilty of the beatings of the Solidarity activists.

[1] Most members of Solidarity's National Coordinating Commission (NCC) were in favour of a nationwide, general strike, which would completely paralyse the country until all details of the Bydgoszcz events had been clarified and those guilty punished.

Finally, during the 23 March 1981 meeting in Bydgoszcz, the majority of the members of the National Coordinating Commission voted in favour of a more moderate proposal, suggested by Lech Wałęsa.

On 22 March during the church service transmitted by Polish Radio, Bishop Stefan Wyszyński appealed both to the government and Solidarity to "work out mutual rights and duties"; he also mentioned several times the danger of a "foreign factor".

"[9] Huge amounts of Polish workers took part in it; however, basic services and crucial industrial plants (such as steelworks and armament factories) were operating without breaks.

Meanwhile, Lech Wałęsa's advisors, such as Tadeusz Mazowiecki and Bronisław Geremek, told the leader of Solidarity that the general strike, planned for 30 March, would mean civil war and the risk was too high.

The government of Poland conceded to demands regarding police brutality, but the agreement to legalise Rural Solidarity was postponed, as well as further steps on the issue of political prisoners.