[Animats]

When that happened in Poland in 1980, the activist workers won.[1] That's one of the places where the downfall of the USSR began.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solidarity_%28Polish_trade_uni...

[sakjur]

The Czechoslovak velvet revolution in 1989 also comes to mind.

[dh2022]

Oh please. USSR broke to pieces because of internal problems not because some Polish workers locked themselves up in a shipyard.

[sakjur]

Animats did not claim otherwise AFAICT. The forming of a union in Poland in 1980 is something I’ve been taught was one of the earliest public signs that Kremlin was losing its grasp over the east bloc. That’s not at all incompatible with Soviet falling apart due to internal problems.

[dh2022]

Well I read Animats’ comment in the context of activism producing change - not in the context of activism being a symptom of change…