Over a third of Polish communist party members themselves joined the anti-regime Solidarity movement.

Evidence

In the most dramatic, and most sustained, opposition movement against communist rule, they founded and then joined en masse the independent trade union Solidarity, which claimed 10 million members, or over a third of the adult population, during 1980–1. In what was both a historical irony and evidence of the party’s laxity, over 35% of the Polish communist party members joined Solidarity, while 45% expressed pro- Solidarity sentiment in public opinion surveys. — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past, 255

Categorization

• XREF: Direct evidence of weak ideological identification among a ruling communist party’s rank and file — members joined the opposition en masse, implying the party’s cohesion never rested on shared conviction in the first place. — connects to: Polish communist party members themselves joined the opposition en masse — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past: The…, 255; Polish party members openly practiced religion and joined the opposition by the 1970s. — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past: The…, 259
• QUESTION: This divergence between nominal party membership and actual anti-regime sentiment foreshadows the reader’s core question of whether professed conviction predicts actual loyalty — here party membership clearly did not.

Broader Connections

• Polish communist party members themselves joined the opposition en masse #corroborates (0.90) — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past, 255
• Polish party members openly practiced religion and joined the opposition by the 1970s. #corroborates (0.72) — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past, 259