"Resistance and adaptation - these two positions have shaped the behavior of Poles in all periods of Poland's existence," Andrzej Friske wrote in his introductory speech. And it is from this point of view that he considers social processes, political concepts, and opposition movements in socialist Poland. The research covers the period from 1945, when the country was in the orbit of Soviet influence, to 1980, when after the creation of "Solidarity" and the deployment of a broad protest movement under its leadership, the communist government imposed martial law. The topic raised here is little known to the Ukrainian reader, so it will obviously attract the attention of researchers and may encourage comparison with the situation in Ukraine at the time (dissident movement, distribution of samizdat, public positions of adaptation to the system and resistance to it). For historians, political scientists, politicians and public figures, humanities students and other stakeholders.