A short thread. As the strike has begun in #Belarus, some parallels with the Polish Solidarity (indebted to @fromTGA). There were several waves of strikes in Poland in the 80s. On the surface, they looked unsuccessful. 1/

But by mid-80s, they encouraged the communist regime to change the repressive tactic to the policy of "living with the opposition", hoping that it would calm down the public. In July 1988, the regime said Solidarity was defeated. 2/

But on 31 August, after the intensifying strike, the Ministry of Interior met with the Solidarity leader Lech Walensa, and later that year the regime took the decision to negotiate with the opposition. 3/

#Lukashenko is far less intelligent and much nastier than Jaruzelski, but he too is thinking. The sham dialogue is a signal of something brewing in the system. Strikes might grow and become a factor to reckon with, even if there is no general national strike. 4/4