20 Zlotys Łódź Riots, Trial Strike

The 1980 Łódź riots — a wave of strikes by textile workers demanding wage increases and better conditions — were among the early convulsions that preceded the Solidarity movement's formal rise that same year. A commemorative issue was approved, then pulled. This trial strike survives as evidence of that reversal: the Polish state began the minting process, thought better of it, and the regular issue was scrapped before reaching circulation.

The copper-nickel trial attribution across KM, ParM, and Fischer references confirms genuine pattern status rather than a later fantasy piece.