 Tens of thousands took part in such meetings.The Secretariat's plan succeeded beyond what they expected.During this period, the political atmosphere in Poland shifted as questions were increasingly asked about taboo subjects like the Polish Communists' legitimacy, responsibility for Stalin's crimes, the arrest of the increasingly popular Gomułka, and issues in Soviet–Polish relations, such as the continued Soviet military presence in Poland, the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, the Katyn massacre, and the Soviet failure to support the Warsaw Uprising.