nr 15

2023

Publication date: 2024

Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0 PL

Editorial team

Editor-in-Chief dr Przemysław Ruchlewski

Deputy Editor-in-Chief dr Jakub Kufel

Secretary Judyta Bielanowska

Additional redactors dr Konrad Knoch, Tomasz Kozłowski, Michał Przeperski

Issue content

STUDIA

Kultura opozycyjna. Między jurodiwymi a instytucjonalizacją

Roman Bäcker

Wolność i Solidarność, nr 15, 2023, pp. 7-19

https://doi.org/10.4467/25434942WS.23.001.19652

The aim of this text is to create a conceptual apparatus (a categorial grid) that would make it possible to explain all possible manifestations of oppositional culture in autocratic regimes. I distinguish two basic understandings of oppositional culture: social and domain-specific. The first is the totality of disapproval attitudes towards an autocratic political regime. The latter includes all manifestations of artistic creativity that are critical of the existing political regime. I distinguish three basic typologies of opposition cultures in the latter sense due to the following criteria: organizational shape, place of artistic expression and levels of negation of a given regime. The first typology concerning the organizational shape allows for the differentiation of opposition culture entities due to their numbers and the strength of social bonds created while performing this social role. The second typology makes it possible to define the space of freedom for the subjects of the opposition culture, and the third one – the level of refutation of a given political system.

PDF

„Realizm i rozwaga”. Środowisko Ośrodka Dokumentacji i Studiów Społecznych wobec narodzin „Solidarności” (sierpień – listopad 1980)

Tomasz Sikorski

Wolność i Solidarność, nr 15, 2023, pp. 20-37

https://doi.org/10.4467/25434942WS.23.002.19653

The article discusses the relationship of the movement associated with the Center for Documentation and Social Studies to the birth of ”Solidarity“ (August–November 1980). Established in 1967, ODiSS first remained in a close formal-legal relationship with the ”Więź“ team and the Warsaw NCI (as part of the ”Znak“ movement), then in 1974 became independent, creating a separate entity, alternative and competitive to other Catholic circles and groups. ODiSS saw Solidarity as both a labor syndicate and a mass movement for social revictimization and social empowerment. Activists and participants in the movement were actively involved in assisting regional and company structures of the union, providing advice and legal assistance, and applying for workers’ rights in the forum of the People’s Republic of Poland’s parliament. At the same time, they warned against political involvement of ”Solidarity“, demands for system change, etc. ODiSS, representing religious people, remained in close contact with Primate S. Wyszynski and the Episcopate, although it was an autonomous environment, acting on its own responsibility. It also held formal and informal talks with representatives of the communist regime. It considered it crucial for both sides of the August agreements to keep their commitments and guarantees, which was to serve a genuine national understanding and the real democratization of socialism. In its activities, it adopted the ”constructive center“ formula. Being aware of operating within the framework of the legal and political rules in force (a concessionary environment), it balanced between what was optimal and what was possible in certain political realities, hence in its assessment of “Solidarity” it maintained prudent moderation, prudence and realism.

PDF

Historycy na łamach „Krytyki”

Tomasz Siewierski

Wolność i Solidarność, nr 15, 2023, pp. 38-51

https://doi.org/10.4467/25434942WS.23.003.19654

The article discusses the main threads of interest among historians publishing in the underground journal “Krytyka” during the years 1978–1989. It highlights the most important topics in contemporary history that, due to censorship reasons, either did not exist or were distorted in the official historiography of the People’s Republic of Poland (PRL). These topics included the history of the Polish armed anti-communist underground, the crimes of the security apparatus, the history of the Polish Socialist Party, Polish-Ukrainian, and Polish-Jewish relations, as well as key issues in post-war political history, such as the events of March 1968. The article devotes considerable attention to the authors of articles that aimed to restore memory and supplement knowledge about these issues. It also attempts to reflect on their involvement in the opposition movement in the context of their previous professional and political experiences.

PDF

„Rząd rządzi – partia kieruje – naród głoduje”, czyli marsze głodowe z 1981 roku

Grzegorz Majchrzak

Wolność i Solidarność, nr 15, 2023, pp. 52-65

https://doi.org/10.4467/25434942WS.23.004.19655

Despite the introduction in 1981 of a meat and processed meat ration card, the supply situation in Poland was deteriorating, with stores dreading empty shelves. It became impossible to buy even basic products. This, in turn, affected public sentiment and increased the frustration of Poles, especially women. It also led – in July of that year – to a new form of protest, the so-called hunger marches. They were a way of demonstrating discontent without stopping work, organizing strikes, which would not only not improve the situation, but could even make it worse, and would also allow the PRL authorities to hold Solidarity responsible for the dire supply situation. The loudest and largest hunger marches were organized in Lodz. In the following weeks, they were also held in many other cities. An end was put to these unusual street protests (involving mainly women, often with children) by the union›s authorities – the National Coordinating Commission, which in August 1981 appealed to refrain from organizing further marches and other protests (including strikes) and declared that it would do everything it could “to lead the country out of the crisis”.

PDF

Czy czytelnicy „Trybuny Ludu” wierzyli jeszcze w partię? Listy do Centralnego organu KC PZPR u schyłku jej istnienia. Studium źródeł z drugiej połowy lat osiemdziesiątych

Konrad Rokicki

Wolność i Solidarność, nr 15, 2023, pp. 66-76

https://doi.org/10.4467/25434942WS.23.005.19656

Trybuna Ludu” – the main press organ of the PZPR – presented its official political line. It was supposed to be the voice of the party leadership – not a forum for discussion. However, at the end of the 1980s, alongside the previously existing columns presenting readers’ letters selected by the editors for printing or discussion (real or fictional – this is always difficult to tell in magazines with such a propagandist and ideological profile), other kinds of readers’ voices began to appear. They were meant to be a contribution to the discussion on the necessity and shape of the reform of both the PZPR and the state. This was a discussion controlled by an editorial board which was more conservative in the sphere of ideology than the party authorities. In the surviving internal “Trybuna Ludu” bulletins and letters to the editor-in-chief, we find an overview of authentic letters that were not printed because they were too critical towards the actions of the party leadership. It was only after the loss of power by the PZPR, when the real discussion began as to whether and in what form the party could still be saved. However, it could not in any way strengthen the credibility of the PZPR in society.

PDF

Prosolidarnościowy sekretarz? Tadeusz Fiszbach a NSZZ „Solidarność” Regionu Gdańskiego w latach 1980–1981

Piotr Brzeziński

Wolność i Solidarność, nr 15, 2023, pp. 77-96

https://doi.org/10.4467/25434942WS.23.006.19657

The article describes the political activity of the First Secretary of the Voivodeship Committee of the Polish United Workers’ Party in Gdańsk, Tadeusz Fiszbach, in the early 1980s. The author analyzes the role played by this politician during the strikes of August 1980, describes his attitude towards the independent trade union and his policy towards “Solidarity” movement until martial law was introduced. It shows the complicated relations between the Gdańsk secretary and “Solidarity” against the background of the most important local and national events. He attempts to verify the still popular myth that Fiszbach was a silent ally of “Solidarity” working in the PUWP authorities in 1980–1981. The article is based on extensive archival research, literature on the subject and accounts of historical witnesses, including several interviews conducted by the author with Tadeusz Fiszbach himself.

PDF

Komitety uczelniane PZPR w systemie władzy. Przykład środowiska gdańskiego (do 1980 roku)

Piotr Abryszeński

Wolność i Solidarność, nr 15, 2023, pp. 97-109

https://doi.org/10.4467/25434942WS.23.007.19658

This article contributes to the history of the development of Polish United Workers Party university committees on the example of the Tricity academic community. The goal of the communist party’s actions at universities was to seize control over academic affairs while simultaneously bringing students into the political mainstream through ongoing ideological and instructional initiatives. As a result, higher education’s independence was reduced and subjugated to political agendas. Recruitment of students into the PZPR ranks was not given much importance at first; it wasn’t until the 1960s that it started to receive significant attention. As a result, duties delegated by higher authorities were formalized, and there was more control over how they were carried out. Despite intensive activities aimed at increasing youth participation in party life, until the end of the existence of the Polish People’s Republic, the scope of the PZPR’s influence among students was limited. The only measurable criterion of the party’s offensive in the academic community was quantitative, not qualitative.

PDF

„Potencjalne ognisko niezadowolenia w przypadku przyszłych kłopotów”. Polska opozycja w raportach brytyjskich dyplomatów z lat 1976–1980

Grzegorz Wołk

Wolność i Solidarność, nr 15, 2023, pp. 110-127

https://doi.org/10.4467/25434942WS.23.008.19659

British diplomacy kept a close eye on the development of dissident movements from the Soviet sphere of influence. Despite the realisation that their influence on political life was marginal, from 1976 until the emergence of Solidarity there was a steadily growing interest in the growing number of Polish opposition groups. At some point it was decided to establish direct contacts, an operation without precedent in the other countries subordinated to the USSR. The article focuses on reconstructing the Foreign Office’s knowledge of dissident movements in the People’s Republic of Poland and their perception by the British.

PDF

Don Francesco Ricci. Duszpasterz obu Europ (1930–1991)

Bartosz Gromko

Wolność i Solidarność, nr 15, 2023, pp. 128-139

https://doi.org/10.4467/25434942WS.23.009.19660

Francesco Ricci (1930–1991) was an Italian priest, canon of the cathedral of Forli, ecclesiastical assistant of the Communion and Liberation, and rector of the church of San Filippo Neri in Forli. He travelled to many countries to promote Communion and Liberation: Yugoslavia, Peru, Poland, Hungary, Japan and Korea, Uganda, Paraguay, Czechoslovakia, and Brazil. Due to his interest in Eastern Europe, which was then under communist rule, he founded the Center for the Study of Eastern Europe (CSEO) in Forlì, which was dedicated to deepening and spreading knowledge about the countries of this area in Italy. The Center published, among others: translations of works by Václav Havel, Józef Tischner, and other authors.

PDF