Dissident movement in the People's Republic of Poland

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The dissident movement in the Polish People's Republic was a political movement in the Polish People's Republic (predecessor of the modern Republic of Poland, Polish: Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa, PRL) whose aim was to change the political system from unitary Marxist–Leninist government imposed by the USSR to democratic form of government.

Historical background

Main article: History of Poland (1945–1989)
The PKWN Manifesto, officially issued on 22 July 1944.

One of the deciding points in post World War II history was the Yalta Conference where decisions regarding postwar Europe were taken and the continent became divided with the Iron Curtain.[1] As a result, Poland remained under the Soviet Union's dominance.[2] Formally was a separate country, in reality it couldn't make independent decisions without Moscow's approval. The power was held by the Polish United Workers' Party (Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza, PZPR).[3] The party stayed in power not because of the social support but because of suppressing society and military support from Moscow. The ties with the Soviet Union were declared through the PKWN Manifesto where the legitimacy of the coming State National Council, a Soviet-backed administration was announced.

A citizen reads the PKWN Manifesto (of the Polish Committee of National Liberation), July 22, 1944 - a symbolic photo of the communist propaganda, copied in numerous books.

During that time many citizens were working in government-owned companies, managed by people approved by the authorities, often as a result of political decisions.

Polish Council of State replaced the office of the President of Poland, the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR) became constitutionally a source of highest power, and other.[6] Changes started to appear in the fifties due to the growing public resistance and some following circumstances. In 1953 Joseph Stalin died, his death initiated a 'thaw’ period in Soviet Union and other dependent, communistic countries. The cult of personality started to be condemned and terror lessened. Another factor influencing the situation in Poland was a mysterious death of its president Bolesław Bierut in 1956.[7]

Beginnings of the dissident movements

Imposed political system and constant suppression influenced people's lives. Million people were arrested, thousands became fatal victims of the terror, Security Service (SB) investigated millions of people.

protests of 1970 were bloodily suppressed by the militia and the army resulting in deaths of 45 people, approximately 1165 casualties and around 146 people being arrested.[15] Due to further incidents, people didn't want a reformation of the system, they started calling for changing the system. Because of the social disapprove, the authorities in Poland changed, though the communistic system still remained. Seventies were the years when quality of the life has improved and on the market you could find more and more foreign goods. Due to credits development was possible but the result wasn't the one expected.[16] Factories and public services began to be modernized, stores equipped with local goods.[17] The government managed by Edward Gierek (leader of Poland between 1970 and 1980) run into severe debt.[18] In 1978 Bank of England they warned that PRL would not be able to repay the loans.[17] However, the decade ended with the recession, development backed up by the loans was only effective for a short time.[19] The loans that the government then took, were paid back in 2012.[16]
The decade ensured how the communistic system is inefficient and the following recession caused a series of strikes (described in the currents of dissidence paragraph).

Influence of the religion on the dissident movements

Main article: Polish anti-religious campaign

Important role in fighting communism had a common

Catholicism and the Polish State and their common origins since establishment of the Polish State started from the baptism. Not only Catholic Church in Poland was confronted. The communistic government aimed their actions towards other religions including Jewish Community in Poland
, resulting in migration of thousands of them.

Groups of dissidence

Currents of dissidence

Strikes

In June 1976 the plan for raising goods' prices was revealed. The decision was motivated by the worsening economic situation in the Polish People's Republic. The raise would include basic commodities and influence significantly budget of the Polish households.

ZOMO) - elite units of Citizens' Militia (MO) to quell demonstrations.[24] The information about the increase resulted in protests starting the next day on 25 June 1976.[25] The government expected the riots to be focused in bigger cities such as Warsaw, Krakow, Szczecin, Gdansk, or Upper Silesia. However, the protests centers were Radom, Warsaw's suburb of Ursus, and Płock.[26] After a few days of riots, the government decided to take back the decision and the news regarding riots were suppressed.[27] However, the participants faced big repressions with legal charges, years in prison, or being beaten including those in need of hospitalization.[26] Because of the continuing economic crisis, the government introduced ration stamps (Kartki). From 1976 "kartki" were necessary for everyone to buy even basic products.[28]

Formation of a dissidence

After World War II, the communist system allowed trade unions (after 1939, under German occupation those were prohibited).[29] Originally planned as an instrument of the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR) to prevent for instance solidarity movements, later met with resistance of the participants, resulting in many further confrontations and strikes. In September 1976 group of intellectuals founded the Workers' Defence Committee (Komitet Obrony Robotników, KOR).[30] Its main goal was to provide financial, legal, and medical support to those repressed by the government after demonstrations or another form of dissidence. The group was also gathering signatures to release people from detention and was raising funds for the affected families by the disciplinary dismissals. Hunger-strikes became their common form of pressuring the authorities.

Murder of Stanisław Pyjas

Stanisław Pyjas, a student cooperating with KOR was murdered in May 1977. His death agitated the society and caused a series of protests resulting in furthers arrests. In many cities students' KOR committees started appearing. In the end, the government ceased persecution and declared an amnesty for the participants the riots.

KOR reorganization and ROBCiO creation

In 1977 the

Movement for Defense of Human and Civic Rights (Ruch Obrony Praw Człowieka i Obywatela, ROPCiO) was established. Both of those organizations supported creating independent workers' unions. Members of the ROBCiO co-organized the underground press called another circulation (Polish: drugi obieg) and published several magazines, books, leaflets. Created by students Independent Publishing House NOWA (Polish: Niezależna Oficyna Wydawnicza NOWA) became the largest publisher in Communist Poland. In 1979 Leszek Moczulski created Confederation of Independent Poland
(Konfederacja Polski Niepodległej KPN). It was the first one anti-communistic party in the Eastern Communist Bloc.

Winter of 1978/1979

The winter of 1978/1978 was extreme and showed how inefficient the government was even when dealing with natural occurrences. Besides the large amount of snow, temperatures went down to -30 degrees Celsius. For almost a month factories were unable to operate. The government was calling citizens for help. Although they tried to introduce some solutions, their efforts were unsuccessful.

Pope John Paul II

On 16 October 1978 Polish Cardinal Karol Wojtyła was elected pope. He took the name Pope John Paul II. Since most of the society was Catholic, the election of a Pole as pope raised hope in the Polish community. The Pope also supported anti-communist narrative which caused concern among communists. The authorities of the USSR expressed opposition to the Pope's visit to Poland, however, Edward Gierek allowed the Pope to make a pilgrimage to Poland in June 1979. About 6 million people took part in the visit. Joint prayers helped Poles see how much strength they had together.[31]

See also

References

  1. S2CID 144902712
    .
  2. ISBN 978-0-415-93922-5
    .
  3. ^ Polish Academic Information Center, University at Buffalo (15 June 2009). "The Historical Setting: The Polish People's Republic". info-poland.icm.edu.pl. Retrieved 2020-06-19.
  4. ^ a b c d Hajdasz E., Kiewel G., Łukaszka E., Mazur P., Tucznio H., Lekcje o współczesne Polsce, Polski Ośrodek Naukowy Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego w Londynie (3 February 2014) PRL w pigułce, retrieved 2020-06-19
  5. OCLC 7653391
    .
  6. ^ Konstytucja Polskiej Rzeczypospolitej Ludowej (1952). Dziennik Ustaw Polskiej Rzeczypospolitej Ludowej (published 22 July 1952). 1952.
  7. ^ "Śmierć Bolesława Bieruta". nowahistoria.interia.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2020-06-19.
  8. ^ Ciupa R., Małachowska E. "Wystawa "Oczy i Uszy Bezpieki"" (PDF). IPN. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  9. ^ Grzelczak, Piotr (2014-03-13). "Poznański Czerwiec 1956. Walka o pamięć w latach 1956–1989". Adam Mickiewicz University Repository (in Polish).
  10. ISBN 83-01-14487-4
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  11. ^ Siedziako, Michał (14 December 2017). "Od nadziei do buntu. Polska pod rządami Władysława Gomułki". Dzieje.pl. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  12. ISSN 2080-1335
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  13. ^ Majewski, Jerzy (30 January 2018). "Gdy 50 lat temu zdjęto z afisza "Dziady" Dejmka, społeczeństwo zaprotestowało. Pierwsza konfrontacja z władzą komunistyczną w burzliwym 1968 roku". warszawa.wyborcza.pl. Retrieved 2020-05-24.
  14. ^ "Grudzień 1970". dzieje.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2020-06-19.
  15. ^ Polskie Radio (2019-12-17). ""Czarny czwartek" - 17 grudnia 1970. Najkrwawszy dzień robotniczego powstania na Wybrzeżu". PolskieRadio24.pl. Retrieved 2020-06-19.
  16. ^
    ISSN 2450-7814
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  17. ^ a b Tarnowski, Paweł (17 October 2012). "Właśnie spłaciliśmy długi Gierka". www.polityka.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2020-06-27.
  18. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved 2020-06-27.
  19. ^ a b Moore, Richard. "Poland: Communism's New Look Documentary". NET, National Educational Television and Radio Center. San Francisco.
  20. ^ Porter, Brian. "Catholic Church in Poland | Making the History of 1989". chnm.gmu.edu. Retrieved 2020-06-27.
  21. ^ Walaszek, Zdzisława (1986). An Open Issue of Legitimacy: The State and the Church in Poland. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 483, Religion and the State: The Struggle for Legitimacy and Power. pp. 118–134.
  22. ^ Cenckiewicz, Stanisław. Służba Bezpieczeństwa w walce z Ruchem Młodej Polski 1979–1988 (PDF).
  23. ^ "42. rocznica radomskiego Czerwca". pb.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2020-05-20.
  24. ^ Karłowicz, Ziemowit. ""Solidarność" – Zmotoryzowane Odwody Milicji Obywatelskiej (ZOMO) - Leksykon - Teatr NN". teatrnn.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  25. ^ Sasanka, Paweł. "Czerwiec 1976". dzieje.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  26. ^ a b "Radom, Ursus 1976". www.rp.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2020-05-20.
  27. ^ "Poland's Angry Workers". Time. 1 January 1980.
  28. ^ Szamańska, Karolina. "Sklepy w czasach PRL" (PDF). Wiedza i edukacja. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2014-10-19. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
  29. ^ "Historia Powstania Związków Zawodowych". www.solidarnosc-icn.pl. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  30. ^ "Dlaczego powstał KOR?". dzieje.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  31. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved 2020-06-19.

Bibliography

  1. Fehér, Ferenc (1987). "Eastern Europe's Long Revolution against Yalta". East European Politics and Societies and Cultures. 2: 1–34.
    S2CID 144902712
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  2. Osmańczyk, Edmund (2003), Encyclopedia of the United Nations and International Agreements: G to M, Taylor & Francis,
    ISBN 978-0-415-93922-5
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