Fighting Solidarity

Fighting Solidarity ( _pl. Solidarność Walcząca) was a Polish anti-communist underground organization, founded in 1982 by Kornel Morawiecki in Wrocław in response to the delegalization of Solidarity and government repression of the opposition after martial law was declared in 1981. Created in June 1982 [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0691050287&id=hELsX6c3hcYC&pg=PA30&lpg=PA30&dq=%22Fighting+Solidarity%22+created&sig=wv6779G71z3qxcXb6HGCwqcnBc4 KENNEY, Padraic. A Carnival of Revolution: Central Europe 1989, p 30] .] , it was one of the most radical splinters of Solidarity [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0271023082&id=WoKQWem2yl4C&pg=PA464&lpg=PA464&dq=%22Fighting+Solidarity%22&sig=Gq5yUVJ8ukhzfGfdn3xthQavGXQ Andrzej Paczkowski, Jane Cave. The Spring Will Be Ours: Poland and the Poles from Occupation to Freedom, p 464] .] .

Morawiecki and Fighting Solidarity activists saw their organization as the successor to the Polish resistance in World War II [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0691050287&id=hELsX6c3hcYC&pg=PA164&lpg=PA164&dq=%22Fighting+Solidarity%22&sig=y6AJ3QhwOlF_oTdwlmjnuwin9tw KENNEY, Padraic. A Carnival of Revolution: Central Europe 1989, p 164] .] , hence their symbol merged the Solidarity logo with the Kotwica and crowned Polish eagle (in 1945, the new communist regime removed the crown from the eagle's head on the Polish coat of arms; many among the opposition saw the crown as a symbol of independent, non-communist Poland).

One of the main activities of Fighting Solidarity was information warfare: it printed and distributed many underground newspapers ("bibuła"). The most well-known of these included "Biuletyn Dolnośląski" (Wrocław), "Solidarność Walcząca" (Poznań) and "Galicja" (Rzeszów). Fighting Solidarity's bibuła were the first printed during the period of martial law, being available the day after martial law was introduced pl icon [http://www.obywatel.org.pl/index.php?module=subjects&func=viewpage&pageid=789 Solidarność Walcząca, czyli po niepodległość bez kompromisów] Magazyn Obywatel nr 5 / 2005 (25)] . Fighting Solidarity also tried to actively infiltrate the Polish secret police (Służba Bezpieczeństwa) and to support other anti-communist organizations, including ones in other countries of the Soviet Bloc, even the Soviet Union itself [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0822315483&id=F3HTHpikwq4C&pg=PA97&lpg=PA97&dq=%22Fighting+Solidarity%22&sig=X5M_4pwA_A3-n_e9YlBpB0BgFg0 Sabrina Petra Ramet. Social Currents in Eastern Europe: The Sources and Consequences of the Great Transformation, p 97] .] . The Polish secret police found it extremely hard to infiltrate the organization, even though they employed various tactics, including kidnapping Morawiecki's children in an attempt to blackmail him. Despite its reputation for militance, Fighting Solidarity did not support social violence or terrorism.

Fighting Solidarity was the only Polish organization of that time whose primary goals, declared from the start, included the destruction of communism, the independence of Poland and other nations controlled by communist governments (including those comprising the Soviet Union itself), and the reunification of Germany.

Fighting Solidarity powerbases included Poznań, Gdańsk, Rzeszów and Upper Silesia. Among its most prominent members were Maciej Frankiewicz (Poznań), Roman Zwiercan (Gdynia), Jadwiga Chmielowska (Sosnowiec), Janusz Szkutnik (Rzeszów) and Andrzej Kołodziej. In 1986 it claimed to have several hundred active members, not counting allies and supporters.

In 1990 many members of Fighting Solidarity founded a political party, the Partia Wolności.

See also

* Confederation for Independent Poland ("Konfederacja Polski Niepodległej")
* Freedom and Peace ("Wolność i Pokój")
* Orange Alternative ("Pomarańczowa Alternatywa")

References

External links

*pl icon [http://www.sw.org.pl/ Wolni i Solidarni] , a portal dedicated to 'Fighting Solidarity'
*pl icon [http://www.videofact.com/polska/gotowe/m/morawiecki/morawiecki2.html Kornel Morawiecki o swojej organizacji]
*pl icon [http://www.sw.org.pl/sb-o-sw.html "Solidarność Walcząca" w świetle materiałów Służby Bezpieczeństwa]

*Polish|Solidarność Walcząca|11 October 2006