The Nonpartisan Bloc for Support of Reforms ( pl, Bezpartyjny Blok Wspierania Reform, BBWR) was an officially nonpartisan organization (but, in fact, a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

) affiliated with

Lech Wałęsa Lech Wałęsa (; ; born 29 September 1943) is a Polish statesman, dissident, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who served as the President of Poland between 1990 and 1995. After winning the 1990 election, Wałęsa became the first democratica ...

. It was established in 1993 and in 1997 became part of

Solidarity Electoral Action Solidarity Electoral Action ( pl, Akcja Wyborcza Solidarność, AWS) was a political coalition in Poland from 1996 to 2001. From 1997 to 2001, its official name was ''Akcja Wyborcza Solidarność Prawicy'' (AWSP) or Electoral Action Solidarity o ...

. It was founded to continue the traditions of

Józef Piłsudski ), Vilna Governorate, Russian Empire (now Lithuania) , death_date = , death_place = Warsaw, Poland , constituency = , party = None (formerly PPS) , spouse = , children = Wan ...

's pre-war

Nonpartisan Bloc for Cooperation with the Government The Nonpartisan Bloc for Cooperation with the Government ( pl, Bezpartyjny Blok Współpracy z Rządem, ; abbreviated ''BBWR'') was a "non-political" organization in the interwar Second Polish Republic, in 1928–35. It was closely affiliated with ...

('), which likewise had been known by the same initials, ''BBWR''. After local electoral losses in 1994, Wałęsa issued a statement that invoked comparisons with Piłsudski, who had become

dictator A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a small clique. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to rule the republic in times ...

of Poland: "When the time comes to introduce a dictatorship, the people will force me to accept this role, and I shall not refuse."Visions of the Past Are Competing for Votes in Poland

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

, September 12, 1993. "The kind of distant chauvinism Mr. Havel talked about is evident in symbols chosen by President Lech Walesa, the former Solidarity leader, who formed a new party two months ago to contest the elections and is calling it the "non-party movement for reform." Its acronym, BBWR, duplicates the initials of a "non-party party" led by Marshal Jozef Pilsudski, who seized dictatorial powers in a 1926 coup."

Notes

History of Poland (1989–present) Defunct political parties in Poland Lech Wałęsa {{poland-party-stub

See also

Notes