Confederation of Independent Poland (KPN, pl, Konfederacja Polski Niepodległej ) was a
Polish nationalist 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 ...
founded on 1 September 1979 by
Leszek Moczulski
Robert Leszek Moczulski (, born 7 June 1930) is a Polish historian and politician, a member of various organizations, first supporting then supposedly opposing the communist regime in the People's Republic of Poland while dividing the opposition ...
and others declaring support for the pre-war traditions of
Sanacja
Sanation ( pl, Sanacja, ) was a Polish political movement that was created in the interwar period, prior to Józef Piłsudski's May 1926 ''Coup d'État'', and came to power in the wake of that coup. In 1928 its political activists would go on ...
and
Józef Piłsudski
), Vilna Governorate, Russian Empire (now Lithuania)
, death_date =
, death_place = Warsaw, Poland
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, party = None (formerly PPS)
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, children = Wan ...
.
It was the first independent political party that was publicly proclaimed in the
Eastern Bloc
The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...
, it was however unrecognized by the communistic
People's Republic of Poland
The Polish People's Republic ( pl, Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa, PRL) was a country in Central Europe that existed from 1947 to 1989 as the predecessor of the modern Republic of Poland. With a population of approximately 37.9 million nea ...
government and its chief activists were arrested several times. It didn't participate in the
Polish Roundtable Negotiations with the communists.
History
Foundation
After the fragmentation of the anti-communist ROPCiO (Movement for the protection of human and civil rights), former leader Leszek Moczulski began preoparing structures for a new organization with other independence activists, most importantly
Romuald Szeremietiew and Tadeusz Stański. It was decided that the new organization would be a Confedertion (that is how parties in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth were called) of many different groupings of
Piłsudskiite and
Sanation
Sanation ( pl, Sanacja, ) was a Polish political movement that was created in the interwar period, prior to Józef Piłsudski's May 1926 ''Coup d'État'', and came to power in the wake of that coup. In 1928 its political activists would go on ...
tradition. This new organization declared continuity with the 1913 Komisja Tymczasowych Skonfederowanych Strnonnicstw Niepodległościowych.
Leszek Moczulski wrote the founding document of the new party - A revolution without a revolution, which was a reference to
Piłsudski's concept of a "revolution without revolutionary consequences".
The party would officially be estabilished on the 40th anniversary of the outbreak of World War 2, on the 1st of September 1979 during celebrations in front of the ruins of the
Saxon Palace
The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic
*
*
*
*
peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
, the
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
A Tomb of the Unknown Soldier or Tomb of the Unknown Warrior is a monument dedicated to the services of an unknown soldier and to the common memories of all soldiers killed in war. Such tombs can be found in many nations and are usually high-prof ...
, a symbol for pre-war independent Poland.
The founding "Act of the Confederation of Independent Poland" was signed by 35 founding members of the party. 20 of these founding members were arrested that same day by the communist dictatorship, the other 15 followed in the same week. The party would be the first independent party founded in the communist eastern bloc.
On the 17th of September 1979 Leszek Moczulski was elected the leader of the party, at a meeting in Moczulski's department. The meeting was interrupted by the communist Polish
Security Service and most of the participants were arrested.
Further Development and Opposition
With the election of Leszek Moczulski, the KPN had a unique position. It would organize central administrations for each of Poland's regions and set voievodes for each, bearing similarity to the wartime
Armia Krajowa
The Home Army ( pl, Armia Krajowa, abbreviated AK; ) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) esta ...
. The party newspaper was called "Droga" and was in direct tradition with the pre-war Piłsudskiite newspaper "
Gazeta Polska
''Gazeta Polska'' ( lit.: ''Polish Newspaper'') is a Polish language pro- United Right right-wing populist to far-right weekly magazine published in Poland.
Profile and history
Gazeta Polska was founded in 1993 and its editor-in-chief is Tomas ...
".
Another important reference to Piłsudski's Second Polish Republic were the independence anniversary celebrations celebrated on 11 November 1979 in Kraków, carrying banners with Piłsudski through the old capital. Such celebrations were organized throughout the entire communist period from then on and would often end with intervention of the communist
Citizen's Militia and mass arrests.
Party leader Leszek Moczulski, together with founding member Romuald Szeremietiew and others, were arrested and sentenced to prison for allegedly wanting to overthrow the communist government in 1981, but were realesed in 1984 with amnesty. After the declaration of
Martial Law
Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory.
Use
Marti ...
by General
Wojciech Jaruzelski
Wojciech Witold Jaruzelski (; 6 July 1923 – 25 May 2014) was a Polish military officer, politician and ''de facto'' leader of the Polish People's Republic from 1981 until 1989. He was the First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party b ...
, head of the
Polish United Worker's Party
The Polish United Workers' Party ( pl, Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza; ), commonly abbreviated to PZPR, was the communist party which ruled the Polish People's Republic as a one-party state from 1948 to 1989. The PZPR had led two other lega ...
, the arrests of KPN members increased drastically.
The Confederacy had contacts to the
government of the pre-war Second Polish Republic, which went into exile during the Second World War.
President-in-exile Kazimierz Sabbat invited the activists to
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, where they would meet the President.
In the 1980s the Confederacy of Independent Poland continued activities alongside the rising Solidarity movement until the Communist dictatorship ended in 1989 and the Polish government-in-exile returned from exile in London.
After the Fall of Communism
After the
fall of communism
The Revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, was a revolutionary wave that resulted in the end of most communist states in the world. Sometimes this revolutionary wave is also called the Fall of Nations or the Autumn of Nat ...
, Leszek Moczulski was a candidate in the elections for
Polish president
The president of Poland ( pl, Prezydent RP), officially the president of the Republic of Poland ( pl, Prezydent Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej), is the head of state of Poland. Their rights and obligations are determined in the Constitution of Polan ...
, but got only 2.5% of votes in the
1990 presidential election and withdrew during the following one. In the
1991 parliamentary election the party got 7.5% of the vote, while in the
1993 parliamentary election it received 5.7%.
In 1996 it suffered a split, with the faction under leaving KPN. KPN then joined
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 ...
, but left it in 1997, before the
1997 parliamentary election, in which it didn't participate. For the 2001 parliamentary elections, it allied itself with
Solidarity Electoral Action of the Right (AWSP), but its candidates got 0.08% and the AWSP (which got 5.6%) failed to elect a single representative (the threshold was 8%).
In 2003 Leszek Moczulski dissolved the KPN, while Słomka declared his KPN-OP the main KPN and gathered some members of the now-disbanded Moczulski's KPN. The party has been re-registered with the Polish authorities in 2007 and took part in the
2009 European parliament elections.
The party is active today under the leadership of Adam Słomka. The main goals of the party are the decomunization of the Polish courts and the preparation for an
Intermarium Federation, as Piłsudski envisioned it.
After the outbreak of the
Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's List of largest refugee crises, largest refugee cris ...
, Adam Słomka gathered voulenteers and formed the paramilitary Polish Legion in Kraków, which in reference to
Piłsudski's legions marched from the Oleandry avenue. Adam Słomka's Polish Legion left for Ukraine, where they are helping with the war effort.
Election results
Sejm
Senate
See also
*
Federation of Fighting Youth
*
Solidarity
*
Nonpartisan Bloc for Support of Reforms
The Nonpartisan Bloc for Support of Reforms ( pl, Bezpartyjny Blok Wspierania Reform, BBWR) was an officially nonpartisan organization (but, in fact, a political party) affiliated with Lech Wałęsa. It was established in 1993 and in 1997 became ...
References
1979 establishments in Poland
Anti-communism in Poland
Anti-communist parties
Defunct political parties in Poland
History of Poland (1989–present)
Nationalist parties in Poland
Polish dissident organisations
Polish nationalist parties
Political parties established in 1979
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