Fighting Solidarity ( pl, Solidarność Walcząca) was a Polish

anti-Soviet Anti-Sovietism, anti-Soviet sentiment, called by Soviet authorities ''antisovetchina'' (russian: антисоветчина), refers to persons and activities actually or allegedly aimed against the Soviet Union or government power within the ...

and

anti-communist Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when the United States and the ...

underground organization, founded in June 1982KENNEY, Padraic. A Carnival of Revolution: Central Europe 1989, p 30
by Kornel Morawiecki in

Wrocław Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, r ...

in response to the de-legalization of

Solidarity ''Solidarity'' is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. It is based on class collaboration.''Merriam Webster'', http://www.merriam-webster.com/dicti ...

and government repression of the opposition after

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 Martia ...

was declared in 1981. It was one of the most radical splinters of Solidarity.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, KENNEY, Padraic. A Carnival of Revolution: Central Europe 1989, p 164
hence their symbol merged the Solidarity logo with the

Kotwica The ''Kotwica'' (; Polish for "Anchor") was a World War II emblem of the Polish Underground State and ''Armia Krajowa'' (Home Army, or ''AK''). It was created in 1942 by members of the ''AK'' Wawer Minor sabotage unit, as an easily usable embl ...

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 Information warfare (IW) (as different from cyber warfare that attacks computers, software, and command control systems) is a concept involving the battlespace use and management of information and communication technology (ICT) in pursuit of a ...

: it printed and distributed many underground newspapers ('' bibuła''). The most well-known of these included "Biuletyn Dolnośląski" (Wrocław), "Solidarność Walcząca" (

Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint Joh ...

) and "Galicja" (

Rzeszów Rzeszów ( , ; la, Resovia; yi, ריישא ''Raisha'')) is the largest city in southeastern Poland. It is located on both sides of the Wisłok River in the heartland of the Sandomierz Basin. Rzeszów has been the capital of the Subcarpathian ...

). Fighting Solidarity's ''bibuła'' were the first printed during the period of martial law, being available the day after martial law was introduced. Solidarność Walcząca, czyli po niepodległość bez kompromisów
Magazyn Obywatel nr 5 / 2005 (25) Fighting Solidarity also tried to actively infiltrate the Polish

secret police Secret police (or political police) are intelligence, security or police agencies that engage in covert operations against a government's political, religious, or social opponents and dissidents. Secret police organizations are characteristic ...

(

Służba Bezpieczeństwa The Ministry of Public Security ( pl, Ministerstwo Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego), commonly known as UB or later SB, was the secret police, intelligence and counter-espionage agency operating in the Polish People's Republic. From 1945 to 1954 it w ...

) and to support other anti-communist organizations, including ones in other countries of the

Soviet 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 exist ...

, even the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

itself. 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 In criminal law, kidnapping is the unlawful confinement of a person against their will, often including transportation/asportation. The asportation and abduction element is typically but not necessarily conducted by means of force or fear: the p ...

Morawiecki's children in an attempt to

blackmail Blackmail is an act of coercion using the threat of revealing or publicizing either substantially true or false information about a person or people unless certain demands are met. It is often damaging information, and it may be revealed to fa ...

him. Despite its reputation for militancy, Fighting Solidarity did not support violence or

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

. Fighting Solidarity was one of two Polish organizations 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 power bases included Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk, Rzeszów and

Upper Silesia Upper Silesia ( pl, Górny Śląsk; szl, Gůrny Ślůnsk, Gōrny Ślōnsk; cs, Horní Slezsko; german: Oberschlesien; Silesian German: ; la, Silesia Superior) is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia, locate ...

. Among its most prominent members were Maciej Frankiewicz (Poznań), Roman Zwiercan, Andrzej Kołodziej (

Gdynia Gdynia ( ; ; german: Gdingen (currently), (1939–1945); csb, Gdiniô, , , ) is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With a population of 243,918, it is the 12th-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in th ...

), Jadwiga Chmielowska (

Sosnowiec Sosnowiec is an industrial city county in the Dąbrowa Basin of southern Poland, in the Silesian Voivodeship, which is also part of the Silesian Metropolis municipal association.—— Located in the eastern part of the Upper Silesian Indus ...

), Janusz Szkutnik (Rzeszów). 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 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 ideological or p ...

, the Partia Wolności (''Freedom Party'').

References

External links

Fighting Solidarity, Institute of National Remembrance

Wolni i Solidarni
a portal dedicated to Fighting Solidarity

{{Authority control Anti-communism in Poland Anti-communist organizations Polish dissident organisations National liberation movements Solidarity (Polish trade union)

See also

References

External links