Citizens' Movement for Democratic Action

The Citizens' Movement for Democratic Action (''Ruch Obywatelski Akcja Demokratyczna'', ROAD) was a market-socialist and political party in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

. The party was centrist-socialist on economic issues and conservative to moderate-conservative on social issues. In early 1990, an open conflict erupted between the conservative and centrist wings within the Citizens' Parliamentary Party (''Obywatelski Klub Parlamentarny'') formed by

Sejm The Sejm (English: , Polish: ), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland ( Polish: ''Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''), is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of ...

members from the ranks of the oppositional, trade-unionist

Solidarity Citizens' Committee The Solidarity Citizens' Committee (''Komitet Obywatelski "Solidarność"'', KO "S"), also known as Citizens' Electoral Committee (''Obywatelski Komitet Wyborczy'') and previously named the Citizens' Committee with Lech Wałęsa (''Komitet Obywate ...

(''Komitet Obywatelski Solidarność'');

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 democrati ...

dubbed this conflict, which he actively fomented, the "war at the top" (''wojna na górze''). On 12 May 1990, the conservative- socialist faction led by

Jarosław Kaczyński Jarosław Aleksander Kaczyński (; born 18 June 1949) is a Polish politician who is currently serving as leader of the Law and Justice party (known by its Polish acronym PiS), which he co-founded in 2001 with his twin brother, Lech Kaczyński, ...

formed a new party of their own, the

Centre Agreement Porozumienie Centrum (PC; en, Centre Agreement) was a Polish Christian democratic political party. The party rose in 1990. Its chairman was Jarosław Kaczyński. In its programme, the PC opposed socialism and was anti-communist. In 1997 PC joine ...

(''Porozumienie Centrum'', PC), which was going to support Wałęsa in the upcoming

presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The p ...

. In response to this, the centrist and Christian democratic faction, which favoured Christian democrat

Tadeusz Mazowiecki Tadeusz Mazowiecki (; 18 April 1927 – 28 October 2013) was a Polish author, journalist, philanthropist and Christian-democratic politician, formerly one of the leaders of the Solidarity movement, and the first non-communist Polish prime min ...

as president, decided to establish the Citizens Movement 'Democratic Action'. Formed in July 1990, this was a regular, structured party rather than a loosely knit movement as its name suggests. ROAD's founders include

Zbigniew Bujak Zbigniew Bujak (born 29 November 1954, in Łopuszno) is a former Polish activist and anti-Communist dissident. Biography Bujak was an electrician and foreman in 1980 at the Ursus tractor factory near Warsaw, Poland. He became engaged with ...

, Władysław Frasyniuk,

Jacek Kuroń Jacek Jan Kuroń (; 3 March 1934 – 17 June 2004) was one of the democratic leaders of opposition in the People's Republic of Poland. He was widely known as the "godfather of the Polish opposition," not unlike Václav Havel in Czechoslovakia. K ...

, and

Adam Michnik Adam Michnik (; born 17 October 1946) is a Polish historian, essayist, former dissident, public intellectual, and editor-in-chief of the Polish newspaper, ''Gazeta Wyborcza''. Reared in a family of committed communists, Michnik became an opponen ...

, that are considered as moderate socialdemocrats. A smaller, more conservative faction around

Aleksander Hall Aleksander Jan Hall (born 20 May 1953 in Gdańsk) is a Polish conservative political thinker, scholar and retired politician. Activist of Movement for Defense of Human and Civic Rights, later a politician and member of Solidarity Electoral Action ...

had split from Solidarity's parliamentary party a few weeks earlier, calling themselves

Forum of the Democratic Right Forum or The Forum (plural forums or fora) may refer to: Common uses * Forum (legal), designated space for public expression in the United States *Forum (Roman), open public space within a Roman city **Roman Forum, most famous example *Internet ...

(''Forum Prawicy Demokratycznej'', FPD). In the presidential election in November–December 1990, both ROAD and FPD supported Mazowiecki, who suffered a surprisingly clear defeat, receiving only 18% in the first ballot. In May 1991, following intense arguments within the party, ROAD merged with the FPD and other pro-Mazowiecki groups to form the Democratic Union (''Unia Demokratyczna'', UD) with Mazowiecki at the helm. However, many ROAD members refused to back this decision; most notably co-founder Zbigniew Bujak, who proposed to take a more social-democratic direction and formed the Democrat-Social Movement (''Ruch Demokratyczno-Społeczny'', RDS) instead. 1990 establishments in Poland 1991 disestablishments in Poland Conservative parties in Poland Catholic political parties Defunct socialist parties in Poland Political parties disestablished in 1991 Political parties established in 1990 {{Poland-party-stub