Znak (Polish : Sign, Symbol) was an association of lay Catholics in Poland, active between 1956 and 1976. It was the only Catholic organisation that was tolerated by the communist Polish United Workers' Party and supported the Catholic hierarchy.
It was created as one of several smaller groups that sprung up after dissolution of the communist-controlled association PAX of Bolesław Piasecki in 1956. It was granted with several seats in the Polish Sejm and was intended as a link between the Catholic Church and the state. [1] As such it was allowed to cooperate with various Western European catholic movements, among them the German section of the International Catholic Peace Movement Pax Christi.
It was composed of the members of Klub Inteligencji Katolickiej (Club of Catholic Intelligentsia ) and journalists of the newspaper Tygodnik Powszechny . Among the most prominent members of Znak were:
During the March 1968 Events, an anti-Semitic and anti-intelligentsia campaign of Władysław Gomułka, Znak was the only political organisation in Sejm to protest. In 1976, the only member of Znak in the Sejm, Stanisław Stomma, abstained from voting and was one of only two Members of Parliament not to approve the amendment of Polish constitution underlining the leading role of the communist party and the "eternal friendship" with the Soviet Union. [1] As a reprisal, Znak was disbanded. [1]
A remainder of the group existed until 1980 when it was renamed to Polski Związek Katolicko-Społeczny, which like the Znak had representatives in the Sejm and continues today as a Catholic charity organisation that was notable for its opposition to martial law in Poland.
The Polish United Workers' Party, 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 legally permitted subordinate minor parties together as the Front of National Unity and later Patriotic Movement for National Rebirth. Ideologically, it was based on the theories of Marxism-Leninism, with a strong emphasis on left-wing nationalism. The Polish United Workers' Party had total control over public institutions in the country as well as the Polish People's Army, the UB and SB security agencies, the Citizens' Militia (MO) police force and the media.
National Democracy was a Polish political movement active from the second half of the 19th century under the foreign partitions of the country until the end of the Second Polish Republic. It ceased to exist after the German–Soviet invasion of Poland of 1939. In its long history, National Democracy went through several stages of development. Created with the intention of promoting the fight for Poland's sovereignty against the repressive imperial regimes, the movement acquired its right-wing nationalist character following the return to independence. A founder and principal ideologue was Roman Dmowski. Other ideological fathers of the movement included Zygmunt Balicki and Jan Ludwik Popławski.
The Council of State of the Republic of Poland was introduced by the Small Constitution of 1947 as an organ of executive power. The Council of State consisted of the President of the Republic of Poland as chairman, the Marshal and Vice-marshals of the Sejm, President of the Supreme Audit Office, and potential other members. The Council of State had the power to approve decrees issued by the Council of Ministers, exercise supreme control over the local national councils, approve promulgation of laws concerning the budget and military draft, declare a state of emergency and martial law, initiate legislation, and others.
Tadeusz Mazowiecki 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 minister since 1946.
The Polish Socialist Party is a socialist political party in Poland.
The history of Poland from 1945 to 1989 spans the period of Marxist–Leninist regime in Poland after the end of World War II. These years, while featuring general industrialization, urbanization and many improvements in the standard of living, were marred by early Stalinist repressions, social unrest, political strife and severe economic difficulties. Near the end of World War II, the advancing Soviet Red Army, along with the Polish Armed Forces in the East, pushed out the Nazi German forces from occupied Poland. In February 1945, the Yalta Conference sanctioned the formation of a provisional government of Poland from a compromise coalition, until postwar elections. Joseph Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union, manipulated the implementation of that ruling. A practically communist-controlled Provisional Government of National Unity was formed in Warsaw by ignoring the Polish government-in-exile based in London since 1940.
Tygodnik Powszechny is a Polish Roman Catholic weekly magazine, published in Kraków, which focuses on social, cultural and political issues. It was established in 1945 under the auspices of Cardinal Adam Stefan Sapieha. Jerzy Turowicz was its editor-in-chief until his death in 1999. He was succeeded by Adam Boniecki, a priest.
The Alliance of Democrats is a Polish centrist party. Initially formed in 1937, the party underwent a revival in 2009, when it was joined by liberal politician Paweł Piskorski, formerly a member of the Civic Platform.
The Polish 1968 political crisis, also known in Poland as March 1968, Students' March, or March events, was a series of major student, intellectual and other protests against the ruling Polish United Workers' Party of the Polish People's Republic. The crisis led to the suppression of student strikes by security forces in all major academic centres across the country and the subsequent repression of the Polish dissident movement. It was also accompanied by mass emigration following an antisemitic campaign waged by the minister of internal affairs, General Mieczysław Moczar, with the approval of First Secretary Władysław Gomułka of the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR). The protests overlapped with the events of the Prague Spring in neighboring Czechoslovakia – raising new hopes of democratic reforms among the intelligentsia. The Czechoslovak unrest culminated in the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia on 20 August 1968.
Stanisław Broniewski alias Stefan Orsza, Witold, K. Krzemień was a Polish economist, Chief Scouts of the Gray Ranks and Second lieutenant of the Home Army during the World War II.
Bolesław Bogdan Piasecki, alias Leon Całka, Wojciech z Królewca, Sablewski was a Polish writer, politician and political theorist, during the war he was active in the anti-German and anti-Soviet armed underground. Initially of national radical views, he became associated after the war with the ruling Polish communists and led a group of lay Catholics who collaborated with the communist regime.
The PAX Association was a pro-communist Catholic organization created in 1947 in the People's Republic of Poland at the onset of the Stalinist period. The association published the Słowo Powszechne daily for almost fifty years between 1947 and 1993 with an average of 312 issues annually.
Janusz Zbigniew Zabłocki was a Polish politician, journalist, Catholic activist, lawyer, soldier of Armia Krajowa.
Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 20 January 1957. They were the second election to the Sejm – the unicameral parliament of the People's Republic of Poland, and the third ever in the history of Communist Poland. It took place during the liberalization period, following Władysław Gomułka's ascension to power. Although conducted in a more liberal atmosphere than previous elections, they were far from free. Voters had the option of voting against some official candidates; de facto having a small chance to express a vote of no confidence against the government and the ruling Communist Polish United Workers Party. However, as in all Communist countries, there was no opportunity to elect any true opposition members to the Sejm. The elections resulted in a predictable victory for the Front of National Unity, dominated by the PZPR.
Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 16 April 1961. They were the third elections to the Sejm, the parliament of the People's Republic of Poland, and fourth in Communist Poland. They took place on 15 April.
The National Radical Camp was an ultranationalist, patriotic, and antisemitic political movement which existed in the pre-World War II Second Polish Republic, and an illegal Polish anti-communist, and nationalist political party formed on 14 April 1934 mostly by the youth radicals who left the National Party of the National Democracy movement.
Ryszard Reiff was a Polish politician, lawyer, publicist and resistance fighter. He was a deputy to the Polish parliament (Sejm) during the 1968 Polish political crisis and again during the Martial law in Poland.
Klub Inteligencji Katolickiej is a Polish organization grouping Catholic intellectuals. KIK is organized into a series of local chapters (clubs).
Stanisław Radkiewicz was a Polish communist activist with Soviet citizenship, a member of the pre-war Communist Party of Poland and of the post-war Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR). As head of the Ministry of Public Security of Poland between 1944 and 1954, he was one of the chief organisers of Stalinist terror in Poland. He also served as a political commissar and was made a divisional general in Communist Poland.
Józefa Maria Hennelowa was a Polish publicist, journalist, columnist, Catholic intellectual, and politician. As a journalist, she spent more than seven decades as a reporter and editor at Tygodnik Powszechny, a Catholic weekly newspaper headquartered in Krakow. Hennelowa also served in the Sejm, the lower house of the Parliament of Poland, from 1989 until 1993 during the country's transition from communism to democracy.