Appeals of the Temporary Coordination Committee of NSZZ „Solidarność”
In the Archives of the National Commission of NSZZ „Solidarność” there is a rich collection of appeals issued by the Temporary Coordination Committee of NSZZ „Solidarność” (TCC).
The TCC was established during the martial law in Poland, on the 22nd of June 1982. From the very beginning it was a secret, underground structure. It consisted of leaders of Solidarity most active regional structures – Bogdan Lis from the Gdansk region, Zbigniew Bujak from Mazovia, Władysław Frasyniuk from Lower Silesia, and Władysław Hardek from Lesser Poland. Its aim was to coordinate activities leading to lifting the martial law and to resurrect the Independent Self-governing Labour Union “Solidarity”. The Committee made also several appeals to free imprisoned labour union activists and to restore civil rights.
Over different periods of time several other Solidarity activists contributed to the TCC, e.g. Piotr Bednarz, Jan Krzysztof Bielecki, Bogdan Borusewicz, Jerzy Buzek, Jerzy Dłużniewski, Krzysztof Dowgiałło, Jan Andrzej Górny, Janusz Grzelak, Tadeusz Jedynak, Stefan Jurczak, Jarosław Kaczyński, Lech Kaczyński, Wiktor Kulerski, Jacek Merkel, Andrzej Milczanowski, Marek Muszyński, Michał Nawrocki, Janusz Pałubicki, Józef Pinior, Antoni Stawikowski, Eugeniusz Szumiejko, Jerzy Zdrada. Lech Wałęsa also participated in a few meetings of the Committee.
Some of these activists performed their duties under pseudonyms, and numerous changes in the composition of this structure resulted from frequent arrests. From the beginning the Committee was combated by communist authorities. The accusations included violent efforts to overthrow the legal government and espionage on behalf of Western powers.
In 1986 Lech Walesa established the Temporary Council of Solidarity, which was an open, public structure. On the 25th of October 1987, at a joint session of the Committee and the Council, the National Executive Committee was created, thus ending the works of the TCC.
During its years of activity the TCC issued over 100 communications, appeals and announcements. They expressed the views of the Independent Self-governing Labour Union “Solidarity” on various current political, social and economic problems. The TCC also issued several protests against repressions and human rights violations. It appealed for mass demonstrations and other forms of social resistance. The selection of their documents presented below comes from years 1984-1987/
Visit us at the in the Archives of the National Commission of NSZZ „Solidarność”.
Those interested in the above described documents and in our other archival materials are kindly invited to make use of our holdings in our Reading Room of the Archives of the National Commission of NSZZ „Solidarność” at Wały Piastowskie 24. They are accessible from Monday to Friday between 9:00 and 15:30. Please let us know in advance about your planned visit either by phone +48 (58) 308-43-92, +48 (58) 308-44-20, +48 (58) 308-43-83 or at .
/Iwona Flis, Stanisław Flis Foundation “Pomerania Archives”,
document selection – Łukasz Grochowski and Kamil Kaliszuk, Archives of the National Commission of NSZZ „Solidarność”/
