| Summary: | Extracts from Polish underground publications compiled and translated into English by the RFE Polish Publication Unit for broadcasting purposes. Introductions to most articles are provided by RFE staff, and items are compiled in issues based mainly on theme and date.
August Today (An Interview With Bogdan Borusewicz)[from: Tygodnik Mazowsze, no. 60 (23 August 1983)]August 1983 marked the third anniversary of the strike in Gdańsk that led to the creation of Solidarity as well as to one and a half years of martial law. In commemoration of the strike, "Tygodnik Mazowsze," the main underground Solidarity weekly for the Warsaw region, published an interview with Bogdan Borusewicz, one of the organizers of the strike. Borusewicz, a 35-year-old historian, has been an active member of the opposition in Poland since 1968. He was a member of the Workers' Defense Committee [Komitet Obrony Robotników (KOR)] and the Founding Committee for Free Trade Unions, formed in May 1978 in the Gdańsk region, whose members led the August strike in the Gdańsk shipyard and become the leaders of Solidarity. Since the imposition of martial law, Borusewicz has been in hiding and is a member of the underground Regional Coordination Commission of Solidarity in the Gdańsk region. After the arrest in June 1984 of Bogdan Lis, Borusewicz replaced him as representative of the Gdańsk region on the national underground Interim Coordinating Committee established by Solidarity. In this interview Borusewicz discusses the August 1980 strike.
The False Charter / by Dawid Warszawski[from: KOS, no. 56 (4 June 1984)]In April 1984 the Clandestine Factory Committee of Solidarity in the Gdańsk Shipyard issued a manifesto, "Charter '84," addressed to Poles at home and abroad, to Western governments, and to the Russians. The text is a forceful criticism of the order governing in Europe as a result of the conferences at Yalta and Teheran and expresses the desire by Poles for independence from Russia. The text was circulated in Poland and also transmitted by RFE in the Polish program "Underground Press." The charter has provoked much controversy in Poland, and we print below a critical statement published in the underground fortnightly "KOS" published by the Committee for Social Resistance. The author, Dawid Warszawski (a pen-name), a frequent contributor to the underground press, is in strong disagreement with the views presented by the signatories of "Charter '84."
How We Counted[from: Tygodnik Mazowsze, no. 92 (21 June 1984)]The boycott of the recently held local elections in Poland has been heralded as a success by Solidarity. Even the government's attendance figures departed from the 98% figure that is traditional in Soviet-bloc elections. Aside from calling for a boycott, however, Solidarity organized an independent count of those who went to vote. The article below appeared in a recent issue of the chief Solidarity underground weekly of the Warsaw region and explained the methods Solidarity employed to arrive at their figures, which are considerably lower than those of the government.
The Crucial 15% / by Dawid Warszawski[from: Tygodnik Mazowsze, no. 93 (28 June 1984)]The 15% in the title of this article, which appeared in the main Solidarity underground weekly for the Warsaw region, refers to the crucial percentage of voters the authorities needed to declare the recent local elections in Poland a success. What seemed to count for the regime in these elections was simply how many people voted. The author of the article is a regular contributor to the underground press.
So Long As We Drink...[from: Metrum, no. 12 (6 May 1984)]"Metrum" is the fortnightly paper of KOS [Circle of Social Resistance] in Siedlce (population 60,000) near Warsaw. The paper is well produced and obviously has close contact with the Solidarity and KOS underground in Warsaw. The title of this article about the problem of alcoholism is a play on the Polish national anthem, the first line of which is "Poland is not yet lost, so long as we live..."
Hungary 1984 / by Milo[from: Tygodnik Mazowsze, no. 89 (24 May 1984)]"Tygodnik Mazowsze," which is the official paper of the Warsaw region's Solidarity leadership, has a regular feature on matters concerning other nationalities and countries in the Soviet bloc.
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