| 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.
IntroductionThe following is a selection from hundreds of leaflets, appeals, and articles in the underground press about the forthcoming elections to the Sejm to be held on 13 October 1985. The last Sejm elections took place in March 1980; the next should have been held four years latter, in the spring of 1984, but were delayed because of the uncertain situation in the country following the imposition of martial law (which was lifted in July 1983). Elections to the local People's Councils were held in June 1984. They were preceded by a widespread campaign by independent organizations for a boycott. According to official government statements, 25% of the voters boycotted the local elections, while Solidarity estimated the figure at 40%, with much higher abstentions in certain areas. In June 1985 the Sejm passed a new electoral law. Before its text became public, there was some discussion in underground publications about whether acceptable candidates could be proposed. The new law, however, specified that only officially registered parties and social organizations could submit candidates. It was therefore decided that a boycott would be the only response.
Solidarity: A Program for Building a Self-governing Republic[from: Leaflet (summer 1985)]The following text, distributed as a leaflet, consists of excerpts from resolutions about elections and self-government passed in September 1981 by the First National Congress of Solidarity.
Appeal by the Interim Coordinating Commission of Solidarity[from: Tygodnik Mazowsze, no. 136 (25 July 1985)]This appeal by the underground Solidarity leadership to boycott the forthcoming elections was published in a number of underground periodicals including the main Solidarity weekly in Warsaw.
Who Needs the Elections - Or He Who Votes Does Not Lie[from: Obserwator Wielkopolski, no. 92 (May 1985)]This article in the Poznań Solidarity monthly explains what the conditions should be for genuine, free elections in Poland. Since these conditions do not exist, it appeals for a boycott.
A Boycott after All[from: Informator Solidarności Region Środkowo-Wschodni, no. 112 (30 June 1985)]This article in the fortnightly (approximately) publication of Solidarity for the Lublin region, southeastern Poland, explains the various tricks and falsifications built into the electoral law, so as to render any honest polling of public consensus impossible - hence the boycott as the only response.
Socialist Apartheid / by Andrzej Frycz[from: Wola, no. 24(150) (12 August 1985)]This comparison of the situation of Blacks in South Africa and noncommunist Poles in People's Poland, presumably written under a pseudonym, appeared in the Warsaw underground Solidarity weekly.
The Boycott of the "Elections" and an Electoral Program[from: Wiadomości, no.146 (5 May 1985)]This short article in the weekly publication of Solidarity in the Warsaw region, "Wiadomości" [Information] goes beyond the bare bones of the agreed boycott and stresses that one of the disregarded points of dispute between the people and the regime is the lack of any economic program on the part of the former.
Letters to the Editor / by Realista[from: Tygodnik Mazowsze, no.137 (8 August 1985)]In this letter to the editors of the main Solidarity weekly in the Warsaw region, a reader signing himself "Realist" points out that the campaign to boycott the elections is being conducted along too strident lines and with excessive use of invective against those who are prepared to vote. His point is taken by the editors, who then published a sample of the kind of letter that might be sent to those who are unsure about voting.
A Proposal by the Alternative Society Movement[from: Homek, no. 21 (June 1985)]This is a proposal (untitled in the original) published in a monthly of the rather marginal but active Alternative Society Movement in Gdańsk. The movement has been notable during demonstrations for carrying black anarchist flags.
10 Reasons Why I'm Not Going to Vote[from: Gazeta Wyborowa, no. 1 (summer 1985)]This extract is from a specially published "Gazeta Wyborowa" [Electoral Newspaper] (the name is a play on words, wyborowa meaning selected or elected as well as referring to the famous Polish vodka Wódka Wyborowa) that succinctly lists reasons why one should boycott the elections.
We Vote through a Boycott[from: Tygodnik Mazowsze, no. 138 (22 August 1985)]These instructions on how to conduct a survey on voting have been published in almost all underground periodicals; they have presumably also appeared as leaflets. This particular version comes from the main Solidarity weekly in the Warsaw region. In an interview with the underground weekly "Wola" (no. 26, 26 August 1985), the Solidarity underground leader Zbigniew Bujak said that in the Warsaw region alone some 10,000 people were getting ready to monitor the elections.
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