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The cost of martial law

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Solidarity in the underground
Jan Józef Lipski Social activist
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When I came out of prison, everything was beginning to fall into place. The underground structures of Solidarity were already becoming more robust but above all, the underground press was at its peak at that point, I think. Underground publications were appearing at a rate of a couple of books per week. I immediately joined the underground structures of Solidarity. An advisory council was set up in the Mazowsze region for the secret regional board where every proposal which had any political weight was first deliberated. I joined this council and was a member for the entire time that it existed, and I worked with the underground press writing articles. It wasn't an intensive cooperation but I did publish a bit with them at that time. And I observed how slowly, slowly Solidarity was being rebuilt. It was a very slow process but it was moving forward all the time.

Gdy wyszedłem z więzienia, zastałem już sytuację, która zaczęła się porządkować. Podziemne struktury „Solidarności” już zaczęły krzepnąć, ale przede wszystkim podziemna prasa przeżywała wtedy chyba szczyt swojego rozwoju, a wydawnictwa podziemne – no, po parę książek na tydzień się ukazywało. I od razu wszedłem w struktury podziemne „Solidarności”. Powstała w Regionie Mazowsze taka rada doradcza dla tajnego zarządu regionu, gdzie wszystkie posunięcia mające jakąś wagę polityczną były najpierw rozważane. Ja wszedłem do tej rady i przez cały czas jej istnienia byłem jej członkiem, no i współpracowałem z prasą podziemną, pisząc artykuły. Nie była to intensywna współpraca, ale trochę tam... trochę tam drukowałem w tym czasie. No i może obserwowałem jak jednak z wolna, z wolna ta „Solidarność” się odbudowuje. Było to bardzo powolny proces, ale stale jednak idący do przodu.

Jan Józef Lipski (1926-1991) was one of Poland's best known political activists. He was also a writer and a literary critic. As a soldier in the Home Army (Armia Krajowa), he fought in the Warsaw Uprising. In 1976, following worker protests, he co-founded the Workers' Defence Committee (KOR). His active opposition to Poland's communist authorities led to his arrest and imprisonment on several occasions. In 1987, he re-established and headed the Polish Socialist Party. Two years later, he was elected to the Polish Senate. He died in 1991 while still in office. For his significant work, Lipski was honoured with the Cross of the Valorous (Krzyż Walecznych), posthumously with the Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (1991) and with the highest Polish decoration, the Order of the White Eagle (2006).

Listeners: Jacek Petrycki Marcel Łoziński

Cinematographer Jacek Petrycki was born in Poznań, Poland in 1948. He has worked extensively in Poland and throughout the world. His credits include, for Agniezka Holland, Provincial Actors (1979), Europe, Europe (1990), Shot in the Heart (2001) and Julie Walking Home (2002), for Krysztof Kieslowski numerous short films including Camera Buff (1980) and No End (1985). Other credits include Journey to the Sun (1998), directed by Jesim Ustaoglu, which won the Golden Camera 300 award at the International Film Camera Festival, Shooters (2000) and The Valley (1999), both directed by Dan Reed, Unforgiving (1993) and Betrayed (1995) by Clive Gordon both of which won the BAFTA for best factual photography. Jacek Petrycki is also a teacher and a filmmaker.

Film director Marcel Łoziński was born in Paris in 1940. He graduated from the Film Directing Department of the National School of Film, Television and Theatre in Łódź in 1971. In 1994, he was nominated for an American Academy Award and a European Film Academy Award for the documentary, 89 mm from Europe. Since 1995, he has been a member of the American Academy of Motion Picture Art and Science awarding Oscars. He lectured at the FEMIS film school and the School of Polish Culture of Warsaw University. He ran documentary film workshops in Marseilles. Marcel Łoziński currently lectures at Andrzej Wajda’s Master School for Film Directors. He also runs the Dragon Forum, a European documentary film workshop.

Tags: Mazowsze, Solidarity

Duration: 1 minute, 29 seconds

Date story recorded: October 1989

Date story went live: 15 March 2011