Movement for Defense of Human and Civic Rights

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Movement for Defense of Human and Civic Rights (Polish: Ruch Obrony Praw Człowieka i Obywatela, ROPCiO) was a political and social organization formed in Poland in March of 1977. It tried to resist the regime by denouncing it for violating Polish and international laws including the Polish constitution and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

[edit] History

In June of 1976, under pressure from Western creditors, the government of Edward Gierek was forced to introduce price increases. This, combined with shortage of basic articles and lack of liberty led to immediate nationwide wave of strikes, with violent demonstrations and looting at Płock and Radom. Gierek backed down at once, dismissing Prime Minister Piotr Jaroszewicz and repealing the price rises. This left the government looking both economically foolish and politically weak. To counter the threat, the Communist regime of Poland started a wave of repressions against the democratic opposition and the workers. The 1976 disturbances and the subsequent arrests and dismissals of worker militants brought the workers and the intellectual opposition to the regime back into contact.

A group of intellectuals led by Jacek Kuroń and Adam Michnik founded the Workers' Defence Committee (Komitet Obrony Robotników; KOR). The aim of the KOR was at first simply to assist the worker victims of the 1976 repression, but it inevitably became a political resistance group. It marked an important development: the intellectual dissidents accepting the leadership of the working class in opposing the regime. These events brought many more Polish intellectuals into active opposition of the Polish government. With time, the KOR turned into a wide-scale movement aiming at helping the democratic opposers to the communist regime and it was decided to turn a provisional organization into even wider movement, including not only the leftist part of the underground political scene, but also the centre and right. Talks with the former members of the Ruch movement started and it was decided to issue a common declaration. However, under insistence of Leszek Moczulski the final open letter was issued separately from the structures of the KOR and a new organization was formed.

The declaration, issued and presented to the press on March 26, 1977, was signed by 18 people, among them Gen. Mieczysław Boruta-Spiechowicz and Andrzej Czuma. It explained that the aims of the ROPCiO were to preserve and defend the civil and human rights. In fact the aims were almost identical to those of the KOR: to fight the Communist regime of the Polish United Workers' Party by means of legal fight. The declaration was issued only three days after the Polish parliament had ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Both organizations focused on preparation of open letters of protest to the communist government, organizing legal and financial support for the families of political prisoners and providing members of the anti-Communist opposition with brochures explaining their rights. Among such secretly-published books were also so-called handbooks to arrest, that is instructions on how to behave when arrested by the militia or the Urząd Bezpieczeństwa. ROPCiO also organized a net of legal advisors and published several magazines, mostly underground.

On September 16, 1978 the ROPCiO got divided when a part of its members led by Leszek Moczulski left the movement and established the ZINO movement, which later broke down onto the Confederation of Independent Poland, Movement of Young Poland and Movement of Free Democrats. The remainder of ROPCiO gradually melted into the structures of the Solidarity after its forming.