The year 1989 was primarily the June elections. Although not fully free, although connected with Although not fully free, but connected with many compromises, they brought a lot of hope and energy. In anti-communist Przemysl, there were no problems with collecting signatures In the anti-communist-oriented city of Przemyśl, there were no problems with collecting signatures under the Solidarity letter. Despite the doubts about the Round Table Agreement, people believed that Despite doubts about the Round Table Agreements, people believed that new, good times would come. The previous reluctance to The previous reluctance to vote in the rigged elections to the communist parliament The former reluctance to vote in the rigged elections to the communist-era Sejm turned into enthusiasm that new people would finally sit in parliament. The candidates from the Solidarity The candidates from the Solidarity side had a program that was talked about at home, at work, and on the street. On the list carrying a breath of freedom were people who gave hope that The candidates from the Solidarity side had a program that was talked about at home, at work and in the street.
Marek Kaminski, the chairman of the Regional Executive Commission of NSZZ Solidarność in Przemyśl, was obliged by the Marek Kaminski, the chairman of the Regional Executive Commission of NSZZ "Solidarity" in Przemyśl, was obliged by the National Executive Commission to establish, together with the local Solidarity of Individual Farmers to establish the Civic Committee Solidarity of the Przemyśl voivodeship. Together with the head of the agricultural Solidarity, Jan Karusi, he invited 15 people, including Marek Kuchciński, to join him.
However, people, program is not everything. The old power held firm. It had full control over the state media, the whole propaganda apparatus. In order to reach the people, they had to take the pro-independence message directly to the street.
- In June 1989, Przemyśl was probably the most The city of Przemyśl was probably the most overgrown with election banners of the Solidarity opposition and posters The city of Przemyśl was probably the most full of Solidarity opposition election banners and posters in Poland", recalls Marek Kuchciński. - From the first days of the campaign there was From the first days of the campaign there was a poster war in the cities and villages - in place destroyed, usually at night, new posters and banners appeared, and it happened that The Przemysl office was besieged by groups of young distributors, often There were also groups of young distributors, often children, who packed posters and leaflets into backpacks. One of the leaflets, the so-called "how-to", One of the leaflets, a so-called "how to cross out your opponent", was reproduced in the underground printing house in the amount of 300,000 copies. In such an atmosphere, the enemy, whose coalition office was allegedly headed by a censor from Przemyśl, not only had no chance of not only had no chance to win, but also compromised by trying to convince voters with festivals with beer and sausage handed out for the "signature of support" and with invented and slogans like: "coalition has to win, so Poland will not lose" - recalls marshal. Poland did not lose" - recalls the Speaker of the Sejm.
Przemysl houses, stores, Ruchu kiosks literally disappeared under the hastily pasted posters. It was a real battle. At the election headquarters they mixed water with flour, which was supposed to replace real glue. Dozens of people took to the streets trying to hang the leaflets in the most visible places. It was not easy. Some of the shop owners were afraid of the authorities, they tore down the posters themselves, called the militia. Security patrols appeared in the city and destroyed the advertisements. Out of 4 thousand Solidarity posters and banners, they tore down about 3 thousand! Solidarity flags were also torn down, and people claiming to be They also tore down Solidarity flags, and people claiming to be employees of the city hall's commerce department forced managers and sales clerks to They also tore down Solidarity flags, and people claiming to be employees of the commerce department of the city hall forced managers and sellers to take down posters of the freedom side from store windows. There were destroyed Solidarity election announcements were also destroyed in Jaroslaw, Przeworsk and Lubaczow.
W During the election campaign, the Civic Committee focused on field education and openness to the citizens. The intelligentsia, people of culture and the Church were involved. Solidarity was presented as a team with common goals. In order to avoid divisions to avoid divisions, as many candidates were appointed as there were seats. For those accustomed to voting for voting for the "only right candidate" from the PZPR, KO also prepared voting manuals. In the election bulletins In the election bulletins there was an appeal: to the citizens to support the opposition, because "you owe it to You owe it to them, because support for them means the end of murders, political rapes, suffering...". .
The The poster war reached its climax the night before the election. The Solidarity side was determined. All night long, almost until the pale dawn, people were All night long, almost until dawn, people were sneaking around the backstreets, under windows, in backyards election announcements. Large cities, such as Warsaw, for this very night Warsaw, for this very night got the famous posters with the sheriff, who instead of a star, has a Solidarity badge in his lapel. Solidarity stamp on his lapel. However, it did not reach Przemyśl. Instead, there were other leaflets and announcements, hung with dedication wherever they could. Wherever They were also hung where it was not possible.
Early morning of Sunday, June 4, 1989, the polling places opened. The turnout was estimated as not very high - over 10 million out of 27 million eligible out of 27 million Poles who were entitled to vote. It was a result of the progressing apathy of the society, which did not believe that elections could change anything. In the whole The mood of the country was calm, there were no riots.
Cut off cut off from the polls, with half an hour of air time a week, the opposition did not quite believed in what was about to happen: of the 161 seats in the Sejm available in free elections, it won 160 in the first round, and the remaining candidate went through to the second round. Of the 100 seats in the Senate in the first round Solidarity candidates filled 92 of the 100 seats in the Senate in the first round. four candidates: Jan Musiał and Tadeusz Ulma for the Senate, Tadeusz Trelka and Janusz Onyszkiewicz - for the Sejm. Despite such enormous social support Solidarity was too weak to hold the reins of power on its own. Despite such Solidarity's people were not able to carry the burden of change despite such a great effort over many years.
Marek Kaminski today said: I appreciate the bloodless leading to the elections, but with such I appreciate the bloodless conduct of the elections, but with such strength, advantage and social support Solidarity should have set conditions. I have I have a great deal of regret about this. Solidarity was weak and controlled by the communists. Not We also did not notice Wilczek's movement in '85. They set up their own people, they pushed they pushed them into companies. During the meetings, also with Walesa, whom we treated then as the only leader, I never imagined that these were people who would go Communists into alliances. I am ashamed that I sat with them then. We wanted independence, the People's Republic of Poland was not an independent Polish state. How were we supposed to feel feel by electing Jaruzelski as Poland's president? - says Kamiński.
Also Jan Karuś, the head of Solidarity of Farmers, speaks about the events after the year 89 The main goal of the project is to develop a new, more flexible and more efficient way of dealing with the problems of the Polish agricultural sector. The head of Solidarność Rolnicza, Jan Karuś, also speaks about the events after 89 in a depressing tone.
Elected deputies and senators were also failing. In "Views from Przemysl" from December 1989, Marek Kuchciński wrote about the dissatisfaction and impatience of the by the authorities, lack of intelligence and helplessness.
No one regrets that effort, however. Those who went to the polls on June 4th simply wanted to overthrow communism. They succeeded, but the changes did not come easily, and We are still reaping the harvest of the negligence of that time.
- After 1989, we began to take responsibility for the state: at the level of local governments, state and local institutions. With the benefit of hindsight we can say that we did everything that could be done at that time. We expected changes in the state authorities and were disappointed, but this did not discourage us from work. From today's perspective it looks a little different: a small group of people performed miracles, fighting with communism like David with Goliath - recalls Marek Kuchciński.
Marta Olejnik
