ROPCiO in books: documents, a monograph and a signatory's memoir

In brief

• A monograph of the movement, based on source materials, was written by Grzegorz Waligóra and published by the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) in 2006¹.
• Documents of ROPCiO participants from 1977–1981 were collected in a volume published in Kraków in 2005².
• The thought and programmes of the 1976–1980 opposition, including ROPCiO and the Workers' Defence Committee, are discussed in studies by Łukasz Jasiński (2009) and Jakub Kufel (2017)^3,4.
• Bogumił Studziński, one of the 18 signatories of the appeal of 25 March 1977, left a memoir — not about ROPCiO, but about prison in the 1950s^5,6.

This list covers the books that Poland's National Library catalogue describes with the subject heading “Ruch Obrony Praw Człowieka i Obywatela” (the Movement for the Defence of Human and Civic Rights, ROPCiO), preceded by the memoir of one of the movement's founders. They are ordered by year of publication. The descriptions summarise the National Library's catalogue data and notes; we do not review the books. All of them are in Polish. We write about the movement itself in “ROPCiO 1977”.

1. Bogumił Studziński, „W lochach socjalizmu” (1988)

Studziński was one of the 18 signatories of the “Appeal to Polish Society” of 25 March 1977, with which ROPCiO began its activity⁵. His book (In the Dungeons of Socialism), however, is not about ROPCiO but about the 1950s: in 1951 the District Military Court in Kielce sentenced him to 10 years in prison, which he served in Rawicz^7,8. The memoir was published by the underground Kurs publishing house in 1988, a year after the author's death: 130 pages⁶. More about the book.

2. „Dokumenty uczestników Ruchu Obrony Praw Człowieka i Obywatela w Polsce 1977–1981” (2005)

Documents of the participants of the Movement for the Defence of Human and Civic Rights in Poland, 1977–1981: a source edition with an annex. Introduction and editing: Grzegorz Waligóra; foreword: Tomasz Gąsowski. Published by Księgarnia Akademicka and the Fundacja Centrum Dokumentacji Czynu Niepodległościowego (Kraków 2005, XX + 459 pages) as volume 31 of the foundation's library series².

3. Grzegorz Waligóra, „Ruch Obrony Praw Człowieka i Obywatela 1977–1981” (2006)

A monograph of the movement based on source materials, mainly on its Warsaw circle. According to the catalogue note, it describes the forms of activity in the successive phases of the movement, its internal situation, meeting places and publishing — chiefly the periodical Opinia, and more briefly Gospodarz, Uczeń Polski, Droga and other titles. Published by the Institute of National Remembrance (Warsaw 2006, 355 pages, “Monografie” series, vol. 29); the cover title is “ROPCiO”. The book has a bibliography, an index and an English summary¹.

Grzegorz Waligóra also signed the entry on ROPCiO in the Encyclopedia of Solidarity on which our article about the movement is based⁵.

4. Łukasz Jasiński, „Kwestie międzynarodowe w myśli opozycji demokratycznej w PRL 1976–1980” (2009)

A book on how the democratic opposition of 1976–1980 thought about international affairs (the title means International issues in the thought of the democratic opposition in the Polish People's Republic, 1976–1980). The catalogue note mentions the origins and activity of Warsaw groups: the Workers' Defence Committee, set up after the events in Ursus, ROPCiO and the Confederation of Independent Poland. Published by the European Solidarity Centre (Gdańsk 2009, 181 pages)³.

5. „Zanim powstała Solidarność” (2010)

Full title: „Zanim powstała Solidarność. Opozycja przedsierpniowa: kalendarium, struktury, wydawnictwa” (Before Solidarity: the pre-August opposition — chronology, organisations, publications). A short, 48-page compendium of the Warsaw opposition before August 1980: a chronology of events from October 1956, organisations — among them ROPCiO, dated March 1977 — and periodicals and publishers, including Opinia. Published by the Stowarzyszenie Wolnego Słowa (Warsaw 2010)⁹.

6. Jakub Kufel, „Między konfliktem a współdziałaniem” (2017)

Full title: „Między konfliktem a współdziałaniem. Linie zróżnicowania programowego Komitetu Obrony Robotników i Ruchu Obrony Praw Człowieka i Obywatela w latach 1976–1980” (Between conflict and cooperation: the programmatic differences between KOR and ROPCiO, 1976–1980). As the subtitle indicates, it is about how the programmes of KOR and ROPCiO differed. Published by Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek (Toruń 2017, 259 pages)⁴.

Where next

A short introduction is the entry “Ruch Obrony Praw Człowieka i Obywatela” in the Encyclopedia of Solidarity, with the full list of the 18 signatories of the appeal⁵; we summarise it in “ROPCiO 1977”. The 50th anniversary of the movement falls on 25 March 2027 — it is in our anniversary calendar.