The article deals with problems related to the organising and functioning of the structures of the anti-Communist opposition and spontaneously emerging focal points of social resistance in south-eastern Poland. The security authorities undertook surveillance operations to analyse the situation, and then broke and neutralised independent communities. The authors set themselves the goal of characterising the forms of resistance against the Communist authorities in rural areas and the two largest towns in the region: Rzeszów and Przemyśl. The activities of rural communities is illustrated by the conflict in Łowisko in Rzeszów province, where the Committee of the Farmers’ SelfDefence of Rzeszów Land was established, the dispute arising from  use of the socalled „Arłamów principality”, and also the matter of imprisonment and sentencing of a farmers’ opposition activist, Jan Kozłowski. During the described period, local dissidents established contacts with representatives of national opposition organisations, and then formed the first local structures. One example of this process is ROPCiO (Movement for Defence of Human and Civil Rights), with an information and consultation point being established in Przemyśl, while another example involves the activities of  dissentients from Rzeszów. Local dissidents had the strong support of the Roman Catholic Church, especially Bishop Ignacy Tokarczuk. The efforts by independent Catholic circles aimed at the construction of new churches are demonstrated using the example of the Przemyśl Believers’ Self-Defence Committee. In describing the various strands of the anti-Communist opposition, the authors sought, at the same time, to introduce the modus operandi of the security apparatus aimed at eliminating or reducing the range in which opposition groups could have an impact.