T he Roman Catholic Church played a significant role during the last three years of the People’s Republic of Poland. Following the third pilgrimage of John Paul II, the institution acted as a mediator and moderator of dialogue between the authorities and the opposition. The episcopacy kept rejecting subsequent proposals of the government party to reform the system without involving activists of the delegalized “Solidarity” Movement. The involvement of the Roman Catholic hierarchy was hugely important for initiating the “Round Table” talks and during the parliamentary elections of June 1989 when its support turned out to be of key significance for the victory of the Civic Committee and for the defeat of the government party. At that time, the episcopacy also recorded unprecedented successes in the relations between the state and the Church, the regulation of its legal status as well as the Holy See and the People’s Republic of Poland entering into diplomatic relations. It achieved both on its own terms by leveraging its superior negotiation power. The article discusses the approach of the highest hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church in Poland toward the political situation during the last three years of the People’s Republic of Poland when the episcopacy served as a kind of “midwife” for the agreement between those in power and the opposition.

T he article treats the main processes and events constituting the ‘long 1989’ in Bulgaria. It discusses the internal and international environments at the time, the growing ten- sions in the economic, social, political, and ethnic spheres as well as the activities of the main actors from both the ruling Communist Party elite with its internal divisions (ultimately leading to an intra-party coup) and the circles standing in various degrees of opposition to the official line. Both earlier manifestations of dissent in the country and the activities of the dissident organisations of the late 1980s are examined. Special attention is paid to the two main trends in Bulgarian dissidence ‒ the one striving for a radical change of the system and the other aspiring to ‘humanise’ the existing order, as attitudes ensuing from the former or the latter would be among the underlying fac- tors behind Bulgaria’s choice of the way for its future development.

T he “Solidarity” Movement is interpreted similarly to the classical approach discus- sed in the theories of social movements, each of which defines the social mechanism fuelling its activities in a different way. The aim of the article is to structure the inter - pretations used in the national and international literature on sociology (usually by relatively obscure historians). The author discusses “Solidarity” as a class movement by explaining its emergence as a reaction to the system crisis, fuelled by the activities of the democratic opposition, as well as two types of methods referring to the so-called theo- ry of new social movements. The author claims that none of the described theoretical approaches reflect the entire complexity of the dynamics of the “Solidarity” movement; in particular, they do not explain its aims and long-term cultural effects. However, the author emphasizes the important results of its activities and lays foundations for furt- her research of a more synthetic nature.

T he emergence of the Independent and Self-Governing “Solidarity” Trade Union fol- lowing a wave of strikes on the Polish coast in August 1980 polarized the Polish United Workers’ Party. The article discusses the attitude of the editorial board of the Cracow magazine of the PUWP “Gazeta Krakowska” (“Gazeta Południowa” until 31 December 1980) towards “Solidarity” in the period from September 1980 (i.e. the end of the stri- kes on the coast) until 13 December 1981) (i.e. the introduction of martial law). It also describes divisions within the Party. Based on a critical analysis of source evidence, the author specifies several problems: support for “Solidarity’s” operations, the promotion of a moderate stream within the ISGTU “Solidarity”, the intention to mediate between the PUWP and “Solidarity” and the appeal to both parties to refrain from engaging in a power struggle. Furthermore, the article presents the critical opinions of party acti- vists about the approach of “Gazety Krakowska” toward the “Solidarity” movement. Research was mainly based on press articles published by “Gazeta Krakowska” during the period from September 1980 until December 1981. The article was additionally based on the files stored by the National Archive in Cracow and by the Archive of the Institute of National Remembrance in Cracow. The author also interviewed Jerzy Sadecki and Zbigniew Regucki.

T he 1980s witnessed a significant improvement in bilateral relations between the People’s Republic of China and the People’s Republic of Poland which had been far from perfect due to the previous Chinese and Soviet conflict. A certain “new opening” was symbolized by the visit of Wojciech Jaruzelski to Beijing in September 1986. Although Warsaw expected much from cooperation with the PRC, particularly in the economic sphere, it soon turned out that Beijing was a very pragmatic partner focused mainly on pursuing its own economic and politi-cal interests. Therefore, Warsaw was ultimately disappointed by the revival of Chinese and Polish relations because they did not bol- ster trade in the long term, which was highly desirable, and the information received from the PRC about its economic reforms were of limited value due to the specifics of the Middle Kingdom. The article is aimed at presenting the developments in the Polish and Chinese relations during the 1980s.

I n the last programme of the PRP for the years 1986–1990, the party and govern- ment authorities set directions for the state influencing the Polish diaspora. This article discusses the programme prepared by the Inter-ministerial Committee for the Polish Diaspora. The author defines the basic terms and presents the current status of research on Polish pastoral work in the PRP in the first part of the article, while the second is devoted to the assumptions of the government programme of the PRP with regard to Polish pastoral work. To summarize, she refers to the assessments of the programme implementation by the party and government authorities. The artic - le is based above all on files from the Foreign Department of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers’ Party and of the Office for Religious Denominations stored in the New Files Archive in Warsaw.

T he article discusses the policy of Pope John Paul II and of the Holy See towards Poland during the great geopolitical transformation of the late 1980s and of the early 1990s. It depicts the personage of the Pope during the period above all as a decision- -maker influencing the global policy and the situation in the homeland. The author is interested in the influence of Pope John Paul II on the situation in Poland as the key state of the post-communist transformation. The topic was presented against a broader historical background, including the attitude of Pope John Paul II to the last commu- nist government in Poland and to the first non-communist government led by Tadeusz Mazowiecki. The text answers the question about differences between the policy of John Paul II and of the Holy See, contains reflections on their reasons and on the methods and mechanisms behind the Pope’s influence on the situation in his homeland.

T he story of the formation of the Hungarian democratic opposition movement in the late 1970s is inseparable from that of the Polish opposition movement. The events in Poland – especially the foundation of the “Solidarity” union in 1980 – exerted a deci- sive influence on the thinking, activism and program of the Hungarian opposition. The paper explores the ways in which the Polish opposition impacted the emergence of the forums of a „second public” in Hungary (so-called free universities and samiz- dat), of street movements, solidarity action, program debates and the new political parties. The author analyses the documents of the former Hungarian and Polish State Security related to opposition contacts, the collection of the Open Society Archives in Budapest, the samizdat materials from 80’s. He also made interviews with the main representatives of the Hungarian and Polish opposition, who took part in building of the relations. This paper is a part of the pre-release monograph written by the author, which describe the all history of the Polish-Hungarian relations in opposition between 1976 and 1989.

I n the years 1988–1990, the Communist Party of Lithuania transformed from a Marxist- -Leninist party to a classic social democratic formation called the Democratic Labour Party of Lithuania. It could take advantage of Mikhail Gorbachev’s Perestroika ideas in order to achieve its own goals. The party had several experienced politicians (Algirdas Brazauskas, Česlovas Juršėnas and others) who led it during the complex political and economic transformation. The tragic events of 13 January 1991, during which 14 civi- lians were killed by Soviet soldiers, depicted how tragic and dangerous this period was. In autumn 1992, the Democratic Labour Party of Lithuania recorded a huge success in the parliamentary elections by winning over a half the mandates. Its leader Algirdas Brazauskas was elected the president of Lithuania. The formation had its representatives during all terms of offices of the Lithuanian Sejm still after 1990. Irrespective of the suc - cessful trajectory, the Lithuanian Sejm passed a resolution in June 2017 by a majority of votes and found the Communist Party of Lithuania a criminal organization. After the events of 13 January 1991, another faction of the Communist Party of Lithuania on the platform of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was accused of acting in order to overturn Lithuania’s independence, found to be illegal and against the country’s inte- rests, while its leaders were sentenced to many years of imprisonment.

T he author of the study analyzes the political and social situation in Slovakia during the late 80s as well as historical changes in 1989 that led to the fall of the communist regime. The study provides overview of the key historial events: gradually brought weakining ofthe regime, changes within the communist party and increase of the opposition acti- vities. Focus of the article are the events of November and December 1989 and crucial events that led to the fall of the regime. Special attention is devoted to the activities of the youth and student movement in Slovakia, especially the march of the students in Bratislava on 16 November. This march can be considered as a prologue of the Gentle Revolution in Slovakia and a springboard for the involved students. They, bolstered by the Prague events, undertook an open protest at the university and creation of the stu- dents strike committee, first at the Slovakia. The author also deals with the establishing and development of the movement Public against Violence in November 1989 and to the discussions of the round table between the representatives of the communist party and Public against Violence. This discussions started the process of transformation from the totalitarian communist regime into the democracy.

I n the second half of the 1980s, the Communist Party of Ukraine fell into a deep system crisis, which triggered a wave of discontent among this major part of the USSR, particu- larly in the Western regions, and resulted in a disassembly of the communist system in 1991. The article analyses general trends in socio-political processes in the USSR in the period of glasnost, rebuilding and democratization (1985–1991), defines the specifics of the emergence of “informal” social and political organizations, the People’s Movement of Ukraine and their demands, as well as the methods for their implementation, discusses the relations between the state and the Orthodox Church and the specifics of the legalization of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church and of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church in the USSR and the relations between religious associations at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s. It also proves that the relative political stabilization in the first year of the rebuilding changed after the election campaign to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 1990 and to local authorities, which triggered a political conflict between the national and democratic forces and the Communist Party of Ukraine. This all was crowned by Ukraine’s regaining of independence on 24 August 1991.

F or a period of three weeks (1–22 November 1918), Lviv was a divided city. In their attempt to conquer it, the Ukrainians faced spontaneous opposition from its residents. The Jews, who were the second largest group of residents after the Poles, formed their own militia and announced neutrality. However, they did not follow this announcement, and the militia actively cooperated with the Ukrainian army. After the Ukrainians had been forced by the defendants out of Lviv and voluntary units had arrived from Cracow, the city fell into criminal riots which cost the lives of 44 people (33 Jews and 11 Christians), and 443 people were wounded. The official data were established by the Extraordinary Government Investigation Committee chaired by Judge Zygmunt Rymowicz. The riots lasted several days (22–24 November 1918). The delayed reaction of the Polish military authorities exacerbated the disturbances. The author proves that in terms of the natio - nality (religion) of the victims, the riots were of a criminal nature.

T he administration policy of the Ministry of the Interior concerning military affairs in the years 1926–1939 was implemented by ministers of the interior and by selected organizational units of the Ministry of the Interior (Independent Military Department, Military Office), and by voivodes (military departments of voivodeship offices) and mayors locally (military units of municipality offices). During the first period of the government of Józef Piłsudski (1926–1930), the management of the Ministry of the Interior focused on organizational improvements in central and territorial bodies, i.e. in the general and territorial local government administration. Their main tasks involved: facilitating the conscription of recruits to the army, paying out military allo- wances, preparing a public administration structure for war mobilization and protec- tion. Military training was supplemented radically by including physical education and by initiating social committees for physical education and physical training. Less attention was devoted to national anti-air and anti-gas defence. In the years 1930–1935, the Ministry of Military Affairs focused on improving current forms and methods of military conscription, military allowances, mobilization and protection, supervision over the cooperation of the general administration with commands of military units during training along with physical education and physical training. Much attention was concurrently devoted to the Republic’s anti-air and anti-gas defence. During the final years before the Second World War (1935–1939), war preparations were the priority. Of importance remained: military conscription, particularly after the announcement of 23 March 1939 about emergency military conscription via a secret system, mobiliza- tion and protection (e.g. immobilizing “undesirable elements in the state”), developing physical education and physical training, extending the structure of the nation’s anti-air and anti-gas defence, which involved the cooperation of the general administration, the local government, social associations, e.g. the League of Anti-air and Anti-gas Defence, the Polish Red Cross and the Association of Fire Brigades.

T he Ukrainian Social Democratic Party (USDP) was founded in 1899. It tried to combi- ne the national idea and Marxism, took an active part in political life in Western Ukraine (until 1939). After the defeat of the Ukrainian revolution and the open transition to pro - -communist positions in March 1923, the USDP was banned by the Polish authorities in early 1924. The ideological and organizational reconstruction of the Ukrainian Social Democracy, which was carried out since 1925, was completed in December 1928 by carrying out the Ukrainian Socialist Congress in Lviv. The restored USDP used parlia - mentary methods for the creation of an independent Ukrainian socialist state, opposed the Ukrainian nationalist underground, and had a relationship with Polish and Jewish socialists. In the 1930’s, the USDP three times participated in the processes of consoli- dation of the legitimate Ukrainian parties of national-state orientation in Poland, which periodically arose under the influence of a number of internal and external factors. In the pre-war decade, the crisis of democratic forces, the rise of authoritarianism in various forms across Europe negatively affected the public influence of the USDP, as well as Social Democracy in general in the Second Polish Republic.

T he phenomenon of espionage in the context of illegal migrations in the borderlands of the Second Republic of Poland has not been thoroughly examined so far. This article aims to analyse the procedure of crossing the state border illegally and explaining the impact of the phenomenon on the political and economic situation in the borderlands of the Tarnopolskie Voivodeship, specifically in the Poviats of Borszczów, Czortków, Kopyczyńce, Skałat and Zbaraż in the years 1921–1939. This it most probably the first attempt to explain the relationship between the status of the protection of the state bor- der, the Ukrainian and Polish conflict during the existence of the Polish state and the sabotage and intelligence activities of the Soviet authorities in the territories of one of the Eastern voivodeships of the Second Republic of Poland.

T he article deals with meaning of celebrations of 9 May – Victory Day – in Yugoslavia in the first few years after World War II and with the role of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia in organising these ceremonies. It is shown that this holiday was one of the cornerstones of the Communist regime propaganda and a very important occasion for creating the tradition of national liberation struggle and anti-fascism. The main role of Victory Day was to recall the victory over fascism, but also to contribute to consoli- dation of Communists’ rule and to display foreign and inner policy of the new autho- rities in Yugoslavia. The ruling party used the entire content of the celebrations to cre - ate and impose its own image of World War II and the national liberation struggle in Yugoslavia and to present the desirable image of the current international and internal political situation. These celebrations were conceived and designed by the top officers of the Communist Party, in its Agitprop apparatus, and all activities and details were dictated by Party guidelines and directives.

T he article presents the life history of six Polish military lawyers who served in the Red Army or in the NKVD forces in the 1930s, were promoted to top ranking war lawyers in 1936 (the equivalent to the former rank of colonel), and afterwards enlisted into the Polish Army. Based on evidence mainly from Russian archives, it was possible to reconstruct the careers of these officers while on service in the armed forces of the USRR. A collective picture was established thereon. There were doubts as to their pro - fessional education since they completed many years of service in bodies related to the repression system of the Soviet state and served the NKVD authorities during the great purge (1937–1938). Although they were subject to various forms of repressions in 1938, they received a guarantee for pursuing a policy in the interest of the USSR in Poland.

T he post-war life history of Aleksander Ładoś remains the least-known period of his life. After completing his mission as head of the Mission of the Republic of Poland in Bern in summer 1945, he remained in exile. Thanks to his position in the communi- ty of the Peasant Party, he was selected the representative of the Polish Peasant Party headed by Mikołajczyk for Western Europe. At the end of the 1940s, he withdrew from the public life and was repatriated to his homeland in 1960. The rich documentation of the PRP’s intelligence service, made available several years ago, provides a clearer vier of the circumstances of his return, above all to restore his “operational dialogue” over several years with members of the Security Service.

I n the administration structure of the states within the so-called people’s democracy, specialized bodies were created on the initiative of Kremlin to take care of planning, coordinating and implementing the policy on religious denomination. Because the scope of their competences was equivalent as a rule, irrespective of local circumstances (this also referred to the main goal, i.e. striving to destroy or subordinate religious institu- tions to the state), they had a basis to enter into institutional cooperation between each other. The article presents the real story behind the establishment of formal relations between the Polish Office for Religious Denominations and its counterparts in the sta - tes of Central and Eastern Europe: the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, the Hungarian People’s Republic and the German Democratic Republic. It reveals that they were not fruitful at the beginning, particularly if compared with intensive contacts between the Czechoslovak and Hungarian departments for religious denominations. The situation changed in the second half of the 1950s. Visits, revisits, international meetings with the participation of employees of the administration for religious denominations of the states of the Eastern Block made it possible to share experiences and formulate a policy towards Churches and religious associations, even globally.

T he Department of Denominations in Provincial Office in Tarnow was launched in 1975. Throughout all its existence until the end of 1989, the department operated as an autonomous section that was allocated in the structure of the office. Its main role was in coordinating all kinds of actions related to religious affairs. The range of its activity was the area of Tarnow Voivodeship. This article aims to depict and elaborate the archives heritage that was produced in the course of activity of the Department of Denominations in the Provincial Office in Tarnow. In addition, the article presents the exploratory value of records resources from the Department of Denominations as a source for researches concerning directions of religious policy that was conducted in the time of the Polish People’s Republic at the voivodeship level. In this elaboration, particular attention was paid to physical forms and the state of preservation of the archives.

C ardinal Stefan Wyszyński, Primate of Poland, spent half a year in total in Krynica- -Zdrój in the years 1951–1978. Not only did he spend time relaxing in the spa but he also worked on important matters regarding the Church in Poland and receiving many guests, both priests, including Cardinal Karol Wojtyła, and laymen, e.g. Jerzy Turowicz and Jerzy Zawieyski. He always stayed with the Sisters of Saint Elizabeth, although the detached house “Ostoja” was a special place for him – he leased it from Maria Okońska’s family. The house was turned into a guest and retreat house for young people and run by female employees of the Primate Institute. Róża Siemieńska was a director of “Ostoja” for many years and used the Primate’s support to renovate and extend the boarding house despite of the objection of the local authorities; the house has operated as the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński Educational and Formation Centre until today. The article documents holidays of Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński in Krynica-Zdrój.

T he Security Service was interested in the life of Zbigniew Herbert for nearly 30 years. At the beginning, there were attempts to win him over as a collaborator, but later (due to his involvement in the opposition) he was subject to investigation. In the 1960–70s, he was a target of Intelligence Service operations, among others. Their officers planned to convince him to become their agent. To this end, they conducted talks with him. Herbert did not object to these conversations – initially conducted under the patrona- ge of the officers of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – but he was not willing to colla - borate. Neither did he conceal from his family and acquaintances the fact that he was approached by the Security Service and conducted talks with its officers. Ultimately, the Security Service abandoned the plan to make him collaborate. Zbigniew won the duel but not unscathed – one may consider whether he did not disclose too much to the officers of the Security Service during the conversations.

O n 24 October 1985, Eryk Sztekker, a sociologist and employee of the Office for Religious Denominations in Warsaw, held a lecture during a course for directors of departments for religious denominations to present the relations of the Roman Catholic Church with communities of creators, people of culture, men of letters and artists in the 1980s in communist Poland from the point of view of the authorities, i.e. the Office for Religious Denominationins, which was part of the control and state repression appara- tus against the Roman Catholic Church and religious associations. The article marks an attempt to provide a structured overview of a phenomenon that had been emerging since the mid-1970s and snowballed in the first half of the 1980s. The state and party authorities viewed it as a serious problem. The emergence of creators and people of culture in chur - ches where they could present their works uncensored and the results of research as well as share their reflections posed a threat to the state monopoly in the provision of culture.

U pon the introduction of martial law in Poland, the Study Office of the Security Service of the Ministry of the Interior was ordered not only to carry out operational activities against the most important organizations of the “Solidarity” Underground but also to create and gather analytical materials thereon. Reports were regularly prepared on the number of people engaged in the underground opposition and on the specifics of the organizations operating within its framework. Such analyses were also used to assess the extent to which underground communities had been infiltrated by different units of the Security Service (excluding the Study Office), as well as to forecast developments in the underground and to work out scenarios for potential actions that might weaken it. The published document is the last analysis of this kind prepared before the Round Table talks. It sheds light on the assessment of the Underground which was accepted by the Study Office of the Security Service and by the management of the Ministry of the Interior at that time. The document reveals that, despite of the Security Service’s successes in breaking up the /underground structures and placing its agents therein, it was not able to control them and influence their development.