Aktywność polityczna uchodźców „Solidarności” w Chicago w latach 1980–1989
Pamięć i Sprawiedliwość, Tom 24 Nr 2 (2014), strony: 423-445
Data publikacji: 2014-12-30
Abstrakt
Social movements emerge from established networks, and movement participation
strengthens existing solidarities and alters identities. How do these solidarities survive
the disruption of emigration? This paper focuses on the activities of Solidarity refugees in
Chicago during the 1980s, and, in particular, the organizations Freedom for Poland and
Solidarnosc Wspolnota Rozproszonych /Brotherhood of Dispersed Solidarity Members,
as well as organizations formed around the 1989 elections and the economic and
political changes in its aftermath. Data were collected through participant observation,
interviews, organizational archives, and surveys. This case study shows that there were strong
concrete and ideological ties between Solidarity refugees in Chicago and the opposition
in Poland. In sum, while emigration dispersed refugees, commitment (to the movement),
pre-existing networks (to Poland), and renewed networks (in the U.S.) helped Solidarity
refugees reconstitute on foreign soil and continue “to fight the good fight” from abroad.