Lech Bądkowski (1920–1984) – pisarz i pierwszy rzecznik Solidarności. Życie „twarzą do przyszłości”

Abstract

The text Lech Bądkowski – pisarz i pierwszy rzecznik Solidarności. Życie “twarzą do przyszłości” (Lech Bądkowski – Writer and the First Spokesperson for Solidarity. Life with “the Face to the Future”) is about the life of Lech Bądkowskiego (1920–1984). He fought in the 1939 Defensive War in Poland and at Narvik in Norway. As early as at that time he predicted that Poland would return to the Baltic – having her shoreline between Szczecin and Elblag. After the war, he returned to his home country. Unable to work in politics as Poland was under the totalitarian system, he became a journalist and writer. In 1956, he co-founded Zrzeszenie Kaszubskie, a great contributor to the region of Pomerania. In 1964, Bądkowski sympathized with “the Letter of the 34”. In 1968, he supported students’ strikes – wrote an open letter in their defence, for which he was punished by censorship ban. In 1976, he protested against changes to the Constitution of the Polish People’s Republic, and later decided to publish his texts underground, avoiding censorship. In August 1980 he was the first spokesman for the Inter-factory Founding Committee (Międzyzakładowy Komitet Strajkowy) and it was him who added to the list of “21 demands” the third one – about freedom of speech. He was one of the signatories of “the August Agreements”. His funeral in 1984 turned out a great patriotic demonstration. Bądkowski raised a number of local government activists, politicians and activists who strive to implement and pass on his ideas.