The attitude of the Church towards the social and political events in Poland in the early 1980’s

In Polish historiography the martial law period is still an issue that causes a lot of controversy. It also seems that even growing period of time and psychological distance do not automatically facilitate developing clear and objective assessment of the dramatic events of the years 1981–1983. The difference between presented opinions is strongly influenced by current trends of political correctness as well as inaccessibility of classified documents still kept in the Polish and Russian archives. An attempt to conduct a thorough and multifaceted evaluation of the martial law period seems impossible without analysing tense sociopolitical situation as well as difficult economic situation of Poland at the end of 1970s and the beginning of 1980s. It is also necessary to take into account an important factor – the Solidarity movement that was founded in 1980. It was the first post-war mass opposition movement, rooted firmly on the ground of Christian ideas. Thus, it seems impossible to ignore the role of the Polish Catholic Church during the period of the martial law. It was within the framework of the Church structures – due to suspension of almost every social organization – that the victims of repression and their families were granted physical, legal, and spiritual support. The attitude presented by the hierarchy and numerous representatives of the clergy (e.g. Primate J. Glemp, Archbishop B. Dąbrowski, Fr. J. Popiełuszko or Fr. K. Jancarz) clearly proved that numerous cases of violating the law, in particular arresting and detaining the members of the Solidarity movement, were strongly condemned. The ideas and conclusions presented in the article, although still imperfect and probably premature, enable the reader to assume that the events of 1981–1983 were caused by the lack of both authority of the government as well as fundamental social freedom rather than insufficient supply of food, economic crisis or a threat of a military intervention from the East. In those times and during those conditions the Catholic Church stood in the defence of human rights and human dignity, inter alia, drawing strength from the teachings and the attitude of John Paul II.