Solidarity Citizens' Committee Komitet Obywatelski "Solidarność" | |
|---|---|
| Chairman | Bronisław Geremek |
| Founded | 18 December 1988 |
| Dissolved | 1996 |
| Merged into | Solidarity Electoral Action |
| Succeeded by | Democratic Union Centre Agreement Solidarity list |
| Headquarters | Warsaw |
| Newspaper | Gazeta Wyborcza Tygodnik Solidarność |
| Ideology | Catch-all party Liberal democracy Polish nationalism Anti-communism |
| Political position | Big tent |
| Colors | Red Orange (customary) |
The Solidarity Citizens' Committee (Komitet Obywatelski "Solidarność", KO "S"), also known as Citizens' Electoral Committee (Obywatelski Komitet Wyborczy) and previously named the Citizens' Committee with Lech Wałęsa (Komitet Obywatelski przy Lechu Wałęsie), was an initially semi-legal political organisation of the democratic opposition in Communist Poland.[1]
Formed on 18 December 1988 in the premises of the Divine Mercy church in Warsaw, it spontaneously evolved into a nationwide movement attracting a vast majority of supporters of radical political change in the country after the conclusion of the Round Table talks (6 February–4 April 1989) and the announcement of semi-free general elections for 4 June that year.
The relaunched union weekly Tygodnik Solidarność, then edited by Tadeusz Mazowiecki; and the new Gazeta Wyborcza (today Poland's largest daily paper), edited by Adam Michnik and launched on 8 May 1989, became influential organs for the movement. Its name came from the independent union Solidarity.