Katolicy w świecie polityki w Polsce w latach 80. Strategia Polskiego Związku Katolicko-Społecznego

Abstract

The article analyzes the strategy of the activities of one on the most important Catholic groupings that functioned on the Polish political stage in the 1980s. In that time, Catholics had two options to choose from. The first option meant locking themselves from the existing social and political reality, withdrawing from the political activity and focusing on the formation work. The second was to recognize the existing social and political reality and to try to actively adjust to it. The activists of the Polish Catholic-Social Union decided to choose the second option - the adjustment. They represented Catholic circles which, although independent to some extent, were - with different intensity and in different forms - controlled by the party and the state authorities who gave their consent to creation of the union. Summing up the advantages and disadvantages of the strategy of active engagement undertaken by the Polish Catholic-Social Union in the 1980s, the participants of these events highlight that the strategy of, as they describe it themselves, “nurturing the authorities’ hope of subordination” led to a situation in which the authorities “in advance” allowed to systematically build a Catholic and social movement in Poland. As their success the members of the union note that from a small group of activists they evolved into a nationwide movement. On the other hand, it needs to be pointed out that the then authorities had a convenient argument that Catholics are allowed on the political stage. Moreover, the activities of the Polish Catholic-Social Union almost never crossed the limits that were set and allowed by the authorities.