KOR: A History of the Workers' Defense Committee in Poland 1976-1981

The Gdansk Agreements in 1980 led to the birth of Solidarity, an independent trade union movement. The Komitet Obrony Robotnikow (KOR), a group of dissident intellectuals, laid the groundwork for Solidarity five years before, declaring solidarity with persecuted workers at Random and Ursus. Jan Jozef Lipski's book, translated from the Polish, provides a detailed account of KOR from its formation in 1976 to its dissolution in 1981, shedding light on the roles of other actors in shaping events during this period.

Format: Hardback
Length: 572 pages
Publication date: 29 April 2022
Publisher: University of California Press

The birth of the Solidarity independent trade union movement was marked by the signing of the Gdansk Agreements in August 1980. The sixteen months that followed until the December 1981 declaration of martial law remain one of the most fascinating chapters in the history of communist states. However, the events of August 1980 did not materialize from thin air. The groundwork for Solidarity was prepared five years before when a group of dissident intellectuals gathered to boldly proclaim their solidarity with persecuted workers at Random and Ursus. This group called itself the Komitet Obrony Robotnikow (KOR) or the Worker's Defense Committee.

What was KOR? What were the social and political circumstances that lead to its formation? And how did it presage a movement that would come to symbolize the hopes of a whole generation of Poles? The answers to these questions lie in the rare insights provided by one of Poland's most respected historians, Jan Jozef Lipski, who was also a founder and active member of KOR. His book, translated from the Polish, is a meticulously detailed, insider's account of KOR from its formation in 1976 to its dissolution in 1981 when it was subsumed by the more powerful movement of mass, organized protest, Solidarity. The history of KOR is painted on the broad canvass of Polish society, in a manner which sheds light on the roles of other actors—workers, peasants, government officials, the Catholic Church, the Soviet Union—who also had a hand in shaping events during this period.

KOR: A History of the Workers' Defense Committee in Poland is a work of first-rate importance, unlike any other published in the West. It provides a deep insight into the origins of events in Poland, and will also inform those interested in the process of liberation elsewhere in Eastern Europe.

Weight: 953g
Dimension: 229 x 152 x 36 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780520358843