| dc.description.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. | en |
