Association Solidarité France Pologne

The "Association Solidarité France Pologne" (ASFP) is an organisation of the civil society created in Paris in support of the strike movement that began in Poland in 1980 and the Solidarność independiente trade-union. Currently it works on issues of international cooperation between France and Poland and it developed a number of initiatives in support of the Polish civil society

History

In July 1980, Poland was the site of a widespread social movement of industrial strikes that caught the attention of much of the West. Krystyna Vinaver and Karol Sachs, Polish citizens residing in France, set out to establish an organization with the aim to inform the French public of ongoing events in Poland and to organize meetings and protests in support of the movement. The "Association Solidarité France Pologne" was created in 1981 with Piotr Słonimski, a prominent biologist of Polish nationality, as its president.Until the establishment of the state of exception in Poland in December, 1981, the ASFP developed manifold activities with the aim to support the movement, among others collecting trustworthy information on current events, establishing contacts with activists in Poland, organizing public meetings with representatives of Solidarność in France, and creating transnational networks that involved among others the Confédération française démocratique du travail and several Polish intellectuals living in France, such as Georges Mink or Krzysztof Pomia. In 1983, the ASFP became part of the wider Comité de coordination Solidarność en France, which publicly condemned the trial waged against the members of the Workers' Defence Committee. The ASFP also carried out several actions with the aim to provide material and moral support to victims of repression and clandestine publishers. After 1989, following the Round Table negotiations and in the context of the democratization of Poland, the ASFP reoriented its activities towards socioeconomic development and support for the associational movement in Poland.

The association is currently active, but its actions are generally limited to supporting international cultural and social cooperation between France and Poland, as well as offering support to democratic initiatives in the country, especially since the coming to power of the governing party Law and Justice.

Bibliography

• Boulte, Patrick, Sachs, Karol et Vinaver Krystyna, De Solidarność à l’entrée de la Pologne dans l’Union européenne. Un engagement citoyen, Paris, Solidarité France Pologne, 2008.
• Frybes, Marcin, Merci pour votre solidarité !, Varsovie, Instytut im. Adama Mickiewicza, Lech Majewski Studio, 2005.
• Heruday-Kiełczewska, Magdalena, Inventaire des archives de l’Association Solidarité France Pologne 1980–2004. Inwentarz archiwum Stowarzyszenia Solidarité France Pologne1980-2004, trad. du polonais par Ewa Tartakowsky, Paris, Association Solidarité France Pologne, Société historique et littéraire polonaise, 2013.
• Kula, Marcin, Niespodziewani przyjaciele, czyli rzecz o zwykłej ludzkiej solidarności, Varsovie, TRIO, 1995.
• Tartakowsky, Ewa, "Archives de l'Association de Solidarité France Pologne", carnet en ligne de La contemporaine. (dernier accès : 3 mars 2022).

Archives

The archives of the ASFP are currently preserved at the Polish Library in Paris.

References

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