Ecological Issues in the Clandestine Press Publications in the 1980s

(On the Basis of Examples Furnished by Selected Periodicals)

Abstract

The text presents the basic statements concerning ecological issues published in the clandestine press that was functioning illegally in the People’s Republic of Poland in the 1980s. Initially such texts appeared relatively rarely but their frequency increased after the catastrophe in Chernobyl. The texts described the state of the natural environment – in fact, it was unanimously evaluated as very bad, one that borders on an ecological catastrophe, one that poses a threat to people’s lives and health. The blame for this state of affairs was put – also almost unanimously – on the existing system of the exercise of power and the activities of the authorities which realised an ideological project without taking into account people’s lives and health. Exerting pressure on the authorities was suggested above all as a possible remedy to the situation, although sometimes a statement was formulated that improvement requires the change of the existing system. One may claim the object of engaging ecological problems was not only to pursue the improvement of the state of the environment and to build ecological awareness but perhaps it was above all an expression of the criticism of the authorities, the criticism of the strategy of development that was embraced in the post-war period, the criticism of the activities that were engaged. The object of these texts was also to demonstrate that the existing system dismissed fundamental human rights and that it was in fact irreformable.