Aktywność polityczna uchodźców „Solidarności” w Chicago w latach 1980–1989
Political Activism among Solidarity Refugees in Chicago, 1980–1989

Summary/Abstract: Social movements emerge from established networks, and movement participationstrengthens existing solidarities and alters identities. How do these solidarities survive the disruption of emigration? This paper focuses on the activities of Solidarity refugees in Chicago during the 1980s, and, in particular, the organizations Freedom for Poland andSolidarnosc Wspolnota Rozproszonych /Brotherhood of Dispersed Solidarity Members,as well as organizations formed around the 1989 elections and the economic and politicalchanges in its aftermath. Data were collected through participant observation, interviews,organizational archives, and surveys. This case study shows that there were strong concrete and ideological ties between Solidarity refugees in Chicago and the opposition in Poland. In sum, while emigration dispersed refugees, commitment (to the movement), pre-existing networks (to Poland), and renewed networks (in the U.S.) helped Solidarity refugees reconstitute on foreign soil and continue “to fight the good fight” from abroad.

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