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SUBVERSIVE STRATEGIES IN UNDERGROUND GRAPHIC PRODUCTION OF THE "SOLIDARITY" MOVEMENT IN 1980S POLAND AGATA SZYDŁOWSKA GRADUATE SCHOOL FOR SOCIAL RESEARCH, INSTITUTE OF PHILOSOPHY AND SOCIOLOGY, POLISH ACADEMY OF SCIENCES [email protected] Abstract tion, integrating the community connected with the movement, ridiculing the enemy to a The original logotype of Independent Self- simple propaganda. The aim of the paper is Governing Trade Union “Solidarity” was de- to examine the strategies used by the pro- signed by Jerzy Janiszewski when the strike ducers of the anti-communist graphics and to in the Gda ńsk Shipyard broke out in August capture the specificity of the “Solidarity” 1980. It spread quickly throughout Poland graphic activism by making a distinction be- and began its afterlife in countless interpreta- tween the resistance and the subversion. tions and travesties created spontaneously by multiple “Solidarity” members and suppor- Main text ters. After the proclamation of the Martial Law The aim of the paper is to capture a specifici- in December 1981 “Solidarity” movement ty of the graphic resistance movement in the along with its visual identification were forced 1980s Poland by contrasting it with widely to move underground. From that moment on, known culture jamming or subvertising the logotype and its many variations became movements in Poland and beyond, namely in a useful tool of political activism. “Solidarity” 1968 Paris and in Poland after 1989. This graphics were reproduced in underground comparison will lead to the conclusion that printing houses and ordinary citizens contri- despite some apparent similarities between buted widely to the political struggle by de- some strategies and aesthetics of graphic signing and producing subversive graphics design activism in its various embodiments, based on the well-known image of the logo- there are some crucial differences between type. Functions of these graphics varied from design activism in a capitalist reality and in a expressing support for the political opposi- totalitarian country. These differences, in my walls re-interpreted in more or less success- opinion, are connected with the place of the ful ways. What is important, the logo was of- subject of such actions: inside the system in ten reduced to or replaced by some distinc- case of a capitalist country and outside it in tive features, such as flag or red hand-written case of a totalitarian one. So my point is that letters. This was sufficient for making the the success of the anticommunist design ac- message clear and to connect it with the So- tivism lied in a fact that its actors were si- lidarity or anti-communist movement in gen- tuated outside the system, therefore they eral. were able to produce a serious threat to the When the Martial Law was proclaimed the authorities they opposed. “Solidarity” logo along with the trade union Historical introduction itself were banned. “Solidarity” went under- ground and so its entire “printing industry”. From the very first days of the strikes in 1980, People employed easy to use techniques, the movement, which later become the Inde- such as silkscreen, used poor paper and li- pendent Self-Governing Trade Union Soli- mited colours, usually black and red. “Solidar- darity, had a very characteristic visual identi- ity” stamps are a good example of typical fication. According to Jerzy Janiszewski, au- samizdat publishing of the underground op- thor of the Solidarity logo, the idea of design- position. Most of them were silkscreened but ing a logo came from a need to support the these created in the internment camps were striking workers. First of all, Janiszewski made using a perforated foil and seal ink. started to think of a slogan and wall inscrip- The stamps were used to raise the funds for tions were his direct inspiration. He realized the operating of the underground opposition. that the word “solidarity” appeared many times. So the word “solidarity” came first. The excerpts from a book entitled “Visual Then Janiszewski elaborated the lettering of Propaganda” from 1987 are especially useful the word and here he was also inspired by to give an idea of the importance of the “Soli- the slogans written spontaneously on the darity” dissident graphic design: walls. Eventually he conceived the idea of “In 1980-1981 Poland was an issue to a spe- joining the letters together to make them look cial penetration of Western ideological sabo- as people in a dense crowd carrying a Polish tage. It was expressed by a wide range of flag (Daszczy ński 2005). diversionary radio broadcasting, culture and Soon the logo became extremely popular so sociological propaganda. This propaganda numerous unauthorized variations of it and spread consumer patterns and lifestyles, the “Solidarics” typeface appeared on the supported pro-western attitudes of certain walls, banners, prints, and so on. People circles, created a myth of Western and espe- simply re-drew it in do-it-yourself way and the cially American lifestyle. (...) Another direction logo became literally ubiquitous. So the logo, was an informational and material support for inspired by the wall slogans came back to the illegal anti-socialist organizations in our coun- try. (...) The leaders of anti-socialist organiza- media which are more effective than posters, tions which penetrated and took possession they still considered posters or leaflets a se- of Solidarity structures, attempted to fight with rious enemy. Secondly, the author doesn’t the socialist party with numerous forms of give any positive example of contemporary visual propaganda. Streets and houses of communist propaganda, which suggests he Polish towns were covered by a wide range was aware of its weakness which is visible in of posters, leaflets, sign-boards, inscriptions the last sentence. and photomontages. Using achievements of Apparent similarities: May 1968, Solidarity psychology and sociology as well as material and contemporary subvertising and technical support from Western anti- When thinking about history, there is always communist organizations, propaganda staffs some kind of temptation to see things as of Solidarity initiated a so called poster war. parts of some bigger structures, to look for The crucial elements were: disinformation, similarities and continuities, influences, inspi- destabilization and discredit. rations, and common grounds. So my first Using national symbols for the propaganda idea was to see what happens if we compare actions was an obvious abuse. National flag the Solidarity graphics with the analogical colours which were widely recorded in a so- production of other social movements of the cial awareness as a symbol of patriotic ac- second half of the 20th century. Prints made tions were used to escalate antinational and in May 1968 in Paris by the famous Atelier anti-Polish actions. It needs to be reminded Populaire seem similar to the “Solidarity” that white and red were the Solidarity logo, graphics. From the other side, contemporary strike flags, layout of Solidarity newspaper graphic activism connected with such activi- and so on. Unprecedented propaganda cam- ties as culture jamming, subvertising and so paign against Dziennik Telewizyjny (TV called billboard banditry, seems also to have News) was aimed not only to formally discre- a common ground with the anticommunist dit it, but first of all to infect on a social trust to graphic design. the mass information media which were at Source of similarities: graphic language of the disposal of social and professional forces resistance and strategies of the socialist state. Collapse of the official visual propaganda was to open the door to What are the common features of this kind of the monopoly of anti-socialist propaganda.” grassroots graphic design movements? We (Wojtasik 1987) can call it following Teal Triggs who writes about punk fanzines, the graphic language of This fragment tells us two things: first of all, resistance (Triggs 2006). To put it briefly, it is the communists seemed to really believe in simple, rough, made using unprofessional power of symbols and images, thing they tools and without professional skills. The called visual propaganda. In the times of a message is clear and direct. Rough stylistics wide access to television, radio and other of this language stresses the immediacy of a a very wide sense as an activity of people message and the transparency of design and excluded from a professional market by production process itself. This sensation gender, class, education or political views. makes the message trustworthy, especially in But if we take a closer look at the DIY ethos, a situation where professional tools and we can see that there are significant differ- technologies are monopolized by the power ences between this kind of activities in a dis- against which we struggle: authorities in case sident graphics and in anti-capitalist graphics. of France and Poland, corporate capital in In case of anti-consumerist activities, DIY is a case of subvertisers. form of an alternative economy, independent from marketing, consumerism, and so on Closely connected to the graphic language of (Krajewski 2010). By making the things our- resistance there is another term, so called the selves, we oppose the system which makes aesthetics of failure (Drozdowski 2009). It’s us buy and throw away. This is also a symp- an artistic strategy which is based on a strict- tom of an attitude which is based on a special ly controlled “anti-technique”, which is of attention paid to material objects – instead of course a matter of choice, not of the lack of throwing away, one can repair them or re- skills. By intentionally ignoring the rules of make them. But in case of Poland in the aesthetic correctness, it aims at resisting the 1980s we cannot speak about this kind of dominant aesthetic conventions and, as a ethics. DIY was simply a must, the only way result, a dominant system.

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