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This article analyzes the wave of strikes that flooded Poland in 1980 and their effect on the birth of a social movement. It retraces the process of emerging protests and their spread throughout factories and regions. It also discusses the role of the Interfactory Strike Committees and shows the mechanisms of circulation of newsletters and leaflets published by strikers. The article demonstrates how the spread of information influenced the rate and scale of mobilization. The author focuses on the role of social networks and the mechanisms that enabled diffusion of the elements of this social movement. The spread of the protests to other cities relied largely on direct contact between individual factories but was also facilitated by the independent press and audio recordings. The analysis also addresses the role of "brokers," that is, people who disseminated information about the strike and increased the range of the protests. These "political tourists" observed the protests while on vacation or on business at the seaside and, on returning home, reported what they had seen, often bringing back strike-related information leaflets. The other group comprised "political emissaries" or people who intentionally established contact between individual protest centres. The article thus retraces the emergence of Solidarity starting from spontaneous strikes to the formation of a nationwide organization.

Artykuł analizuje kulisy tworzenia rządu Tadeusza Mazowieckiego oraz wewnętrzne dyskusje w obozie solidarnościowym poprzedzające to wydarzenie. Kluczowym zagadnieniem jest opisanie relacji łączących poszczególne organy związku zawodowego: jego przewodniczącego, władze krajowe oraz klub parlamentarny. Dynamika funkcjonowania obozu solidarnościowego w tym okresie antycypowała konflikty, które doprowadziły ostatecznie do jego rozpadu. Artykuł oparty jest głównie na źródłach archiwalnych: dokumentacji Obywatelskiego Klubu Parlamentarnego oraz Krajowej Komisji Wykonawczej NSZZ "Solidarność".

The article analyses the background of the formation of Tadeusz Mazowiecki's government and the internal discussions in the "Solidarity" camp preceding this event. The key issue is to describe the relationship between the various bodies of the trade union: its president, the national authorities and the parliamentary club. The dynamics of the functioning of the "Solidarity" camp in that period anticipated the conflicts, which eventually led to its disintegration. The article is mainly based on archival sources: the documentation of the Civic Parliamentary Club and the National Executive Committee of NSZZ (Independent Self-Governing Trade Union) "Solidarity".

The article describes the shaping of the Solidarity's economic policy in 1989 (from the elections in June until the implementation of the assumptions of the so-called Balcerowicz plan). The analysis includes both discussions between economists who support the Solidarity movement (such as Leszek Balcerowicz, Janusz Beksiak and Ryszard Bugaj) and the influence of international financial institutions and foreign creditors of Poland (such as the International Monetary Fund). The article presents the history of adopting neoliberal patterns of transformation, such as a centrally controlled economy and free market.

POLISH LABOUR INSPECTORATE UNDER THE PARTITIONS IN THE YEARS 1915–1918. A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVEIn the first weeks of Polish independence, the Interim Order, which was published in the Journal of Law on 13 January 1919, entered into force and introduced the labour inspectorate and its area of activity. Documents found by the author at the Warsaw Archives show that the inspectors had already begun control activities in the invaded Warsaw at the turn of 1915. They operated as part of the Labour Inspectorate of the Warsaw Citizens' Committee. Their activity and the developed procedures allowed for the Interim Order to come into force within weeks of Poland regaining independence.

Blackmail or politics? The internment of Lech Walesa The paper considers political aspects of the internment of Lech Wałęsa during the martial law in Poland. It focuses on the negotiations between the authorities and the leader of Solidarity. Wałęsa was urged (and later blackmailed) to support the operation of rebuilding Solidarity into so-called neo-Solidarity. According to the plan of the Ministry of Interior, key positions in neo-Solidarity should by offered to the collaborators of the Security Service and activists ready for far-reaching compromise. The paper focuses on the course and dynamics of negotiations with Wałęsa by numerous authorities emissaries: Stanisław Ciosek, Paweł Chocholak and colonel Władysław Iwaniec. This article describes the negotiation strategy of both sides and shows why the attitude of Walesa was an important factor in the failure of the political plans of the Communist Party leadership.

The article aims at focusing attention at selected aspects of pop culture which may, from the point of view of evolutionary psychologists, be deemed approximate to animal proto-cultures and social systems observed among the three-year-olds, i.e. — people who have not yet developed a psychological skill called "theory of mind". The Author tries to point out that elements of proto-culture in the time of pop -industry development gain on dominance, as a result of which the quality of culture creating processes as well as culture transmission processes may be different than, let's say, fifty years ago. It is not only about the mass media, but it is most of all about deep psychological processes which are the basis for understanding the essence of culture and participation in culture. In other words, the author tries to argue that norms, ideas and values, i.e. what culture is made of in general — are understood and disseminated in ways which are different in quality from the ones prevailing in the past.

The article analyzes the concept of rationality in sociological theory and attempts to identify its significance in the light of research in neurophysics, evolutionary, and neuronal psychology. The author proposes a thesis that the sociological concept of man and human nature and decision making processes which shape social behavior of individuals stand in sharp contrast with the concept of man offered by the most recent studies of human mind. The examples of that specific "backwardness" are the primacy of the role of "I" or the use of outdated terminology suggesting the discrepancy between the spheres of "reason" and "emotions". The author proposes to abandon such divisions and to treat man not as a decision making center but as a homogenous structure adjusting its actions to the context, which is done primarily through emotions. Based on such assumptions the author suggests a direction in which sociological theory should go. Therefore it is crucial to consider emotional foundations of perception of reality and neuronal basis of social behavior (as necessary compliments of their socio-cultural aspects).

This paper discusses Poland's involvement in "Operation Bridge," which aimed to transport Jewish citizens from the Soviet
Union to Israel between 1989 and 1992. The study is based on recently declassified documents from the former intelligence and
counterintelligence services, the Foreign Ministry, and the Prime Minister's Office, supplemented by accounts of policymakers, secret
service officers, and militia involved in protecting Soviet Jews during transit operations. The author argues that this operation was not
just a humanitarian effort but also had significant geopolitical implications. The newly elected non-communist government under
Tadeusz Mazowiecki saw this as a critical move to establish stronger ties with the United States and Israel. The author also highlights
how the cooperation between Poland and the United States in intelligence sharing, counterterrorism, and security operations paved the
way for Poland's strategic partnership with the United States and its eventual entry into NATO. The paper contributes significantly
to our understanding of the role played by Poland in the post-Cold War era and sheds new light on the development of US–Polish
relations.

In the last five decades, during archaeological investigations in churches and church cemeteries both in Poland and Western Europe, relics of many wreaths made of artificial and natural flowers have been discovered. Some of them have been described in considerable detail and drawing reconstructions have been made. In many cases, the garlands were made of similar details, but the arrangement in individual compositions varied. On the basis of these discoveries, it was decided in the laboratory of the Institute of Archaeology in Toruń to make a copy of one wreath and bouquet found on the mortal remains of a child (coffin 4) in the northern crypt of St. Nicholas Church in Gniew dated to the second half of the 17th century (up to 1680). The analysis of elements was the basis for the individual flowers. And the final composition is the vision of one of the authors of the article, Barbara Gałka, who made copies of both the bouquet and the wreath. The raw materials for making the copies had been collected for a long time, as the Polish trade offer did not quite allow them to be gathered in advance. This article attempts to provide a description of the flowers used in 17th-century objects and the creative process in making the copies. The end result of these activities is shown in Figures 11, 12 and 13.