The documentary on The Workers' Defense Committee (KOR) history

Piotr Naimski, Jacek Kuroń, Henryk Wujec and Jan Lityński talk about the KOR's beginnings.

As a result of the protests in Radom, Płock and Ursus, thousands of workers were dismissed. With the aim of providing them with help the Workers’ Defence Committee (KOR) was formed. This was an organisation, acting without the permission of the authorities, which was created by representatives of the intelligentsia who opposed the system. Emissaries from KOR quickly reached the majority of those who required assistance, providing them with financial support as well as legal aid. KOR activists fell victim to repression from the authorities: their flats were searched, they were detained, and some were even beaten up by ‘unknown assailants’, in fact agents of the Security Services. Soon a few other opposition organisations were set up, such as the Movement for the Defence of Human and Civic Rights (ROPCiO) and Free Trade Unions (Wolne Związki Zawodowe).