Solidarity Citizens' Committee

[1] Formed on 18 December 1988 in the premises of the Divine Mercy church in Warsaw, it spontaneously evolved into a nationwide movement attracting a vast majority of supporters of radical political change in the country after the conclusion of the Round Table talks (6 February–4 April 1989) and the announcement of semi-free general elections for 4 June that year.

On 25 August 1989, the new "Contract Sejm" elected the Civil Committee's candidate Tadeusz Mazowiecki as Prime Minister, making him the first ever non-Communist head of government east of the Iron Curtain whereas the presidency remained in the hands of the ruling party.

As the Committee was not a typical political party but a rather spontaneously formed, loose organisation to facilitate and focus the opposition's pre-election efforts, it did not survive its own triumph for long.

On 23 June 1989, the Committee candidates which found themselves in the Sejm formed the Citizens' Parliamentary Party (Obywatelski Klub Parlamentarny, OKP), which elected Bronisław Geremek as chairman.

This cleavage continues to shape the Polish political landscape until this day, with PC becoming the foundation of the Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, PiS) party and Civic Platform (Platforma Obywatelska, PO) being a split from UW.