In the beginning there was a rebellion. Federation of Fighting Youth (Federacja Młodzieży Walczącej) in Warsaw (1984–1989)

The founding of the Federation of Fighting Youth (FMW) in Warsaw in June 1984, was triggered by stagnating activity of the political opposition against communist rule that was felt by young people, and their unfamiliarity with the underground opposition structures, composed of their peers. The Federation professed pro-independence and anticommunist ideas. Regaining independence was the imperative for its members, as was fighting against communism and promoting these concepts in opposition circles, especially of the youth. Such plans were to be carried out by closely collaborating with the “Solidarity” trade union. The organisation did not promote any ideology, it did not work out its own political programme. Its main formula was based on openness to different political, economic and social views of its members. The most important task of the Federation consisted in mobilising the young to battle communism throughout the country. To achieve that purpose, the organisation attempted to contact as many persons from broad opposition as it could. FMW did not take long to gain many followers and active members. It grew to the status of a supraregional, all-Polish structure. It was Poland’s largest youth opposition organisation in the post-1945 period, well known both for its so-called direct actions, as activities in clandestine publishing. The Warsaw structures of FMW edited the Federation’s leading publication, called „Nasze Wiadomości” (“Our News”). Many of its members were simultaneously active in other opposition groups in the capital, such as the Resistance Groups „Solidarni”. The Federation, weakened by internal dissent and facing the problem of specifying its role in the new political/social situation in the post-1989 years, definitely disintegrated in the early 1990s