President Nawrocki proposes June 28 as state holiday for anti-communist opposition
President Karol Nawrocki submitted a bill to the Sejm to establish June 28 as a public holiday honoring activists and victims of communist repression. The initiative was announced during the 70th anniversary of the Poznań 1956 protests.
The legislative initiative
President Karol Nawrocki signed and submitted a legislative initiative to the Sejm on Monday seeking to make June 28 a state holiday, the "Day of the Anti-Communist Opposition Activist and Person Repressed for Political Reasons". The announcement came a day earlier in Poznań during ceremonies marking 70 years since the workers’ uprising of 1956.
As President of the Republic of Poland I feel obliged today and I signed the legislative initiative so that June 28 in the Polish calendar becomes the Day of Anti-Communist Opposition Activists and Persons Repressed for Political Reasons.
Historical references
The chosen date ties together two landmark workers’ protests against the communist regime: the Poznań June of 1956 and the Radom June of 1976. According to the president’s office, the bill responds to demands of veterans’ organizations and the Council for Veterans operating under the president. The timeline below shows the key moments the new holiday would commemorate.
- Poznań workers’ protest begins; at least 58 killed in clashes
- Radom workers’ strikes erupt against price hikes
- President Nawrocki announces legislative initiative during 70th anniversary of Poznań June
- Bill formally submitted to the Sejm
Scale of repression
The president’s office noted that more than 15,000 people currently hold official status as opposition activists or persons repressed for political reasons. The bill’s justification says the new holiday aims to “honor with dignity those who, between 1956 and 1989, risking life, freedom and property, fought for the sovereignty and independence of the Fatherland”.
I deeply believe that on this date we will close all the Polish months: the Poznań June of '56, and March of '68, and the Decembers of 1970. We will pay honor to those who struck in June '76 and the great people of Solidarity of the 80s.
Political reaction
Speaker of the Sejm Włodzimierz Czarzasty, asked by the daily "Fakt", said he was unaware of the proposal before the interview but saw no obstacle. “I have nothing against commemorating them on the proposed day,” Czarzasty said. The president also expressed hope that the prime minister and the speaker would help make the holiday a cross-party compromise.
Those who were repressed and those who died deserve respect. I have nothing against commemorating them on the proposed day.
What comes next
The bill now enters the Sejm. With the speaker’s signal of support and the president’s appeal for unity, the holiday has a clear path, though the exact legislative calendar has not been set. The proposal would mark the first new permanent state holiday tied directly to the anti-communist opposition period.
