Independent Students' Union

Independent Students’ Association (Polish: Niezależne Zrzeszenie Studentów, NZS) is a Polish student society, created in October 1980, in the aftermath of the Gdańsk Agreement and the anti-government strike actions (see: History of Solidarity). It was a student arm, or suborganization, of Solidarity, and together with it, as well as other similar organizations, was banned after the martial law in Poland, (December 13, 1981). Some activists were arrested, others organized an underground NZS. After the fall of communism in 1989, the organization was recreated, and its focus changed from political to cultural, although it still stands by its origins as seen by Polish students’ support for the Orange Revolution in Ukraine. It now is the largest independent student organization in Poland, with 90 chapters at Polish universities and a total of 20,000 members.

The first meeting of students demanding independent Association took place on August 27, 1980 in Gdańsk. On September 2, the Temporary Founding Committee of the University of Gdańsk was founded, followed by similar bodies in other Polish cities, such as Warsaw, Poznań, and Kraków.

Between 18 and 19 October 1980, at the Warsaw University of Technology, a founding meeting of a newly created student organization took place, with 60 chapters, representing different Polish universities and colleges. It was there that the name Independent Students’ Association was approved. There were other suggestions for the name, such as Solidarity of the Association of Polish Students, but they did not gain popularity. During the meeting, it was decided that the NZS would be seated in Warsaw, also the National Founding Committee was established, with eleven members (among them Maciej Kuroń, and Piotr Bikont). The NZS was a follower of the late 1970s organization Student Committee of Solidarity, which had been created in 1977, after the murder of Stanisław Pyjas.

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