Strike megaphone

Megaphones are simple loudspeakers used to amplify sound in large spaces, both outdoors and indoors. Portable megaphones are a familiar feature of modern-day gatherings and demonstrations, used for mass communication and crowd control. In the 1980s, they were frequently used during strikes and protests against the communist regime. They became closely associated with opposition activities at the time, particularly those of the Independent Self-Governing Trade Union “Solidarity” (NSZZ Solidarność), Poland’s largest resistance organisation.

The strike megaphone on display bears a hand-painted symbol in red paint: the letters “SW” joined in the shape of an anchor. It was borrowed by the organisers of anti-communist demonstrations in Szczecin during martial law from representatives of Solidarność Walcząca (Fighting Solidarity). SW was an underground anti-communist organisation founded in Wrocław in 1982 by Kornel Morawiecki (1941–2019). In its methods and symbolic references, the group drew inspiration from the Home Army resistance of the Second World War. Its goal was the removal of the communist regime.

The Szczecin branch of Solidarność Walcząca was established in 1985 by Stanisław Janusz (1927–2000) and Krzysztof Korczak (1962– ). In its early days, the group focused primarily on publishing the underground periodical Gryf, which was issued from January 1986 until 1990.