Military Council of National Salvation

"WRONa, WRONa über alles", a political leaflet caricature from the 1980s. The "crow" is wearing sunglasses much like General Jaruzelski often did

The Military Council of National Salvation (Polish: Wojskowa Rada Ocalenia Narodowego, abbreviated WRON) was a military junta administering the People's Republic of Poland during the period of the martial law in Poland (1981–1983).

The body was created on December 13, 1981, and was dissolved on July 22, 1983. It consisted of 21 members: 15 generals, one admiral and five colonels. Among the most notable members were generals Wojciech Jaruzelski, Florian Siwicki, Michał Janiszewski and Czesław Kiszczak. One member, Lt. Col. Mirosław Hermaszewski, was included without his consent and knowledge.

The rather unfortunate lettering of the Polish acronym (WRON; wrona means a crow in Polish) was immediately picked up by those that the regime sought to repress and widely used in a form of non-violent opposition: jokes. One saying was that "orła wrona nie pokona - the crow can't defeat the eagle" (the "White eagle" being the national symbol of Poland).

Sources

History of the Polish People's Republic

1945–48 Early post-war	Recovered Territories Polish population transfers (1944–46) Expulsion of Germans Operation Vistula Provisional Government of the Republic of Poland Polish Committee of National Liberation Provisional Government of National Unity Trial of the Sixteen Cursed soldiers Augustów roundup Polish people's referendum, 1946 Polish legislative election, 1947 Small Constitution of 1947 Amnesty of 1947 Battle for trade Three-Year Plan

1948–56 Sovietisation under Bierut's rule	Polish United Workers' Party Six-Year Plan Collectivization Socialist realism in Poland 1951 Mokotów Prison execution 1952 Constitution Stalinist show trial of the Kraków Curia PAX Association Poznań 1956 protests Polish October (1956)

1956–70 Gomułka's autarchic communism	Polish legislative election, 1957 Bishops' Letter of Reconciliation 1968 Polish political crisis Warschauer Kniefall Polish 1970 protests

1970–80 Gierek's international opening	1971 Łódź strikes Letter of 59 June 1976 protests Workers' Defence Committee Flying University Lublin 1980 strikes Gdańsk Agreement Jastrzębie-Zdrój 1980 strikes Solidarity (Polish trade union) Independent Students' Union Rural Solidarity Bydgoszcz events 1981 warning strike in Poland Summer 1981 hunger demonstrations in Poland

1981–89 Jaruzelski's autocratic rule and demise	Martial law in Poland Military Council of National Salvation Pacification of Wujek 1982 demonstrations Fighting Solidarity Federation of Fighting Youth Orange Alternative Polish political and economic reforms referendum, 1987 1988 Polish strikes Polish Round Table Agreement

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