The Orange Alternative could only happen in Wroclaw
Orange caps and waistcoats, surprising props, happenings and huge street re-enactments – in the 1980s, the people of Wroclaw were the first to see and take part in the Orange Alternative, a movement that fought the dictatorship of People’s Poland in an unconventional way. The Orange Alternative Foundation, led and established by Waldemar ‘Major’ Fydrych, has been working for years to preserve the memory and legacy of the movement.
.The Orange Alternative first took to the streets of Wroclaw on 1 April 1986. The movement was formed on the initiative of Wroclaw students involved in opposition activities, under the leadership of Waldemar ‘Major’ Fydrych, a young man from Torun who was studying history and art history at Wroclaw University at the time.
The dwarves painted by the ‘Major’ on the spots where the SB had covered up anti-regime writings during martial law became the symbol of the movement operations.
The Orange fought the Communists with humour and laughter, which took the security services completely by surprise and denigrated their ‘threatening’ image.
The Orange versus The Blue
.During the Citizens’ Militia celebration in communist Poland, participants painted in blue took over traffic control duties and even attempted to give flowers to officers. As part of a Women’s Day operation, activists handed women sanitary pads instead of tights and carnations. On another occasion, they distributed scarce toilet paper to people passing by. On 1 April 1987, the ‘Major’ led the ‘Centipede’ through the streets of Wroclaw. Another event was a satire on anti-government slogans – its participants wore T-shirts with letters forming the slogan Away with Heat – Away with Truncheons. On the anniversary of the October Revolution, demonstrators wore red for a change, and in December they walked around Wroclaw dressed as Santa Clauses.
The movement was initially called the New Culture Movement or the Orange Alternative. The latter name rapidly gained international recognition.
Orange Poland
.In 1988, other academic centres also started to organise Orange operations. It coincided with the arrest of Waldemar Fydrych during a campaign to distribute sanitary pads. Polish intellectuals, including prominent Andrzej Wajda, wrote an open letter to the government in Fydrych’s defence. As a result of the public pressure, the leader of the Orange Alternative was released after three weeks.
Other groups of young oppositionists in Warsaw, Lodz and Krakow organised initiatives modelled on those in Wroclaw. On 1 June 1988, several thousand orange dwarves marched through the streets of Warsaw, while in Lodz, three costumed demonstrators staged a successful protest on the roof of a newspaper kiosk. At the same time, 10,000 dwarves took to the streets of Wroclaw.
Krzysztof Skiba, who would later become a frontman of the Big Cyc band, participated in the Orange Alternative in Lodz. A group he gathered organised a relay race in Piotrkowska Street under the motto Galloping Inflation. When the dwarves were stopped, it was proclaimed that the militia had effectively halted inflation. Wojciech Sobolewski and his activist group in Warsaw staged a protest known as The Big Eat-Out, during which dozens of people were arrested for eating salt sticks in public. In a similar fashion, Orange Alternative commemorated the anniversaries of martial law. On the 7th anniversary celebrations in Wroclaw, a parade of people went through the city carrying cardboard paraphernalia of the time: tanks, batons and shields. In Lodz, there was a happening called Help the Militia – Beat Up Yourself.
There is no doubt that the street demonstrations that began in Wroclaw and continued until 1990 (the last street event being the symbolic burial of a dwarf), together with strikes in the mines and steelworks, forced the Communist authorities to enter into talks with the opposition.
Remembering the Orange
.Waldemar Fydrych, the leader of the Orange Alternative, lived in France in the 1990s. Upon his return, he took on the task of preserving the historical and artistic legacy of the movement. His informal efforts were formalised in 2007 with the creation of the Orange Alternative Foundation, which is dedicated to the digitisation of the historical resources and archives of the movement, as well as publishing all relevant papers on it.
The online Museum of the Orange Alternative, available in Polish and English at www.orangealternativemuseum.pl, was launched in 2010 and is visited by 2 million people every year. The website offers information on the movement’s history, significant events presented in chronological order, film and press materials, archives of secret services and scientific publications. The collection is enhanced by video footage that documents the memories of movement members and event participants, as well as the viewpoints of researchers. The project was funded by a grant from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.
.The Foundation released Waldemar ‘Major’ Fydrych’s autobiography in 2014 and held two art exhibitions featuring his works in 2019-2020. The artist continues to paint dwarves to this day.