Rodacy Kamraci

Rodacy Kamraci (lit. 'Fellow Comrades' or 'Compatriot Comrades') was a far-right nationalist and neo-fascist^[1][2][3] political party founded in 2023 by Wojciech Olszański, Marcin Osadowski and Michał Kosiński, deregistered in 2024. In a broader sense, the so-called Ruch Kamracki or Kamractwo, is an extremist organization of an extremely nationalist nature, founded in 2021 by Wojciech Olszański and Marcin Osadowski.^[4][5][6]

Both the Rodacy Kamraci party and the Kamractwo movement have aroused controversy due to their fascist views and the association of its members with acts of violence, organized crime and suspicions of espionage for Russia. In addition, the promotion of totalitarian ideologies is prohibited by Polish law, causing several legal attempts to ban the party being made after its illegal registration in June 2023.^[7][8]

Wojciech Olszański announced at the beginning of 2023 his desire to found a party based on the informal Kamractwo movement he has been leading since 2021.^[9] The party was registered on June 30, 2023.^[10] The prosecutor's office filed a complaint against the court's decision to register the party with the aim of banning it in connection with the controversy surrounding the far-right views expressed by the group.^[11] The party announced it would field its candidates in the 2023 parliamentary elections, but ultimately failed to register their lists in any of the districts due to organizational problems, with the candidates failing to achieve any successes in local level elections.^[12][13]

The party did not submit its financial report for 2023, therefore the National Electoral Commission was obliged to submit an application to the District Court in Warsaw for its deregistration, which occurred on November 18, 2024.^[14][15]

The Ruch Kamracki or Kamractwo is based mainly on informally operating regional associations (of which the most famous and largest are Bydgoskie Kamrarstwo Rodaków - operating in Bydgoszcz and the surrounding area and Krakowscy Rodacy Kamraci - operating in Małopolska), as well as associations related to them. The movement is formally decentralized and has no leaders at the local or central level,^[16] although it has been focused around Wojciech Olszański and his closest collaborators (including Marcin Osadowski) since around 2021, with its members (called Kamraci) commonly referring to Olszański as the leader and authority of the movement.^[17]

The movement uses symbols associated with Polish nationalism, Pan-Slavism and right-wing independence partisans operating in Poland under German occupation during World War II, such as the Lizard Union or the National Armed Forces. Popular symbols and flags include: a black flag with a white toporzeł inscribed in a red circle,^[18] a Slavic swastika,^[19][20] and a wolf.^[18]

Rodacy Kamraci party and the Kamractwo movement were described as neo-fascist, anti-Semitic and expressing sympathy for the Polish People's Republic.^[21] Wojciech Olszański himself officially refers to the achievements of the national-radical Lizard Union, with which he identifies himself.^[22][23] The party members promoted and believed in the Judeopolonia conspiracy theory,^[24][25] denied the COVID-19 pandemic, considering it a conspiracy,^[26] expressed hostility towards LGBTQ movements,^[2] the United States,^[27] Israel,^[25] and the post-maidan government of Ukraine, calling the it an American puppet and a banderite state.^[28]

Both the leaders and members of the movement identified themselves as Polish nationalists, but the majority of the Polish nationalist and nationalist community, including the Confederation Liberty and Independence party and the National Movement, strongly distanced themselves from their activities, considering them harmful and dangerous and ridiculing the Polish nationalist movement.^[29][30]

The program of the Kamractwo group, adopted during the congress of the movement's supporters in Grunwald in 2022 (later also as the program of the political party) includes:^[31]

1. Economic protectionism in order to free the Polish economy from the unfair, according to party members, influence of large international corporations, while supporting free market mechanisms;
2. Abolition of income tax;
3. The Polish state as a nation state, ensuring that all Poles have the opportunity to develop freely, become rich and cultivate traditions;
4. Building peaceful and friendly relations with neighboring nations;
5. Simplification of legal provisions, basing Polish law on natural law;
6. Liberalization of the right to possess firearms;
7. Enabling citizens to make their own sovereign decisions regarding vaccinations;
8. Giving exclusive competence to parents to decide on the education and upbringing of children with specific values;
9. Supporting Polish farmers and entrepreneurs as the economic foundation of the Polish state;
10. Strengthening the Polish Army, military independence from other countries, the principle of exclusive loyalty to the Homeland by the army, the ban on serving the command of the superiors of the armed forces of foreign countries.

Kamractwo has repeatedly been the object of interest from the media, the Internal Security Agency and the police in connection with the activities of members and supporters of the group. The movement has been accused of, among others, espionage and propaganda activities for the Russian Federation,^[32][33] inciting violence against Jews, Ukrainians, homosexuals and people with left-liberal views,^[2] as well as promoting fascism and the Gomułka regime.^[25] It is described by some as an extremist or terrorist organization.^[19][34]

On 11 November 2021, the movement organized the so-called March on Kalisz as a celebration of the Independence Day, during which, death threats, queerphobia and antisemitism were present. At the end of the event, Wojciech Olszański, burned a copy of the 13th-century Kalisz Statute guaranteeing Jews respect for their rights on Polish territory.^[25] The event was widely reported in the Polish and foreign media and caused a reaction from the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Israel, Ja'ir Lapid.^[35] The organizers of the march were arrested after a few days, but they were released in December 2021.^[36]

The leaders of the movement, Wojciech Olszański and Marcin Osadowski, were repeatedly arrested by the police and convicted by courts for criminal threats, inciting national hatred and violating the bodily integrity of people whose views they disagreed with.^[37] In September 2022, the e-mails of several organizations fighting against fascist organizations (including the Center for Monitoring Racist and Xenophobic Behavior) received threats, which included incitements to commit acts of terror against random people in order to force the state authorities to release Olszański, who was then in custody. In January 2023, the police detained Paweł Kondratowicz, an activist of the movement and the leader of the Poznań association, who from December 2022 was preparing to commit an attack on the then Minister of Health, Adam Niedzielski, having previously threatened him with death.^[38][39]

On December 1, 2023, two policemen sitting in a police car were shot on Sudecka Street in Wrocław. The perpetrator was a man they were transporting, suspected of committing financial fraud, 44-year-old Maksymilian Faściszewski, who, due to procedural irregularities, managed to smuggle a black powder weapon into the police car and attempt to kill the policemen; he fled the scene after the murders, but was arrested. Maksymilian Faściszewski maintained contact with members of the movement via the Internet and expressed hatred towards policemen, Jews and Americans on social media, presenting views similar to those of members of the movement.^[40]

In January 2024, the Internal Security Agency detected a conspiracy in the Polish army aimed at committing a military coup and carried out several searches and arrests. The conspiracy involved, among others, members of the movement.^[33]