Solidarity Members in State Form New California Chapter

Less than three weeks before Pope John Paul II arrives in Southern California, representatives of Solidarity from across California gathered Saturday to form a statewide chapter of the outlawed Polish workers’ movement at a Yorba Linda center that bears the pontiff’s name.

About 40 representatives from San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento and other cities met at the Pope John Paul II Polish Center, beneath red and white Solidarity banners and a poster of Lech Walesa, the group’s founder, to establish bylaws and elect officers. Walesa has been invited to join the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution in Philadelphia on Sept. 17, but it is uncertain whether Polish government officials will permit the visit.

More than 5,000 recent Polish emigres from across the state were represented at the gathering, according to Michael Dutkowski, newly elected president of Solidarity California and a member of the center’s parish council. There are about 50 affiliates of the organization outside of Poland, he said.

‘A Support Organization’

“We are mostly a support organization” for Solidarity members still in Poland, “for them and their democratic movement,” said Dutkowski, 40, of Orange.

All of the proceedings, which also marked the seventh anniversary of Solidarity’s founding in the city of Gdansk, were conducted in Polish. As part of the observance, a luncheon, followed by a lecture and poetry reading, folk songs and dances are scheduled for today.

In Warsaw, Dutkowski was vice president of a 1,000-member Solidarity chapter at the elevator factory where he worked as an accountant. With the help of Catholic Charities, he came to Orange County four years ago, after a 15-month stay in West Germany. Dutkowski had no friends or family here and said the choice of Orange County was “destiny.”