Milicja Obywatelska in the context of "Polish United Workers' Party"

The 1981 warning strike in Poland was a four-hour national warning strike that took place during and in response to the Bydgoszcz events. There, in the early spring of 1981 in the Polish People's Republic, several members of the Solidarity movement, including Jan Rulewski, Mariusz Łabentowicz, and Roman Bartoszcze, were beaten by the security forces, including Milicja Obywatelska and ZOMO. The Bydgoszcz events soon became widely known across Poland, and on 24 March 1981, Solidarity called for a nationwide strike in protest against the violence. The strike was planned for Tuesday 31 March 1981. On 25 March, Lech Wałęsa met Deputy Prime Minister Mieczysław Rakowski of the Polish United Workers' Party, but they were unable to come to an agreement. Two days later, on 27 March, the warning strike took place. It was the most highly participated strike in the history of both Poland and the Warsaw Pact. According to several sources, between 12 and 14 million Poles took part, roughly 85-90% of Poland's working-age population at the time.

The Volunteer Reserve of the Citizens' Militia (ORMO; Polish: Ochotnicza Rezerwa Milicji Obywatelskiej) was a paramilitary reserve organization of the Citizen's Militia (MO), the police force of the Polish People's Republic.

ORMO was created in 1946 to help establish communist rule in Poland in the aftermath of World War II. It had approximately 400,000–450,000 people in its reserves (at one time numbered as many as 600,000 civilian volunteers), recruited mostly from the ruling Polish United Workers' Party, a large share of members of the United People's Party and Democratic Party, farmers and workers with communist sympathies, and other non-party opportunists. ORMO was often involved in political repression in Poland, including the unlawful arrest and beatings of peaceful protesters, such as during the public demonstrations organized by Solidarity which opposed the communist government. ORMO was disbanded by the Sejm in 1989 during the collapse of the communism in Poland.

Franciszek Jóźwiak (20 October 1895 – 23 October 1966) was a Polish communist politician and military commander.

Jóźwiak was active in the communist movement of the Second Polish Republic and was often imprisoned for his ties to the Soviet Union. Jóźwiak fled to Soviet-occupied Poland in 1939, joining the Polish Workers' Party, becoming the commander of its paramilitary wings the Gwardia Ludowa and the Armia Ludowa, and participating in the Soviet partisans in Poland. Jóźwiak held a number of high offices in the early Polish People's Republic, including chief of the Citizen's Militia, deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers, and member of the Politburo of the Polish United Workers' Party. Jóźwiak was removed from government after the Polish October in 1956.