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| Ochotnicza Rezerwa Milicji Obywatelskiej (Volunteer Reserve of the Citizens' Militia) | |
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.jpg) ORMO voluntary police unit during a street parade atVictory Square inWarsaw on 9 June 1946 | |
| Active | 1946–1989 |
| Country | Polish People's Republic |
| Allegiance | Citizens' Militia (MO) |
| Branch | ZOMO |
| Type | Paramilitary policereserve |
| Size | Max. 450,000 members |
| Nickname(s) | ORMO |
TheVolunteer Reserve of the Citizens' Militia (ORMO;Polish:Ochotnicza Rezerwa Milicji Obywatelskiej) was aparamilitaryreserve organization of theCitizen's Militia (MO), the police force of thePolish People's Republic.[1]
ORMO was created in 1946 to help establishcommunist rule in Poland in the aftermath ofWorld War II. It had approximately 400,000–450,000 people in its reserves (at one time numbered as many as 600,000 civilian volunteers),[2] recruited mostly from the rulingPolish United Workers' Party, a large share of members of theUnited People's Party andDemocratic Party, farmers and workers with communist sympathies, and other non-partyopportunists. ORMO was often involved inpolitical repression in Poland, including theunlawful arrest and beatings of peaceful protesters,[3][4][5] such as during the public demonstrations organized bySolidarity which opposed the communist government.[4][6] ORMO was disbanded by theSejm in 1989 during thecollapse of the communism in Poland.[7]
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The Volunteer Reserve of theCitizens' Militia (Ochotnicza Rezerwa Milicji Obywatelskiej or ORMO) was created on 21 February 1946 by theState National Council (KRN), acommunist body under the auspices of thePolish Workers' Party (PPR).[8][9] In the aftermath ofWorld War II, the KRN was installed as the government of Poland with the military backing of theSoviet Union and needed to establish its authority. The main, initial purpose of ORMO was to provide urgently needed reinforcements toPeople's Army of Poland, theInternal Security Corps and MO special forces during operations against thePolish anti-communist insurgency.[8] It was placed under the control of theMinistry of Public Security led byStanisław Radkiewicz. The new units were considerably small, made up of 30–300 men armed withrifles andsubmachine guns.[9]
Membership of ORMO was open to those aged between 18 and 45 years old with Polish citizenship. Most recruits were fromleft-wing backgrounds, mainly members of the rulingPolish United Workers' Party (PZPR) and, to a lesser extent, itssatellite parties theUnited People's Party andDemocratic Party. ORMO men did not receive monthly salaries, but were showered with regular monetary bonuses and state privileges. They were given new apartments, vouchers for cars, exclusive vacations and access to police health clinics, as well as better job placements. These attractedopportunists who had little interest in politics to join. ORMO members were often thoroughly indoctrinated by theMarxist-Leninist ideology of the PZPR and feared by the general population.[4]
ORMO played a major role in therigging of the1946 Polish people's referendum, also known as the "3 times yes" referendum, the first election in post-war Poland. Armed ORMO men guarded the entrances to allpolling stations and, as ordered, expelledofficial observers.[10][9] They did it again a year later, during the1947 Polish legislative elections, when they droveopposition candidates out of towns by using intimidation and violence. In total, almost 100,000 functionaries across the country were deployed to secure a communistlandslide victory in that year.[9] After 1947, when communist authority in Poland had been consolidated, the activities of ORMO became more general and covert, shifting from repressing political opponents to monitoring the Polish public at large. Submachine guns were replaced with concealed weapons and informants were placed everywhere within the nationalized industry to monitor for signs of dissent.[9] ORMO infiltrated factories and conducted round-ups among shop owners, confiscated grain and meat from independent farmers, and took part in arresting them as the "enemies of the state" alongside the regular police. This formed the bulk of ORMO activity during the 1950s and early 1960s.
In 1967, the duties of ORMO were formalised and expanded, including the power to performarrests and greater involvement inprosecutions.
The next widely known operation by the ORMO took place during theMarch 1968 events, simultaneously in several major cities across Poland. On 8 March, while the regular police watched students protests passively (partly out of respect for the autonomy ofWarsaw University), the ORMO "worker-squads" stormed into the buildings armed withbatons and performedswarm beatings of students in classrooms, along corridors, and in the university halls. Similar operations followed inKraków from 14 to 20 March, inLublin,Gliwice,Wrocław from 14 to 16 March, and inGdańsk andPoznań against striking students. At least 2,725 people were arrested.[5][8][11] The success of the ORMO attack on universities in the wake of growing citizen discontent (seePolish 1970 protests) prompted the Ministry to begin massive expansion of its rank and file. By 1979, ORMO reached over 450,000 members.[9]
At the turn of the 1980s, the nascentSolidarity movement took the communists by surprise. By mid-1981, membership of Solidarity had reached 9.5 million,1⁄3 of theworking-age population of Poland. In this case, the ORMO formations were not used against striking workers because many of its volunteers had become demoralized by public resentment, with membership dropping dramatically.[12]Show of force operations were confined only to major urban centres. The crushing of Solidarity by the introduction ofmartial law in Poland in 1981 was taken over byZOMO, the elite motorized units of the police. Attempts at restructuring ORMO as the PZPR's own self-defence force, carried out byCzesław Kiszczak, failed miserably.[13] In the following years, many regional cells were closed down due to a lack of volunteers. Finally in 1989, after thefall of communism in Poland, ORMO was officially dissolved by the Sejm.[12]
Similar formations:
The Voluntary Reserves of the Citizens' Militia (armed with cable and truncheons) beating the students, were met with shouts of "Gestapo!", "Gestapo!"
From the Polish original: According toInstitute of National Remembrance, ORMO resorted to brutal use of force against participants of street demonstrations numerous times.
Media related toOchotnicza Rezerwa Milicji Obywatelskiej at Wikimedia Commons
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