Military Council of National Salvation

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The Military Council of National Salvation (Polish: Wojskowa Rada Ocalenia Narodowego, abbreviated WRON) was a military junta administering the People's Republic of Poland during the period of the martial law in Poland (1981–1983).

The body was created on December 13, 1981, and was dissolved on July 22, 1983. It consisted of 21 members: 15 generals, one admiral and five colonels. Among the most notable members were generals Wojciech Jaruzelski, Florian Siwicki, Michał Janiszewski and Czesław Kiszczak. One member, Lt. Col. Mirosław Hermaszewski, was included without his consent and knowledge.

The rather unfortunate lettering of the Polish acronym (WRON; wrona means a crow in Polish) was immediately picked up by those that the regime sought to repress and widely used in a form of non-violent opposition: jokes. One saying was that "orła wrona nie pokona - the crow can't defeat the eagle" (the "White eagle" being the national symbol of Poland).

Sources

v t e History of the Polish People's Republic
1945–48 Early post-war	Recovered Territories Polish population transfers (1944–1946) Expulsion of Germans Operation Vistula Provisional Government of the Republic of Poland Polish Committee of National Liberation Provisional Government of National Unity Trial of the Sixteen Cursed soldiers Augustów roundup 1946 Polish people's referendum 1947 Polish legislative election Small Constitution of 1947 Amnesty of 1947 Battle for trade Three-Year Plan
1948–56 Sovietization under Bierut's rule	Polish United Workers' Party Six-Year Plan Collectivization Socialist realism in Poland Mokotów Prison executions of 1951 1952 Constitution Stalinist show trial of the Kraków Curia Trial of the Generals PAX Association Poznań protests of 1956 Polish October (1956)
1956–70 Gomułka's autarchic communism	1957 Polish legislative election Millennium of the Polish State Bishops' Letter of Reconciliation 1968 Polish political crisis Kniefall von Warschau Polish protests of 1970
1970–81 Gierek's international opening	1971 Łódź strikes Letter of 59 June 1976 protests Workers' Defence Committee Flying University 1980 Lublin strikes Gdańsk Agreement Jastrzębie-Zdrój strikes Solidarity (Polish trade union) Independent Students' Association Rural Solidarity Bydgoszcz events 1981 warning strike in Poland 1981 Polish hunger demonstrations
1981–89 Jaruzelski's autocratic rule and demise	Martial law in Poland Militsiya hour Military Council of National Salvation Pacification of Wujek 1982 demonstrations Fighting Solidarity Federation of Fighting Youth Orange Alternative 1987 Polish political and economic reforms referendum 1988 Polish strikes Polish Round Table Agreement

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