Robert Winnicki — architect of the reborn national camp

Zdjęcie: Robert Winnicki — architekt odrodzonego obozu narodowego

From the president of the All-Polish Youth, through the co-creation of the independency March, to the establishment of the National Movement — for respective years 1 of the central figures of the Polish national movement.

Robert Winnicki was born on July 18, 1985 in Skrzydlice, a village located present in Lower Silesian Voivodeship. In 2004, he graduated from a general school in Lubań and then took a political course at the University of Wrocław, which he did not finish, but was consumed by activities in the national movement, with which he tied up his full adult life.

From the All Fields to the March of Independence

Winnicki received an thought and organizational formation in the All-Polish Youth, 1 of the oldest national organizations in Poland, referring to the tradition of the pre-war Roman Dmowski camp. He headed it on 10 March 2009 and directed it until 13 April 2013. Its presidentship belonged to the longest in the past of the 3rd Poland, and after its completion he received the title of honorary president of the organization.

It was during this period that the task was born, which became a symbol of the revival of street patriotism in Poland. Since 2011, Winnicki has co-organized — alongside the All Fields and National-Radical Camp — the March of Independence, an yearly gathering on 11 November in Warsaw. At the environmental initiative, the march turned into the largest national manifestation in the country, gathering tens of thousands of participants and permanently entering the calendar of national holidays.

National movement and entry into the Sejm

The experience of the March prompted its organizers to build a permanent political structure. In 2012, Winnicki co-founded the National Movement, initially as an environmental initiative, and in 2014 registered as a political party. On December 10, 2014, he became its first president.

The 2015 elections opened the way for him to parliament, in which he competed as the leading candidate on the Kukiz'15 list in Legnica territory and obtained the mandate of MP VIII. In April 2016, by decision of the National Movement authorities, Winnicki left Kukiz'15. In subsequent years his formation became 1 of the pillars of the Confederation of Freedom and Independence, for which he won re-election in 2019, this time in the Bialystok district, and sat in the Sejm of the 9th term.

In the parliament and beyond, Winnicki consistently presented a national-conservative programme: defending the sovereignty of the state, scepticism towards deepening European integration and attachment to the conventional model of household and national identity. He was besides an efficient talker and publicist, recognisable from many Sejm speeches.

Transfer of rudder and withdrawal from policy

The year 2023 brought a return in both Winnicki's political and individual life. The national environment was at the time experiencing an interior dispute over control of the independency March Association, in which Winnicki and Krzysztof Bosak were in conflict with Robert Bąkiewicz; in February 2023 both were excluded from the association.

Shortly thereafter, in May 2023, Winnicki was seriously ill, having a heart attack. citing the state of wellness and the request to be a supporter for his wife and children, he resigned to direct the Confederate run and to service as president of the National Movement. On 11 May 2023, Krzysztof Bosak took over the party's chairmanship. Winnicki did not compete in the fall parliamentary elections of 2023, ending, at least for 1 term, his presence in the Sejm.

After the recovery and withdrawal of Winnicki's current policy, he returned to public life as a political commentator; he resumed this activity from the beginning of 2025. Although he gave up the rudder of the organization he himself had set up to live, he remains 1 of the most crucial architects of the modern national camp — a man who combined the street mobilisation of the independency March with a permanent parliamentary representation.