Herbert came back to Poland at the beginning of 1981 – in the short period of the legal existence of Solidarity, the only independent mass organization in the Soviet bloc. At that time he joined the editorial team of the underground journal "Zapis" ("Record"). At the time of the martial law he supported the opposition personally, under his own name – he attended the secret meetings and published in 'second circulation'. His writings have become the manifesto of freedom, the expression of the resistance and the poet himself has become the symbol of uncompromised objection, especially for the young people. Przemysław Gintrowski played a huge role in presenting Herbert to the contemporary audience. Together with Jacek Kaczmarski and Zbigniew Łapiński, he composed the music to the poet's writings and performed it on stage. Herbert himself wasn't pleased with these doings at the beginning. However, later he accepted them and joked that he "writes lyrics for Gintrowski".