Cash Payday: August 16th or all day?

"Instead of following a citizen, just look at the bank records of his spending. If he does, he's alive. If he is alive, he must spend with points like a wounded animal until all of them are leaked," wrote Janusz A. Zajdel in the 1982 iconic fresh "Limes inferior". Zajla's books are mandatory reading for citizens fighting for the right to choose: cash or card. Citizens fighting the pathologies of Non-cash Poland and the exclusion of cash. Citizens who want to live in the planet of people, not in the planet of machines.

August 16 is simply a peculiar date. This is Cash Pay Day, initiated by us, the Institute of civilian Affairs together with ESG PRO Sp. z o.o. In 2025, we celebrate it for the 4th time. This is simply a day erstwhile we remind you how crucial cash is to our freedom and to social justice.

We chose the date not by accident.

On 16 August 1794, during the Kościuszkowski Uprising, the first Polish paper money went into circulation in Warsaw.

The ultimate Council made this decision due to the fact that the conflict for independency required funds for military and arms, and the state treasure was empty. There was no gold and silver to beat coins. For over a month, Prussian and Russian troops have surrounded Warsaw. According to the Polish safety Printing Works, “the first Polish banknotes were initially issued in 7 denominations, from PLN 5 to 1000. It was thanks to them that the insurgent authorities financed war spending and regular trade continued. However, the life of the first paper golds was short, disappeared with the fall of the First Republic. They came back a 100 years ago under Grabski's reform. These modern ones, which we have in our portfolios, have been in force since the denomination carried out in 1995."

Coalition for Cash

Since Cash Paying Day in 2024, a lot has happened on the front Citizens' run “Cash Gun!”We've been moving for 5 years. A fewer examples.

With respective organizations, from right to left, we called to life Coalition for Cash. Better late than never. Though my blood is flooding erstwhile I think the bank-business lobby has called Coalition for Non-cash Trading and Micropayment in the spring of 2007. It was then at the initiative of the Union of Polish Banks that an interest group was created, to which, in the light of the cameras, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Interior and Administration and the Ministry of Investment and improvement joined. And no 1 in our country has protested. On February 10, 2025, we addressed an appeal to the Prime Minister of the Government of Donald Tusk for the government's speech from the Coalition for Non-cash Trading and Micropayment. Better late than never. I urge reading the answers we have received... At times like this, I always remember Kazik, who sings on the CD “Department”: “Do you think we are idiots?”.

We spoke on the subject “Safety Guide” to show and advise Poles on how to last in emergency situations. We sent appeal to Tomasz Siemoniak, Head of the Ministry of Interior and Administrationto encourage citizens to have and usage cash. Like the Swedish brochure entitled “In the event of a crisis or war”I read: “Money. The ability to pay in different ways improves the readiness. usage cash from time to time. It is worth to have: cash in various denominations at least for a week".

Cloudmoney – War for our wallets

On 27 August 2024, we published Brett Scott’s book “Cloudmoney. Cash, cards, code – War for our wallets". It is simply a "biblia" for citizens who protest the liquidation of cash. We hosted the author on VI Geopolitical Forum In Łódź. I urge reading the conversation that Rafał Woś had with Brett Scott during the event.

On September 5, 2024, we participated in the discussion panel “A cashless Europe – Are we ready?” under the XXXIII economical Forum in Karpacz. We presented the main objectives and actions of the citizens' run "Cash Gun!".

On 20 March 2025, we participated in the Parliamentary Group gathering “Just for Development. CPK — Atom — Ports’. The speech at the Sejm was under the heading “Why is cash important?”.

NBP, Glapinski and cash

"Despite its own interests, the banking sector powerfully supports non-cash trade. For this purpose, the Polish Non-cash Foundation was established in Poland, which aims to grow the network of acceptance of payment instruments and to advance non-cash payments among Polish entrepreneurs and consumers. However, it is not disputed that a decently functioning payment strategy should consist not only of an efficient non-cash marketplace but besides of a strong and unchangeable cash turnover that ensures the safety of the system, the anonymity of users, ease of handling payments and resilience to the crisis. Therefore, with all the emphasis I will stress that in the face of specified strong support for non-cash trade, NBP must care for those who, as a consequence of the progressive digitisation and promotion of non-cash instruments, may become victims of financial exclusion due to their attachment to Polish gold in the form of cash" - wrote Prof. Adam Glapiński in the publication "National Bank of Poland during economical megashocks after pandemic and in the energy crisis – past of successes".

The president of NBP is 1 of the fewer people widely recognized in public life, who for many years has opened the defence of Poland and Poles against cash exclusion. It is worth recalling prof. Glapiński's message from 2020:

"Elimination of cash, as part of the conduct by any banks, media and global companies of non-cash economy, does not advance the expansion and strengthening of individual freedoms.

On the contrary, it poses risks to the safety and sovereignty of national states and the freedoms of individual citizens."

"This seems to be an effort at a dictatorship of global corporations that issue credit cards or banks that gain on all non-cash transaction. This is unacceptable" – the head of the Polish central bank spoke well 5 years ago.

Our activities are noted by the Financial Observer, a magazine on socio-economic issues published by the NBP. I urge reading the text: “Cart or cash – worth a choice”.

The book “Cloudmoney. Cash, cards, crypto – war on our wallets” was mentioned by Prof. Elżbieta Mączyńska from the Warsaw School of Economics during the debate on the subject. "Gold and cash pillars of the improvement of safety and freedom of Poland" (part of 2:14:05), which took place in the Royal Bathrooms in Warsaw on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the creation of Bank Polski S.A. in 2024 and the introduction of gold in circulation.

TVP and cash

Our place “You have cash, you have a choice” aired public tv on air: TVP 1, TVP 2, TVP 3, TVP Info, TVP Polonia, TVP Culture, TVP History, TVP Science. It wasn't without challenges. After we sent the material to tv with a free issue request, to which we are entitled as a public benefit organization, on 3 July 2024 we received this answer from TVP: “The subject of cash preservation is increasingly present in public discourse in a context involving electronic money, biometric data, individual data protection and the right to privacy. place correctly completed, rather simple in design. The campaign's motto is “You have cash, you have a choice”. In the material, the phrase “cash primarily does not know who you are” appears, which can be read as a desire to support the grey area, money laundering, illegal transactions, black work, etc. The recommended solution is to correct the place – to shift the center of gravity of the message to balance – “you have a choice: cash or card” or to quit comparison passwords at all, focus on affirmative aspects of paying cash – as in the first 15′′. It is suggested to resign from the shot where payment cards are thrown into the fountain – in the intention it is simply a game of association – erstwhile coins “for good luck” are thrown into the fountain, but can be taken straight as an incentive to destruct cards. In addition, it is possible to identify a circumstantial bank and VISA logo. There is besides a concern that this may discourage older people who are inactive reluctant to usage banking services."

I urge reading the answers we sent to TVP. In short: we kindly pointed out that the Non-cash Poland lobby has been promoting non-cash payments on public tv for years, without balance. So we kindly asked why this balance is required of us...

Financial education

For the past year, we have been regularly promoting cash and writing about matters related to it. The Weekly of civilian Affairs is the only Polish media body to systematically address these issues.

We have published dozens of interviews, texts, podcasts and graphics. They are all available free of charge on our website tagged with Cash weapons. I urge the attention of 3 talks: the first one: "Is cash digitization inevitable? Who benefits, who loses” from Guillaume Lepecq, president of Cash Essentials. In the second interview, "Digital capitalism needs fuses. Of which cash’ we are talking to prof. Elżbieta Mączyńska.

Third Conversation “He who has control over your wallet rules. Return to “primary”’ answers the question of how money is produced today. In short: they are produced from nothing, by the method of the table “cover up”.

In Weekly we besides published the voices of Poles and Poles, who They tell us their stories about cash. 1 of them, from Mr. Ark, said: “As always, I pay at the box office cash for shopping; the teller asks if I collect stickers, I said no. From the line behind me, 1 woman asked if she could take those stickers. I said yes and I only asked you to pay as frequently as possible in cash, due to the fact that self-service money is set to take us down from the cash. The mines of co-railmen are priceless. But it is clear that not everyone gets what it is. A lot more work from scratch to save cash in our lazy society."

Petition “Cash Gun!”

Cash Day is simply a good chance to thank you.

Thank you, everyone who signed "Cash weapon" petition And they urged their friends to sign. present the counter shows 13,450 signatures.

I thank all those who aid with thought, speech and deed. Like Matthew, who printed and himself unsealed 705 posters in Katowice.

I thank everyone who fights against cash exclusion at their place of residence. Examples are the inhabitants of Krakow protesting against decisions of local authorities that deny passengers of public transport the right to pay cash for tickets in trams and buses.

The bottom-up, civic conflict makes sense. And don't let me tell you otherwise. The anti-cash lobby is doing everything to get you to give up, and you think there's no point in fighting...

What is next: Nawrocki, RPO and Poczta Polska

We have quite a few ideas for the citizens' run "Cash Gun!". I'll only compose 3 at this point.

First of all,

We have prepared 2 draft laws for the president of Poland Karol Nawrocki. Both concern the fight against cash exclusion.

We request that our draft laws go to the Sejm as part of presidential legislative initiative. I'll compose more about it in civilian Affairs Week soon.

Secondly, we plan to cooperate with the Ombudsman Marcin Wiączek. First talks with RPO during 4th legislature on Sustainable improvement Leaders – Europe They're optimistic. We are pleased that the RPO sees the increasing problem of cash exclusion. At this point, it is worth mentioning about the introduction of systems by cities allowing to pay for bus and tram tickets only by a payment card. For example, afraid passengers point out to the Ombudsman that the capital authorities are pursuing a policy which, through cash exclusion, leads to transport exclusion. "Warsaw plans to introduce a fresh ticketing system, which may importantly impede the usage of public transport to people with limited digital competences or reluctant non-cash payments. This may aggravate digital and transport exclusion in Poland. interior regulation should not actually prevent the payment of cash by public transport,” we read on the RPO website. akin situation occurs in Krakow, Poznań and Boat. Interestingly, Łódź and Kraków are members of the Coalition for Non-cash Trading and Micropayment. Coincidence?

Thirdly, we will educate Polish and Poles about the request to strengthen the Polish Post, which is 1 of the most crucial entities providing access to cash.

Post office workers have been fighting for jobs for months negotiating with the board a collective work arrangement. Their fight is besides a fight against cash exclusion.

As of December 31, 2023 The Polish Post Office had 7,620 post offices, of which 2,453 in agrarian areas (i.e. agrarian municipalities), while 5,167 in urban areas. In 2012, there were 4,399, and in cities 4 060. The downward trend in agrarian areas is clear. At the same time, the problem for the lobby of Poland without cash is the fact that the service of postal transfers is good and generates PLN 367.2 million of revenue. "Despite the improvement and dissemination of non-cash transactions and electronic banking channels, the request for this service (35.7 million services) is inactive being observed by a group of customers preferring to trade in cash", reports the "Postal marketplace study in 2023" prepared by the Electronic Communications Office. In addition, as small as anyone knows, Poczta Polska besides deals with convoys and cash transport. Thus, strong Polish Post is simply a weak financial exclusion of people who like cash, especially those who come from agrarian areas.

What can you do on August 16?

Why is it worth to be active in the celebration of Cash Pay Day? due to the fact that it's not just a symbolic gesture. This is simply a real action to preserve our right to choose. Paying cash is an act of opposition to the imagination of a society in which all financial decision we make is tracked and analysed. It besides supports local stores and services, which frequently like cash, avoiding advanced commissions imposed by large Tech.

What can you do on August 16? It's easy! That day, if you have the opportunity, pay cash.

A grocery store, a bakery, for a bus ticket. Talk to your household and friends about why cash is crucial to you. Share Hashtag #Pay Day Cash in your social media. Sign our petition, get your friends to do it. Encourage loved ones to read the cash texts we published in the Week of civilian Affairs. Tell us your cash story. If the store or office refuses you the right to pay in cash, compose a letter to Ombudsman and National Bank of Poland (and inform us of this). Donate to fight against the non-cash lobby of Poland. Or possibly you have your own thought of how to celebrate Cash Day. Let us know about him.

Every act matters! Small, big, everybody.

Your support is very valuable to us. Thanks to you, we can proceed our fight against cash exclusion, educate and mobilise citizens to act. By joining the Cash Pay Day celebration, you become part of a larger movement to preserve our financial freedom and social justice.

We live in the Zajdla world

I started with a quote from Zajdel and finished with Zajdle. With greetings to all those who furniture our heads to inform us that unconditional basic income (in short BDP) is the solution to our problems. The key for Zajdel is specified a BDP – a digital wallet, a symbol of full control of the state over the citizen through a cashless system.

“What a perfidious strategy of coercion!” he lived, locking himself down the side streets towards the city center. – How easy it is to bring to order anyone who breaks out of the frames assigned to him. As long as you're all right, you respect all the stupid and wise administration, you don't rebel, you work erstwhile they tell you to, and erstwhile they fire you, you don't protest, as long as you're a meek lamb in this flock, you get at least the minimum of what is essential for existence. Just effort putting out the horns! Without the Key, you will die, alone among millions of people chasing their own business.”

Remember to celebrate Cash Day all day, not just August 16.