Wersalski przyczółek nad Wisłą — most czy bariera? Myśl polityczna Pawła Jasienicy w kontekście rozważań o początkach II Rzeczypospolitej. Zarys problemu

Abstract

Versaille’s Bridgehead on the Vistula – a Bridge or a Barrier? Pawel Jasienica and His Political Thought on First Years of the Second Republic of Poland. This article concerns the assessment of the Republic of Poland (1918–1939) creation — as a political unit — by Pawel Jasienica — not only an outstanding historical essayist and philosopher of history but also an eyewitness of the events described. In 1967, in the retreat of his own room, he wrote his Polish Experience to be edited in the British periodical „Journal of Contemporary History” — hence off censorship — totally devoted to the problem of the birth of the independent Polish entity. A dominating theme in Jasienica’s analysis is the Polish path to independence, connected with the objection to the partitioners’ voluntarism and struggle for borders mainly with its eastern neighbour country — Bolshevik Russia. P. Jasienica proves that independent Poland defended its existence thanks to fast and widespread social reforms as well as full democratisation of political life. Polish society mass participation in Polish-Bolshevik war 1920 and its successful outcome was caused also by the fear of Soviets’ „red terror”.