Polish Socialist Party Research Articles

„Nasz brak programu był w pewnym sensie również naszym programem” – myśl polityczna Wolnych Związków Zawodowych Wybrzeża

The Free Trade Unions of the Coast were one of the most important organizations of the pre-August opposition. The purpose of the article is to reconstruct the political thought of the organization and to answer questions about who its exponents were, how they perceived the reality of the Polish People’s Republic and how they planned to change it. The concepts built by the WZZ of the Coast have been contrasted with other programs of such organizations in Poland. Also pointed out are the programmatic themes of the WZZ that remain relevant today. The article uses an analytical method of abstracting individual ideas contained in the political output of the members of the organization in question and reconstructing them as a certain ideological whole. The conclusions recognize that the WZZ of the Coast had a primarily worker-oriented and practice-oriented character, which distinguished it from the more intellectual KOR and ROPCiO. Also important to the organization were the traditions of patriotic socialism derived from the Polish Socialist Party and the events of December 1970.

W Poznaniu pod psem. Pierwsza wizyta Józefa Piłsudskiego w Poznaniu w listopadzie 1901 r.

The article investigates the circumstances of the first, nearly completely forgotten, visit of Józef Piłsudski to Poznań in 1901. Taking the conclusions of Grażyna Wyder as a starting point, the article aims at organizing and harmonizing the current knowledge on this event. The place where comrade “Wiktor” stayed in the city is identified, and a broader context is provided on his hosts, Jadwiga and Józef Guliński, Polish Socialist Party activists. This article, devoted to a small part of Piłsudski’s life, contributes to the discussion on his complicated relationship with the capital of Greater Poland.

Historycy na łamach „Krytyki”

The article discusses the main threads of interest among historians publishing in the underground journal “Krytyka” during the years 1978–1989. It highlights the most important topics in contemporary history that, due to censorship reasons, either did not exist or were distorted in the official historiography of the People’s Republic of Poland (PRL). These topics included the history of the Polish armed anti-communist underground, the crimes of the security apparatus, the history of the Polish Socialist Party, Polish-Ukrainian, and Polish-Jewish relations, as well as key issues in post-war political history, such as the events of March 1968. The article devotes considerable attention to the authors of articles that aimed to restore memory and supplement knowledge about these issues. It also attempts to reflect on their involvement in the opposition movement in the context of their previous professional and political experiences.

Save from oblivion. From the history of the Ignis Publishing Society (1920–1925)

The article presents the results of historical and bibliological research, which objective is to reconstruct the history of the Ignis publishing society established by the Polish Socialist Party (PPS). The first part of the study presents the history of the publishing house reconstructed on the basis of scientific studies, memoirs, and archival materials, as well as the compactness of the bookselling and socio-cultural press in the interwar period. The second part contains the results of quantitative and qualitative (structural) analysis of the publishing repertoire. This study is the first in a series devoted to the activities of the PPS publishing house.

Ghost Citizens: Jewish Return to a Postwar City [Dom, którego nie było: powroty ocalałych do powojennego miasta

Ghost Citizens: Jewish Return to a Postwar City [Dom, którego nie było: powroty ocalałych do powojennego miasta

From Cotton and Smoke: Łódź—Industrial City and Discourses of Asynchronous Modernity, 1897–1994

From Cotton and Smoke: Łódź—Industrial City and Discourses of Asynchronous Modernity, 1897–1994

Ekonomista z Podola. Jerzy Zdziechowski – życiorys, poglądy oraz działalność publiczna

Zdziechowski Jerzy (1880–1975) was a politician, economist and economic activist. In the years 1917–1918 he was a member of the Polish Council of the Inter-Party Union in Russia and a co-organizer of the Polish Corps in Russia. In 1919, he was one of the main participants in the failed coup d’etat attempting to overthrow the government of Jędrzej Moraczewski. In the years 1922–1927, he was a member of the Sejm from the Popular National Union. In the years 1925–1926, he was the Minister of the Treasury in the government of A. Skrzyński. He developed the economic and financial program for stabilizing the Polish zloty, which caused such side effects as, i.a.: reduced employment, lowered wages, and reduced exports of agricultural products, as well as significant increases in taxes and prices. However, the program allowed for achieving a balanced budget. The program’s implementation resulted in the withdrawal of the Polish Socialist Party from the ruling coalition and led to the fall of the government. In the years 1926–1933, he was a member of the Council of the Camp of Great Poland, which was founded and led by Roman Dmowski. Until 1939, he was an activist of economic organizations. From September 1939, Jerzy Zdziechowski resided abroad. After World War II, he was the chairman of the Executive Department of the Political Council in London on behalf of the National Party. Jerzy Zdziechowski was characterized by theoretical eradication and the ability to achieve macroeconomic goals within the framework of economic policy, which he proved by managing financial matters in the years 1925-26 as well as by his creative criticism of the politics in 1926-39.

ГАЗЕТА «ГОМІН БАСЕЙНУ»/«ГОМІН КРАЮ» (1937–1938 рр.): ХАРАКТЕРИСТИКА ЧАСОПИСУ

The article characterizes the Ukrainian newspaper Homin Basseinu/Homin Krayu as a notable phenomenon of the regional Ukrainian press of Halychyna in the 1930s. The newspaper Homin Baseinu was published in Drohobych and Lviv. A total of 11 numbers (numbers) of the newspaper were published: from January 1 to September 1, 1937. The newspaper was printed on eight pages. Initially, editorial articles were submitted on current social, economic, international and political topics, later materials on economic topics, feuilletons, poems, articles from the villages and cities of Drohobych county (Oil Basin) were published – in the Chronicle section. The last page was intended for advertising, announcements, a list of people who made a donation to the newspaper’s press fund. The initiator and organizer of thenewspaper’s publication was the lawyer Oleksandr Pidhorodetskyi, who was also the editor-in-chief. In addition to him, the editorial board included students and graduates of secondary schools: Mykhailo Vasylyk, Adolf Hladylovych, Maksym Hladylovych, Vasyl Kolinko and Yulian Seredyak. In addition to the aforementioned persons, the broad editorial board of Homin Basseinu included: Yuriy Andrushkiv, Fedir Nastyoshyn, Maria Basarab, Yuriy Kostyshyn. At the end of 1937, Homin Basseinu became an unofficial organ of the workers’ society «Syla». From January 1938, it was published under the changed name «Homin Krayu. Informational and Social Fortnightly for the Ukrainian Working Masses», which was published in Lviv. The newspaper Homin Krayu has 13 issues. The first was published on December 1, 1937, the last on June 1, 1938. Its columns mostly published materials about labor relations in Lviv and Halychyna in general. Posts from Drohobych county were posted only on the 5th-6th page in the sectionHomin Basseinu. The members of the editorial board belonged to the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, therefore they defended the nationalist ideology, sharply criticized communist and socialist organizations (the Polish Socialist Party, the «Workers’ Society», etc.) and ideologies. In a number of posts, the newspaper’s authors opposed the policy of the Polish authorities, particularly at the local level. Keywords: Homin Basseinu/HominKrayu, Ukrainian press, Drohobych county, OUN, nationalism

Public Life of Poles Through the Prism of Surveillance by Repressive Structures of the South-Western Region of the Russian Empire on the Eve of the First World War

This paper, based on documents from the Central State Historical Archive of Ukraine (Kyiv), highlights the specifics of the social life of Poles in the South-Western region of the Russian Empire on the eve of the First World War. The author studied the official correspondence of the General Staff of the Russian Empire and the Staff of the Kyiv Military District, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and provincial gendarme departments of the South-Western Region, secret documents of the Kyiv Security Office, the Office of the Kyiv, Podillya and Volyn Governor-General, and so on. These documents illustrate the focus of the Russian imperial authorities on gathering information about the political situation and public sentiment in Austria-Hungary, and above all in Galicia. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, against the backdrop of an intensified interstate confrontation between Austria-Hungary and Russia, a competition of state building models became more active. In the early 20th century, the idea of federalism was strengthened in Austria-Hungary with the aim of internal political stabilisation and a broad guarantee of the Slavonic peoples' rights. And it was no accident that guard and punitive authorities of the Russian Empire focused their attention on intelligence information about the activities of the Polish Socialist Party, the creation of paramilitary organizations in Galicia, and the preparation of an anti-Russian uprising by the Poles during the expected war between Russia and Austria-Hungary. The Polish population of the South-Western region was supervised. Discriminatory measures were taken against the cultural activities of the Poles of the South-Western region aimed at raising national self-awareness and patriotism, schooling and national-cultural public organizations were suppressed, and monitoring of the Roman Catholic clergy was established. In view of the approach of the 50th anniversary of the January Uprising of 1863-1864, the guard and punitive bodies of the Russian Empire directed special efforts to prevent the spread in the South-West Region of actions commemorating this symbolic anniversary organized on the territory of Austria-Hungary, in particular in Lviv

Language of Józef Piłsudski’s texts: Walka rewolucyjna w zaborze rosyjskim. Fakty i wrażenia z ostatnich lat dziesięciu (Revolutionary fight under the Russian rule. Facts and impressions over the last ten years

Walka rewolucyjna w zaborze rosyjskim. Fakty i wrażenia z ostatnich lat dziesięciu (Revolutionary fight under the Russian rule. Facts and impressions over the last ten years) is a memorial feature article by Józef Piłsudski presenting the preparation, print, and distribution of the Polish Socialist Party’s underground pamphlets that were illegal under the Russian rule. The text is written in standard general Polish of the turn of the 20th century with a minor share of north borderland regionalisms, idiolectisms, and historisms. The style of the work combines “facts and impressions”, that is a realistic narration with a fictionalised description of various events related to the distribution of underground publications. The author of the feature article presents himself to the reader as an educated person using a language characterised by familiarity with the journalistic style. Keywords: Polish language of the turn of the 20th c. – general Polish language – written text – memorial feature article – idiolect – Józef Piłsudski

Kryzys gospodarczy, faszyzm i „warstwy pośrednie”. Reakcje polskich socjalistów na zwycięstwo nazizmu w Niemczech

The decline of the democratic Weimar Republic and NSDAP’s rise to power in 1933 caused a huge political uproar, especially among European socialists and social democrats. For many decades German SPD was a role-model for other socialist parties. The German working class was also perceived as the best organized and the most politically educated in all of Europe. Therefore, as Gerd-Reiner Horn noticed in his path-breaking study, the period of about 40 months after the creation of Hitler’s cabinet was a time of extremely intensive (and perhaps most passionate in the interwar period) discussion on strategy and political practice of the European socialist movement. In the following article, the Polish part of this debate is presented in detail. I examine official resolutions and ideological statements of the Polish Socialist Party (PPS), polemic pamphlets, the wide range of comments and political analyses published in socialist press, police reports, etc., in order to address three main issues: 1. in what way the Nazi Party’s rise to power catalyzed the process of radicalization among Polish socialists; 2. what the connection is between socialists’ opinion on the social basis of the German fascist movement and the evolution of their political strategy; 3. to what extent their diagnoses regarding the social basis of fascist movements in general determined their views on the possible evolution of the Nazi regime. I argue that the tragedy of SPD made Polish socialists more sensitive to the role of emotions in political mobilization and urged them to reevaluate some of their previous propaganda techniques. According to the majority of acclaimed socialist intellectuals, fascism was objectively a procapitalist movement, the social basis of which was composed of pauperized and disorientated “middle strata” (e.g. shopkeepers, clerks, artisans, peasants, unemployed youth, etc.). In orthodox Marxism these groups were perceived as declining and deprived of genuine historical agency. But the Nazi rise to power showed that they have immense political potential and their support may be decisive for the result of the clash between socialism and fascism. Thus, the question of how to mobilize the majority of the “middle strata” in favor of socialism became a crucial part of debates among Polish socialists in the mid-1930s. As I argue, different answers for this crucial question determined profound tactical differences and contributed to harsh arguments on PPS’s politics.

Prawdziwe centrum lokalnej władzy w okresie stalinowskim – Komitet Powiatowy PZPR w Nidzicy w latach 1948–1956

The article presents selected aspects of the history of the Polish United Workers’ Party in the Nidzica poviat in the years 1948–1956. The genesis of the Stalinist party in this poviat was characterized, i.e. selected aspects of the activities of the Polish Workers’ Party and its activities in 1946–1948. Attention was drawn to the extremely developed propaganda activity of the communist authorities, which used lies on a very large scale, promoting, inter alia, Soviet models in all areas of life, from political matters to the economy and the sphere of culture. The process of strengthening the position of the PPR in the Nidzica poviat was emphasized, which was related to, inter alia, with the destruction of the illegal opposition, as well as the Polish People’s Party and the Polish Socialist Party. The course of major political events of that period was also presented: the falsified people’s referendum in June 1946, the equally falsified parliamentary elections in January 1947, and the increasingly wider scope of political repressions against communist opponents. The process of creating the structures of the Polish United Workers’ Party and its leading activists was described, from December 1948 to 1956. Selected aspects of the PZPR’s activities in the political, social and economic fields were characterized. The consolidation of the hegemonic position of the PZPR in political life, socialist realism in the sphere of culture and the Stalinization of economic life, including activities for the collectivization of agriculture. Very strong ties between the party leadership and the local security apparatus, that is, above all, with the County Public Security Office, were emphasized. Attention was paid to the persecution of political opponents, and at the same time to various manifestations of social resistance against communists.

Drogowskaz na rozdrożu. Życie i myśl Józefa Karola Potockiego (1854–1898)

Józef Karol Potocki vel Marian Bohusz (1854–1898) was very important and influential although forgotten thinker. His ideas of evolutionary socialism and ethnic nationalism were fundamental for both main Polish political formations of the 1st half of 20th century: Polish Socialist Party (and broader Piłsudski’s camp) and National Democracy. The very fundament of Potocki’s world-view was idea of any “cosmic energy” as prime mover of evolution. The evolution leads towards broader and broader, deeper and deeper integration, towards more complex societies. In opinion of Potocki socialism (as a system based on cooperation) would be natural result of this evolution. Historical and cultural heritage transform society into nation – community bonded by biological ancestry, economic cooperation and culture. This ethnic meaning of the Polish nation excluded Jewish minority. On the other hand, the real nation are the working people (especially peasants), not ruling classes. Nation needs an independent state as instrument of autonomous development, therefore Potocki was bitterly anti-Russian. Potocki tried to propagate the idea of a common front of socialists and nationalists for independence. Polarization of Polish public opinion in the end of 19th century made his efforts unsuccessful.

The attitude presented in the press published by the Polish Socialist Party towards Gypsies in the interwar period – social and political issues

The publication discusses the Polish Socialist Party's (PPS) attitude to Gypsies and the Gypsy question in the interwar period from 1918 to 1939. An extensive search of the PPS press, including around 1600 articles on the Gypsy population, has shown that this issue also interested the PPS. However, the socialists had a decidedly negative attitude to Gypsies. This was conditioned by the fact that the party found itself in opposition to the government camp, which supported the aspirations of Gypsy kings from the Kwiek clan, and it was with them that the PPS identified Gypsies. Secondly, the strong ideologization of the party's press, based among other things on the cult of work, led to a rejection of the lifestyle of the majority of Gypsies, who represented a nomadic and semi-nomadic culture of life.

From the “Paris Agreement” to the “London Pact”: Political Aspects of the Democratisation of Poland’s April Constitution of 1935

In the history of Poland’s April Constitution of 1935, there were two attempts to democratise it, the first one in November 1939 referred to as the “Paris agreement” and the other one in September 1950 included in the formula of the “London pact”, both of which concerned the ways of implementing Article 13 defining the scope of the President’s personal powers. The “Paris agreement” introduced into political life the practice of consultation between the President and the Prime Minister; the “London pact” provided for a thorough change in the nature of the President’s relations with the Government and the planned Parliament-in-exile called the Council of National Unity, as well as strengthened the role of the political parties in political decision-making. Motivated by the notion of the modernisation of the Constitution and its adjustment to the democratic standards of Western states, the postulate to democratise it was put forward by established political actors, the Polish Socialist Party (PPS) and the National Party (SN), supported by the Independence and Democracy (NiD) party founded in exile. Appearing together as the Political Council, they took part in negotiations on the formation of a government of national unity after the death of Prime Minister T. Tomaszewski. Representatives of the Polish People’s Party did not take part in the talks; its leader, Stanisław Mikołajczyk, rejected the April Constitution “in its entirety”. The “pact” did not gain the approval of the “Castle”: the President defended the Constitution and did not accept concessions as regards Article 13. Nevertheless, the postulates of the “pact” were not nullified as they were used to build a new political construction – the National Unity – from 1954 functioning in parallel to the presidential centre. Due to the importance of the issue, the negotiations can be regarded as a breakthrough event in the political life of the émigré community. It is no exaggeration to say that the roots of the most important political events in the life of the émigré milieu go back to the “London pact”.
 The research goal of this article is to bring to light the political aspects of the initiative motivated by the idea of democratising the April Constitution, expressed in the formula of the “London pact”, against the background of the hypothesis that the leaders of the Political Council, behind the screen of their demand for the modernisation of the political system, aimed at weakening the position of the President as an obstacle on the way to building a new political centre – the Unity camp. They used the stage of negotiations based on the demands of the “pact” to orchestrate an anti-presidential propaganda campaign and to portray Zaleski as an opponent of the notion of unity. At the same time, they promoted the false premise that the democratisation of political life would help unblock the channels of émigré diplomacy and change the position of the Polish cause in the international arena. In this way, taking advantage of the atmosphere of distrust towards the President, they were able to launch their own political project: the National Unity, planned for as early as in 1949. For them, their participation in the Unity’s bodies opened the possibility of realising their own political ambitions reserved for politicians from President Zaleski’s closest milieu referred to as the ‘Castle entourage’.

Women’s Organizations and Antisemitism: The First Parliamentary Elections in Independent Poland

AbstractThis article explores the context of the first parliamentary elections in independent Poland in January 1919, focusing on the National Democratic Party’s (ND) election campaign addressed to Polish women and how anti-Jewish slogans were used to mobilize the participation of the female electorate. Before the First World War, ND, led by Roman Dmowski, was the most fervent opponent of women’s enfranchisement (Gawin 2015); yet, after the introduction of suffrage, and one month before the elections, the party created the National Women’s Organization (NOK), affiliated with ND, tasked with running an election campaign aimed at ethnically Polish women. The article demonstrates that ND instrumentalized female voters and their newly obtained right to win the elections and gain advantage over its largest rival, the Polish Socialist Party (PPS, Polska Partia Socjalistyczna). It argues that members of NOK, who used antisemitic, ultra-nationalistic, and Catholic propaganda in the election campaign, became one of the major advocates of the party’s ethno-nationalist vision of Poland; consequently, they significantly contributed to the worsening of Polish-Jewish relations in the interwar period. The article also looks at the critique of the extreme nationalism and antisemitism within ND and NOK by individual female activists and groups not affiliated with Dmowski’s party.

An Unknown Page from the Life of Jan Bobrzyński

The article is an attempt to analyze two works by Jan Bobrzyński written at the end of World War Two and in the early period of Polish People’s Republic: Współczesne zadania socjalizmu (The Modern Tasks of Socialism) and Die grosse deutsche Lüge (The Great German Lie). The author compares the contents of the two writings with Bobrzyński’s views from before WWII. The question is pondered whether Jan Borzyński’s post-war choices, such as joining the Polish Socialist Party or fierce anti- Germanism, were the result of the evolution of his views, ideological disorientation, or simply opportunism manifested in adjusting his own beliefs to the needs of the moment?

Kazimierz Domosławski's Testimonies on the Activities of the Polish Military Organization in Kyiv in 1915–1918

The full text of the testimonies of the outstanding Polish politician Kazimierz Domoslawski on the initial activities of the Polish Military Organization in Ukraine is introduced into the scientific discourse. The Kyiv branch of this organization played an important role in the national life of the Poles of Dnieper Ukraine during the First World War. These testimonies were recorded by Henryk Jablonski in late 1933 during the collection of oral evidence for the study of Polish autonomy in the Dnieper Ukraine in 1917 – 1918. Kazimierz Domoslawski was an employee of the Polish Society for Assistance to Victims of War, led the activities of the Kiev branches of the student ‘Korporacja’ and the Polish socialist party (revolutionary fraction). His political career peaked in 1917. Then he became a member of the Central Rada of Ukraine, a member of the Kiev city Duma, the head of the II Conference of the Polish socialist party in Russia, as well as an employee of two bodies of Polish national self-government in Ukraine, namely the Polish Executive Committee in Rus and (Vice)Secretariat of Polish Affairs of the General Secretariat of the Central Rada. The fact that Kazimierz Domoslawski was participant of the Polish Military Organization is little known among historians. It means that, there were the close contacts between the legal Polish socialist party (revolutionary fraction) and the underground Polish Military Organization. The main topic of the testimonies is the activities of the Kiev branch of the Polish Military Organization in 1915 – 1918. That time was one of the most decisive periods of the organization. In the study the internal and external criticism of the source is carried out, its high informative value is confirmed. The correlation of these testimonies with the later memoirs of Kazimierz Domoslawski, published in 1923, is analyzed. The proof of the high level of reliability of the testimony is that all the mentioned persons were members of the Polish Military Organization (the results of the researches of Alexander Golichenko).

Rewolucja lutowa i jej konsekwencje w propagandzie środowisk lewicy niepodległościowej w Królestwie Polskim w 1917 roku

<p>Jednym z kluczowych wydarzeń z punktu widzenia sprawy polskiej w czasie I wojny światowej była rewolucja lutowa. Znalazło to w 1917 r. odzwierciedlenie między innymi w propagandzie lewicowych partii niepodległościowych z Królestwa Polskiego (Polska Partia Socjalistyczna, Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe, Partia Niezawisłości Narodowej i inne), dla których głównym autorytetem pozostawał Józef Piłsudski.</p><p>Politycy wspomnianych partii twierdzili, że upadek caratu w Rosji był uwarunkowany różnymi czynnikami. Wskazywano tu na takie przede wszystkim kwestie jak: słabość władzy carskiej i klęski wojenne Rosji; braki żywnościowe w miastach; działalność zarówno opozycji liberalnej, jak też ruchu rewolucyjnego w Rosji; a także, zewnętrzna (brytyjska) inspiracja przewrotu.</p><p>W propagandzie partii lewicy niepodległościowej poddawano zdecydowanej krytyce rosyjskich liberałów, którzy objęli władzę po przewrocie. Paweł Milukow, Aleksander Guczkow i inni politycy z tego kręgu byli oskarżani o imperialistyczne tendencje. Nadzieje działaczy polskiej niepodległościowej lewicy wiązały się z aktywnością rosyjskich demokratycznych socjalistów, zwłaszcza zaś Aleksandra Kiereńskiego. Powszechne było też przekonanie, że rewolucyjne przeobrażenia zakończą się w Rosji dopiero w momencie zawarcia pokoju.</p><p>Latem i jesienią 1917 r. polscy socjaliści i inni lewicowi sympatycy Piłsudskiego z Królestwa Polskiego byli przekonani, że Rosja znajduje się u progu kolejnego przewrotu, a dni rządu Kiereńskiego są już policzone.</p>

Między demokratyzmem a autorytaryzmem — kształtowanie się programu politycznego PPS przed i po maju 1926 roku

BETWEEN DEMOCRATISM AND AUTHORITARIANISM — FORMATION OF THE POLITICAL PROGRAM OF THE POLISH SOCIALIST PARTY BEFORE AND AFTER MAY 1926The article presents the political debate which took place within the Polish Socialist Party after 1905, regarding the selection of real means to achieve its political goals. The Polish Socialist Party in the period of the Second Polish Republic was an evolutionist and democratic organization, standing in opposition to the ideas of an authoritarian state. The party leaders dissented from achieving political program objectives through methods typical of revolutionary radicalism. The authoritarian fascinations of the May 1926 coup d’etat in the long-term did not lead to a re-evaluation of the political program adopted at the moment of independence.