Narodowa Demokracja
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Narodowa Demokracja (National Democracy), also known as Endecja (from abbreviaton (ND) of its Polish name; was a Polish right-wing nationalist political movement most active from middle of the 19th century to the end of the Second Polish Republic in 1939. Among its most important founders and ideologues was Roman Dmowski. The movement effectively ceased to exist with the end of Second World War. During the times of the Second Polish Republic it was a strong proponent of polonization policies.
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[edit] Origins, program and ideology
The origins of the endecja can be traced to the failure of the January Uprising in 1864 and the era of the positivism in Poland. After the uprisng, last in the series of several Polish uprisings in the 19th century, was bloodily crushed by the partitioners of Poland, the new generation of Polish patriots and politicians decided that Polish independence will not be won on the battlefield but through education and culture.
In 1886 the secret Liga Polska organization was founded, in 1893 renamed into Liga Narodowa. From 1895 Liga published its own newspaper (Przegląd Wszechpolski), and from 1897 it had an official political party, the Stronnictwo Narodowo-Demokratyczne. Unlike the Polish Socialist Party (PPS), endecja advocated peaceful negotiations. Influenced by Roman Dmowskis radical nationalist and social-Darwinist ideas National Democrats turned against other nationalities within the Polish lands, most notably Jews; anti-Semitism became one of key elements in NDs ideology. [1]
During the First World War, while PPS, now under influence of Józef Piłsudski, supported the Central Powers against Russia (Legiony Polskie forces), endecja first allied itself with the Russian Empire (supporting the creation of the Legion Puławski), and later, with the Western Powers (supporting the Polish Blue Army in France). After the end of the Great War, many endecja politicians had much more influence abroad then in Poland. It forced them to share power with Piłsudski, who had much more support in the military then they had. Still, due to their support abroad, endecja politicians like Dmowski and Ignacy Paderewski were able to gain support for some Polish requests at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and the Treaty of Versailles.
[edit] Second Polish Republic
In the newly independent Second Polish Republic endecja was represented first by the Związek Ludowo-Narodowy party, and from 1928 by Stronnictwo Narodowe. Among the chief characteristics of endecja policies was the stress on polonization: it was endecja politicians like Dmowski and Stanisław Grabski who contributed the failure of Piłsudski's Międzymorze federation and the alliance with the Ukrainian leader Symon Petlura, and the alienation of ethnic minorities in Poland. After Piłsudski's May Coup of 1926, endecja found itself in constant opposition to the pro-Piłsudski Sanacja. To fight the Sanacja movement, endecja created the Obóz Wielkiej Polski organization.
Simultaneously endecja continued to stress its anti-Jewish program, aiming at exclusion of the Jews from Polish social and economical life and ultimately push them to emigration. Anti-Semitic actions or incidents – boycotts, demonstrations or even pogroms - organised or inspired by National Democrats accelerated during the 1930s. Most notorious actions were taken by young, radical NDs who formed fascist-inspired and strongly anti-Semitic National-Radical Camp (ONR). [2]
[edit] Second World War
During the WWII sanacja became part of a coalition which formed the Polish Government in Exile. It was closely linked with the controversial Narodowe Sily Zbrojne (National Armed Forces), an underground organization which became a small part of the Polish resistance movement. Due to endecja's anti-minority policies, its armed organizations were engaged in combat not only against the Nazi Germany, but also against the Soviet Union and organizations of various Polish minorities. Due to that, they had relatively little support and many enemies.
[edit] After the War
After the end of the war, when Poland found itself under the control of Polish communists and the Soviet Union, most remains of endecja either emigrated to the West, or continued the eventually futile fight against the Soviet occupation. Others joined the new regime - most notably the ONR-Falanga leader Boleslaw Piasecki, who co-organised regime-controlled Catholic movement, or Maciej Giertych who returned from exile in London and supported the martial law imposed in 1981 by the communist leader Wojciech Jaruzelski; even his father Jędrzej Giertych (once close associate of Roman Dmowski) was the only Polish politician in exile who supported Jaruzelski.
[edit] Modern Poland
Since the fall of communism, when Poland became a democratic country, several political parties have attempted to re-estabilish some of the traditions of the endecja movement; adherents prefer the name "national movement" (ruch narodowy). Currently the only significant party that declares itself a successor to the endecja is Liga Polskich Rodzin (League of Polish Families), founded in 2001 by Roman Giertych, son of Maciej. Since then, in various elections, it has garnered 8-16% of the votes.
[edit] Notable members
- Zygmunt Balicki
- Ignacy Chrzanowski
- Roman Dmowski
- Adam Doboszyński
- Jędrzej Giertych
- Stanisław Grabski
- Władysław Grabski
- Józef Haller
- Feliks Koneczny
- Władysław Konopczyński
- Wojciech Korfanty
- Stanisław Kozicki
- Leon Mirecki
- Jan Mosdorf
- Jan Ludwik Popławski
- Tadeusz Rozwadowski
- Roman Rybarski
- Marian Seyda
- Józef Świeżyński
- Zygmunt Wasilewski
- Maurycy Zamoyski
[edit] References
- ^ Hardly surprisingly, anti-Semitism became a key elements in the ND ideology. – Lukowski, J., Zawadzki, H., A Concise History of Poland, Cambridge University Press, 2001, pp. 173-174
- ^ The appeal of fascism and of anti-Semitism was most pronounced among young radical NDs, who in 1934 formed the ‘National Radical Camp’ (ONR), from which emerged the distinctly totalitarian ONR-Falanga under Boleslaw Piaasecki – Lukowski, J., Zawadzki, H., A Concise History of Poland, Cambridge University Press, 2001, p. 217-218
[edit] Notes
- This article incorporates text translated from the corresponding Polish Wikipedia article as of 1 June 2006.
