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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2018
The relationship between peasant and Jew in Poland has presented a complex picture of mutual dependency and ambivalent feeling for centuries. Each needed the other for economic survival, yet simultaneously they often regarded each other with suspicion, mistrust, and, occasionally, loathing and fear. Nonetheless, until the emergence of a formally organized peasant movement in the late nineteenth century, it was extremely difficult to measure the actual perceptions and attitudes the peasantry held regarding the Jews. This essays traces the evolution of the stance toward the Polish Jews adopted by the peasant movement in the independent Polish Republic between the two world wars. It notes the passage of this stance from varieties of political indifference and economic concern through a phase of overt anti-Semitism, to the final stage of de-emphasizing the “Jewish Question” as a major factor in the political program and strategy of the movement.
1. I would like to thank the director and staff of the following institutions for their assistance in researching this subject: the Archiwum Akt Nowych, Zaklad Historii Ruchu Ludewego przy NKW ZSL, and the Main Library of Warsaw University, all of Warsaw, Poland; the Russian and East European Institute and Main Library of Indiana University; and the Russian and East European Center and the Library of the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.Google Scholar
2. “Przeglad Spoleczny” 1886-1887, ed. Krzystof Dunin-Wasowicz (Warsaw, 1955), p. 64, quoted in Czeslaw Wycech, “Polityczna mysl ludowa w swietle programów stronnictw chlopskich,” Roczniki Dziejów Ruchu Ludowego, (1959), 1:14.Google Scholar
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4. Narkiewicz, Olga, The Green Flag: Polish Populist Politics, 1867-1970 (London, 1976), p. 149. There is ample evidence of this line of reasoning in the articles by early PSL leaders Boleslaw Wyslouch and Jan Stapiński in their weekly publication, Przyjaciel Ludu, and in the words of a local peasant official, Jan Slomka, whose memoirs have been translated into English under the title From Serfdom to Self-Government: Memoirs of a Polish Village Mayor, 1842-1927, trans. W. J. Rose (London, 1941).Google Scholar
5. For details on the split, see Garlicki, Andrzej, Powstanie Polskiego Stronnictwa Ludowego Piast (Warsaw, 1966). The best biographical study of Witos is by Andrzej Zakrzewski, Wincentry Witos: chlopski polityk i maz stanu (Warsaw, 1977).Google Scholar
6. Witos, Wincenty, Moje wspomnienia, (Paris, 1964), 2:36.Google Scholar
7. Piast, no. 1, January 4, 1914. See also issues no. 2, January 11, 1914, and no. 4, January 25, 1914, for samples of anti-Jewish party opinion.Google Scholar
8. Kieniewicz, Stefan, The Emancipation of the Polish Peasantry (Chicago, 1969), p. 242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9. MZHPRL-1, doc. 141, pp. 422-26. For an in-depth examination of the formation of the PSL-Wyzwolenie, see Molenda, Jan, Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe w Królestwie Polskim 1915-1918 (Warsaw, 1965).Google Scholar
10. MZHPRL-1, doc. 142, pp. 426-28.Google Scholar
11. Witos, , Moje wspomnienia, 2:184-85. He adds that the Polish authorities tried to suppress the anti-Jewish outbursts and restore order but faced a difficult dilemma, since the people began to believe that the officials “were in league with the Jews and conspiring to oppress and exploit the peasant together.”Google Scholar
12. Materialy zrodlowe do historii polskiego ruchu ludowego, 2: 1918-1931, ed. Stanislaw Giza and Stanislaw Lato (Warsaw, 1967), doc. 1, pp. 9-12; hereafter cited as MZHPRL-2. Google Scholar
13. Ibid., doc. 2, pp. 12–16.Google Scholar
14. Ibid., doc. 5, pp. 25–29.Google Scholar
15. Ibid., doc. 4, pp. 19–25.Google Scholar
16. Ibid., doc. 13, pp. 49–58.Google Scholar
17. Witos, , Moje wspomnienia, 2:307-08, 323-24, 391-92.Google Scholar
18. For example, see his editorials “Zydzi a Polska” and “Jeszcze Zydzi a Polska” in Piast, October 9 and October 23, 1921.Google Scholar
19. MZHPRL-2, doc. 14, pp. 58–71.Google Scholar
20. Ibid., doc. 15, pp. 71–80.Google Scholar
21. The agreement is printed in its entirety in MZHPRL-2, doc. 16. pp. 80–92.Google Scholar
22. Ibid., doc. 20, pp. 116-34.Google Scholar
23. Sprawozdanie Stenograficzne Sejmu Rzeczypospolitej, no. 189, March 26, 1925, cols. 3-34; hereafter cited as SSSR. Among other things, Putek declared that “we are not and have not been an anti-Semitic party, and we do not need to be an anti-Semitic party, but it does not follow from this that we are supposed to be some kind of ‘Judenschutztruppe’ and cover up the political mistakes made by the Jewish Club on its own authority.”Google Scholar
24. The best study of the Piast party during this critical period between Pilsudski's coup and the Depression is by Szaflik, Józef, Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe “Piast” 1926-1931 (Warsaw, 1970).Google Scholar
25. MZHPRL-2, doc. 38, pp. 216-41.Google Scholar
26. “O ustawach samorzadowych,” Wola Ludu, January 16, 1927. See also the articles by Witos in Wola Ludu (June 19, 1927), “Moje spostrzeźenia w Malopolsce Wschodniej,” and in Piast (January 16, 1927), “Na drodze ku anarchii.” In the latter piece, he expresses the fear that the removal of ethnic Poles from positions of local government power will “open the gates to anarchy and, following that, Bolshevism.”Google Scholar
27. See especially his speech to the Sejm on January 26, 1927, in which he recounts examples of this preferential treatment and concludes, “Gentlemen from the national minorities, you complain about wrongs done you, but you see that you are, in fact, privileged.” Piast, February 6, 1927.Google Scholar
28. For example, see the program of the Stronnictwo Chlopskie adopted in June 1927 (MZHPRL-2, doc. 41, pp. 261-67) and the electoral platform statement of Wyzwolenie for 1928 (Wyzwolenie, January 22, 1928).Google Scholar
29. Rybicki, R., “Polytika Zydowska,” Gazeta Warszawska, July 19, 1931; this was a leading Nationalist newspaper.Google Scholar
30. Materialy źródlowe do historii polskiego ruchu ludowego, 3: 1931-1939, ed. Borkowski, Jan and Kowal, Józef (Warsaw, 1966), doc. 2, pp. 13–23; hereafter cited as MZHPRL-3. Google Scholar
31. Archiwum Akt Nowych (Warsaw), Ministerstwo Spraw Wewnetrznych (hereafter AAN/MSW), t. 850; Polityczny Komunikat Informacyjny hereafter PKI no. 4. (April 18, 1932) for March 1-31, 1932.Google Scholar
32. AAN/MSW, t. 851; PKI no. 5. (May 24, 1933) for April 1-30, 1933.Google Scholar
33. AAN/MSW, t. 851; PKI no. 10. (October 26, 1933) for September 1-30, 1933. The report specifically cited a speech of Witos at a ceremony dedicating a party standard in Podlesiany, powiat Mielce, on September 17, 1933, “with regard to its strong anti-Jewish tone.”Google Scholar
34. Pamietniki chlopow, no. 1-51 (Warsaw, 1935).Google Scholar
35. Pamietniki chlopów, 2nd series (Warsaw, 1936).Google Scholar
36. AAN/MSW, t. 852; PKI no. 5 (June 23, 1934) for May 1-31, 1934.Google Scholar
37. “Uchwaly Rady Naczelnej SL w sprawach politycznych, miedzynarodowych, oswiatowych i gospodarczych (September 30, 1934),” MZHPRL-3, doc. 59, pp. 172-78.Google Scholar
38. Witos, Wincenty, Moje tulaczka, 1933-1939, ed. Szaflik, József (Warsaw, 1967), p. 219.Google Scholar
39. AAN/MSW, t. 853; PKI no. 8 (August 24, 1935) for August 1-31, 1935.Google Scholar
40. Witos asked bitterly, “Did the Jews give this help [to the regime] for nothing, or maybe will their privileges go so far that not only peasants but all Poles will again feel themselves foreigners in their own Fatherland?” Witos, Moje wspomnienia, p. 402.Google Scholar
41. AAN/MSW, t. 853; PKI, no. 10 (October 23, 1935) for September 1-30, 1935. As an example of the Nationalist anti-Jewish propaganda, the report cites a handbill entitled “Circular No. 1” of September 25, 1935 from the “Biuro Prasowe Ludu Polskiego,” whose content was “exceptionally anti-government and anti-Jewish. The handbill glorified bloody anti-Jewish demonstrations …”Google Scholar
42. AAN/MSW, t. 853; PKI no. 11 (November 21, 1935) for October 1-31, 1935.Google Scholar
43. MZHPRL-3, doc. 92, pp. 249-54.Google Scholar
44. Ibid., doc. 93, pp. 254-55.Google Scholar
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46. After meeting on September 20 the Nationalist Party Chief Council took the unusual step of issuing a secret communiqué to its members rather than publishing the adopted resolutions. A lengthy section of the document dealt with rural poverty, politics, and the “Jewish Question”, noting that gradually the peasantry was coming to realize that its hard lot was solely the fault of the Jews but as yet had no organized means of expressing its outrage and of determining a course of action to correct the tragic situation. The section concluded with a summons to Nationalist activists to seize the initiative and shape the anti-Semitic mood in rural Poland along lines that would benefit their party. See AAN/MSW, t. 853; PKI no. 3 (March 21, 1936) for February 1-29, 1936.Google Scholar
47. Ibid. Another police report covering the same timeframe noted the clear trend within the SL to sever all contacts with the Nationalist Party, which had suddenly emerged as its chief rival for rural support. See AAN/MSW, t. 929; Biuletyn Spoleczno-Polityczny 1, no. 3 (February 10, 1936).Google Scholar
48. See the “Resolutions of the CKW of the Stronnictwo Chlopskie in Political and Internal Affairs” in the party's newspaper, Chlopskie Jutro, January 12, 1936, and March 29, 1936.Google Scholar
49. MZHPRL-3, doc. 100, pp. 266-70. The full name of the youth group was Zwiazek Mlodziezy Polskiej-RP, known popularly as “Wici” from the title of its official journal.Google Scholar
50. Zielony Sztandar, May 3, 1936.Google Scholar
51. The program statements were printed in two issues of the journal Wici: the political section was in no. 21 (May 24, 1936), the economic portion in no. 28/29 (July 12-19, 1936).Google Scholar
52. “Rezolucja Zjazdu Dzialaczy Stronnictwa Chlopskiego w sprawach politycznych i gospodarczych,” Sztandar Chlopski, September 27, 1936.Google Scholar
53. “Rezolucje Uchwalone przez Zjazd Grupy ‘Wyzwolenie,’ “ Wyzwolenie, October 11, 1936.Google Scholar
54. See its “Tezy Programowe” in Polska Ludowa, June 28, 1936.Google Scholar
55. The resolutions, which were severely censored from the SL press, are printed in their entirety in MZHPRL-3, doc. 126, pp. 327-32.Google Scholar
56. Piast, January 31, 1937.Google Scholar
57. Zielony Sztandar, July 11, 1937. The editorial concluded with the statement, “When the peasants will have cleansed Poland of all the sad remnants of the szlachta-lord times, they will also have solved the Jewish Question in a suitable manner.”Google Scholar
58. For the continued anti-Semitic agitation in early 1937, see AAN/MSW, t. 853; PKI no. 2 (February 22, 1937) for January 1-31, 1937. On the continued Nationalist-SL ties in Eastern Malopolska, see ANN/MSW, t. 929; Biuletyn Spoleczno-Polityczny 1, no. 3 (February 10, 1936).Google Scholar
59. “Odezwa SL Proklamujaca 10-dniowy Strajk Chlopski,” MZHPRL-3, doc. 137, pp. 343-44.Google Scholar
60. Joel Cang, “The Opposition Parties in Poland and Their Attitude towards the Jews and the Jewish Problem,” Jewish Social Studies 1 (1939): 251.Google Scholar
61. Ibid., pp. 250-51.Google Scholar
