The Opposition Parties in Poland and Their Attitude towards the Jews and the Jewish

Problem
Author(s): Joel Cang
Source: Jewish Social Studies, Vol. 1, No. 2 (Apr., 1939), pp. 241-256
Published by: Indiana University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4464294
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C H RO N IC LE

THE OPPOSITION PARTIES IN POLAND AND THEIR

ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE JEWS AND THE
JEWISH PROBLEM
By JOEL CANG

With regard to their attitude towards the Jews, opposition parties

in Poland can, broadly speaking, be divided into three main groups:
(1) The nationalist group, consisting of the National Democrats, the
Paderewski party, the Conservatives, and several militant antisemitic
youth factions; (2) The Peasants; (3) The Polish Socialist Party and
the newly founded Democratic Party. Each of these groups has more or
less carefully defined principles embodied in the various party programs,
to guide its attitude towards the Jews. Each group advocates a separate
policy progagating sometimes varying, but seldom contrasting, methods
for the solution of the Jewish problem in Poland. Almost all of them,
however, agree in regarding the Jewish problem as one of the most
important problems that confront the country.*

The Nationalist Groups

In the first group, which on account of its anti-democratic aims and
activity may also be styled the fascist group, the leading party is the
Stronnictwo Narodowe, or Nationalist Party, up till recently called
National Democracy, or Endek for short. It was founded in 1897 by
Roman Dmowski, Jan Poplawski and Sigismund Balicki,1 the fathers of
political antisemitism in Poland, and has changed its name many times.
It has always remained pre-eminently anti-Jewish in its principles, aims,
*The continued importance of the opposition parties in Polish political life has been indicated by
the large majorities received by the left opposition in the recent municipal elections held throughout
Poland. - Ed.
I See Balcikowska, A., Stronnictwa i Zwiazki Polityczne w Polsce (Warsaw 1925).
241

242

JEWISH

SOCIAL STUDIES

and methods, although its antisemitism has undergone several phases

of development from toleration to hostility, and from hostility to hatred
and brutality. The attitude of the Endek party to the Jews was defined
in a memorable declaration made in the first Polish Diet on February 25,
1919. "It is our desire," the party spokesmen stated, "that the Jews in
Poland shall have the same rights as have the Jews in England, in the
United States of America and in France."2 "For these rights the Jews
must fulfil all duties as citizens of the Polish state. The Jews are not
satisfied to enjoy equal rights with the Poles. They demand extraordinary
and exceptional rights and privileges. They wish to form a state within
a state. We must therefore warn the Jews not to try to introduce disorder into the life of the Polish state, because otherwise the Polish nation
will be forced to combat them."s This declaration, outlining the attitude
of the Endeks towards the Jews in the newly established republic of
Poland, was made in a solemn manner by Mr. Korfanty, at that time
the leader of the National Populists, as the party called itself at that
time.4 It was made when the problem of Jewish rights in independent
Poland was moved in the Diet by the Jewish deputy, Isaac Griinbaum.5
Since that time the attitude of the Endeks towards the Jews has
changed both in principle and still more in method. All hypocritical
talk about granting to the Polish Jews "rights" similar to those Jews
have "in England and in the U.S.A." has ceased completely. Only the
promise of a "merciless war" against the Jews is retained. This is obvious
from the present program of the party, from its violent anti-Jewish
activity, and from the postulates and resolutions passed at their various
party meetings and congresses. All these postulates, which define the
attitude of the party towards the Jews and the Jewish problem more
clearly than does the constantly changing party program, may be formulated as follows: The Jews are a different people and must be treated
differently; they are a worse people and must be treated worse than other
citizens and minorities in Poland. "The principle of equality without
regard to religion and nationality," declares a resolution adopted by
Endek party leaders,8 "is contrary to reason and is highly injurious to
the Poles." "The Jews," runs the same resolution, represent the source
of all evil and the source of all misfortune in Poland. The Stronnictwo
Narodowe considers the Jews to be its chief enemy and as its main aim
2 See the parliamentary records of the Polish Diet, Sejm Ustawodawczy, Sprawozdanie Stenograficzne, 1-50 (1919) p. 204-24, February 25.
3 See the same parliamentary records, 1-50, p. 209.
4 Cf. X Polish Handbook, by F. B. Czarnomski (London 1925).
5 See parliamentary records of the Polish Diet, Sejm Ustawodawczy,Sprawozdanie Stenograficzne,
1-50, p. 193; declaration made by Griinbaum, February 24, 1919.
6 See Sprawy Polityczne, called also Biuletyn Wszystkich Stronnictw, published during January,
1937.

POLISH

OPPOSITION

PARTIES

AND THE JEWS

243

and duty must be to remove the Jews from all spheres of social, economic,
and cultural life in Poland."7 All Jews in Poland, so the Endeks demand,
shall be deprived of all political rights including the rights of citizenship.8
Votes to the Diet and particularly to the municipal bodies should be
denied to the Jews.9 Jews must be expelled from the universities, the
army, the press, and the theatre, and they should be prevented by law
otherwise from exercising any influence whatever on Polish art, science,
and literature. In the economic sphere their demands are that the Jews
be completely ousted from business, from trade, from industry and from
the free professions. In the Polish towns the Jews should make room
for non-Jews.10 And Jewish traders, shopkeepers, and craftsmen should
be replaced by non-Jews specially trained for that purpose by the state
and municipal bodies. The towns must be "completely Polonized."
As their ultimate goal, the Endeks proclaim the complete elimination
through expulsion or otherwise, of all Jews from Poland. They no longer
advocate the assimilation of the Jews, although this used to be a point
in their program in the days when Catholicism came before politics with
them. As long, however, as the Jews are still "temporarily tolerated"
to live in Poland they must be forced to dwell in ghettos, separated completely from non-Jews. In addition to that the Endeks are for the immediate expulsion of all Jews from areas significant for religious and
strategic reasons. Thus they demanded legislation to force the Jews to
leave Czenstochowall and the fortress of Brzesc.12 No Jew, they hold,
7

Ibid.

This is the third point of a resolution adopted at an Endek mass meeting held in Poznan in
Dziennik NarodSeptember, 1937 to proclaim the "week without Jews," reported in the WFarszawski
owy, September 22, 1937.
9 This demand was put forward by conferences of Endeks held repeatedly during the months of
April and June both in Warsaw and in Poznan and reported in the WVarszawski
Dziennik Narodowy
in special reports which appeared during the first half of June, 1937. A special article defining and
justifying this Endek demand appeared again in the Warszawski Dziennik Narodowy of June 25,
1938 and in other anti-Jewish papers in connection with the new electoral law before the Diet.
According to this article, the activity to deprive Jews of the right to vote "will never cease until
victory."
10 In the Poznan resolutions.
11This was part of the project of the Endek town councillors submitted in October, 1937 and
reported in all the newspapers. See the Jewish daily, Moment, and Radio, for October 19, 1937. The
Endek project declared: "The Town Council of Czenstockowa resolves that all Jews be driven out
from the town and from the district near the frontier because of the religious importance of the city
and because of its strategic position." (Czenstochowa is the seat of the sacred monastery which is
in possession of an image of the Virgin MNarysaid to be of a miraculous nature. It is also near the
frontier.) "The Town Council decides to request the government to pass a law prohibiting Jews to
live in or near the vicinity of Czenstochowa." The mayor of the city declared the resolution against
the constitution and he refused to permit a vote on the Endek project.
12 Adopted at a meeting of the Endek Party on June 18, following the Brzesc affair. See Sprawy
Polityczne, June 10, 1937.
8

244

JEWISH

SOCIAL STUDIES

should be allowed to own land in Poland and those who own land should
be immediately expropriated.'3
These are the basic principles guiding the National Party in its attitude towards the Jews and Jewish problem in Poland today. These
principles are, one may say quite safely, Nazi principles interchanged
and mixed with Polish peculiarities and local coloring. If the National
Party came to power in Poland it would undoubtedly attempt to realize
all the above anti-Jewish postulates. Whether it would be successful is
another matter. But it certainly has the zeal, determination, and almost
a complete lack of moral restraint which would impel it to try out the
anti-Jewish policy in full.
United as the Endeks are in their basic attitude towards the Jews
there is some difference of opinion among them as regards the question
of method. They all urge and practise the boycott of Jews; they all urge
the complete departure of all Jews. But being Catholics some of the
elder generation within the party oppose violence and brutality and
regard such methods as "un-Christian." They are all for making the life
of the Jew in Poland miserable, but not by pogroms and acts of sadism.
Unfortunately, however, the number of such old Endeks, called the "old
guard," is diminishing rapidly in Poland today. The majority within
the party is for more drastic methods against the Jew, claiming that
every method is sanctioned by the goal of freeing Poland from the Jews.
To the complaint made after the pogrom in Przytyk, that antisemitism
and its results contradict the principles of Christianity, the organ of the
Endek party replied: "We have not the slightest need to write about
antisemitism being contrary to Christianity. Such a reproach is simply
laughable. It arises from the complete ignorance of the traditions and
principles of the Catholic church in that matter.'"14
The problem of the attitude of the Endeks towards the Jews is of
the utmost importance. The Endek party is the strongest, best organized,
and most vital political opposition party in the country. It is responsible
for most of the antisemitism in Poland. Endek propaganda, carried on
long before Hitler but greatly intensified since, has served to so magnify
the Jewish problem in Poland as to become, even in the eyes of nonEndeks, the most vital problem in Poland, which calls for immediate
and drastic solution. A whole generation of young Poles is now being
brought up under the influence of Endek doctrines preaching hostility
towards the Jews. It is the Endek party which has made the problem of
13 Adopted at a congress of political workers in the villages held in Warsaw on February 14, 1937,
at which 984 delegates attended. See Warszawski Dziennik Narodowy and Sprawy Polityczne,
Biuletyn Wszystkich Stronnictw, for February 21, 1937.
14 Warszawski Dziennik Narodowy, March 14, 1936.

POLISH

OPPOSITION

PARTIES

AND THE JEWS

245

the three and one-half million Jews loom larger and overshadow the
much more vital problem of the five million Ukrainians and the one million Germans. For all sane minded people in Poland know and realize
that if there is danger to Poland, if any minority is likely to cause trouble
to the state, it will be the Ukrainian or still more likely the German and
not the loyal Jewish minority.
What is the numerical strength of the Endeks? Whilst it is safe to
say that almost the whole of the newly created middle class in Poland
is in principle anti-Jewish and Endek in outlook, it is impossible to estimate the party's membership. Their official figures are kept strictly
secret. A fair idea of the party strength, however, can be obtained from
the circulation figures of their press. The leading Endek organ, the
Warszawski Dziennik Narodowy, is stated to have a circulation of about
30,000. Several other Endek dailies in Cracow, Poznan, Wilno, and
Lwow (Lemberg) claim similar circulation. Yet no political party in
Poland can be judged solely by the number of party members or readers
of party papers. Apart from its registered members the Endeks count
many followers among the constantly growing number of non-Jewish
business people in the rapidly "Polonized" towns. In the villages, however, where disingenuous anti-Jewish propaganda formerly found ready
ears, Endek influences are rather on the decline.
Ignacy Paderewski's new party, the Stronnictwo Pracy, also belongs
to the same first group of opposition parties. Article 8 of the program
adopted at the first party congress in Katowice states: "This party will
fight for the complete elimination of Jews from industry, trade, and
business. The party will support the tendencies for a complete cultural
separation from the Jews but definitely opposes all racial theories and
denounces all attempts to solve the Jewish problem in Poland through
terror. As the best solution of the Jewish problem the party regards
mass emigration of the Jews."15
The antisemitism of this party is somewhat assuaged by the Catholic
ideology of its leaders. Paderewski is an ardent Catholic. So is General
Haller, one of the party's founders and its actual leader in the absence
of Paderewski, who is a self-imposed exile in Switzerland. Nevertheless
the party is anti-Jewish in essence and purpose and its former party
organ, the NVowaPrawda, as well as the new organ, Nowa Rzeczpospolita,
have carried on anti-Jewish activity. The Stronnictwo Pracy, despite
Paderewski's great popularity in Poland today, commands only a limited
15 From the first congress held January 23, 1938 in Katowice. At a meeting of the executive
council held in May, 1938, the Jews were called "aliens who for many years have occupied all the
positions in Polish trade, and who must make room for non-Jews and emigrate from Poland." See
Nasz Przeglond for June 9, 1938.

246

JEWISH

SOCIAL STUDIES

following among a small group of property-owners, ex-servicemen, and

working people in Polish Upper Silesia and western Poland.
Of immeasurably greater influence is the tlhird party of this nationalist fascist group, the Conservative Party. Monarchist and Catholic
in principle, the party was founded in 1922 by Counts Tarnowski and
Sobanski, and today it represents the interests of the Polish nobility and
wealthy landowning gentry. Originally the party preferred to keep its
anti-Jewish sting hidden behind its silk garments. In 1923, however, it
adopted a resolution showing its real antisemitic face. The resolution
held up the Jews "as a destructive force" whose object and desire is to
"injure Aryan societies" and who cherish hatred "towards Christianity."16
The Jews were thus pictured as a danger to both conservatism and to the
Christian religion.
From this theoretical denunciation of Jewry the Conservative party
speedily advanced to a more "practical" anti-Jewish policy, thus keeping
pace with the others in the fascist group. At a congress of the party held
in Warsaw on December 12, 1937 its leader, Prince Janusz Radziwill,
gave a clear definition of his party's attitude towards the Jews. "We
accept," he declared, "the injunctions issued by the Polish Primate,
Cardinal Hlond, which, whilst condemning feelings of hatred, regard it
permissible to fight against Jewish influence in the economic and moral
spheres.17 But the Polish villages are overcrowded. Polish peasants must
seek an outlet in the towns where at present the Jews dwell. It is, therefore, an absolute necessity that the Polish peasants shall take over the
jobs now still in Jewish hands." Having said so much, Prince Radziwill
showed that the Conservatives are not much behind the Endeks in other
points of their anti-Jewish program. He added: "As regards a practical
solution of the Jewish problem there can be no other except a forcible
emigration of the Jews."18 The Conservatives again dealt with the Jewish
Balcikowska, op. cit., p. 731.
17 On February 29, 1936, Cardinal Hlond, the Primate of Poland, issued a pastoral letter to the

faithful, in which he dealt with the Jewish question in the following manner: "The Jewish problem
existed and will continue to exist as long as the Jews will remain Jews. It is a fact that Jews fight
against the Catholic Church, that they are freethinkers, that they constitute the pioneers of godlessness, of the Bolshevik movement and of all destructive activity. It is a fact that Jewish influence
on manners is pernicious. In the schools the influence of Jewish youth on the others is injurious.
But let us be just. Not all Jews are like that. Very many Jews are pious, learned, just, and kind.
We know noble and honorable Jews." The Primate went on to warn the faithful against imitating
the "ethical attitude imported from abroad" and he condemned hatred. He added that whilst it is
permissible to fight against the Jews in the economic and moral spheres, it is not proper to commit
any acts of sadism.
18 Sprawy Polityczne, Bitletyn WYszystkich
Stronnictw, nos. 28/507 and 29/508 of December 21,
1937. The congress was held on December 12, 1937 in Warsaw and was attended by about 400
delegates representing gentry from all over Poland.

POLISH OPPOSITION PARTIES AND THE JEWS

247

problem at a meeting held under the chairmanship of Senator Count

Adolf Bninski, of the executive council of the party. A resolution adopted
at that meeting declares: "The executive council states that firm action
must be taken in order to free the country from Jewish influences and
domination in the cultural and economic fields. We must create Polish
centers and posts in the free professions, trade, industry, crafts, finance,
and agriculture. The Jewish problem must be solved through emigration.""9

For centuries the Polish aristocracy employed Jews in almost all

their business transactions. They shunned the Jew but they skilfully
utilized his abilities to increase their incomes from land, forests, and
rivers. The Jew sold their corn and their timber to foreign buyers at a
better price than the aristocrats could ever obtain themselves; the Jew
sold their farm products to the town. It was the Jew who was given the
license to sell the vodka of the "noble lords" to the serfs and peasants
in order to bring back to the coffers of the "noble lords" the cash the
"noble lord" paid to the peasants for their work and slavery. The Jew
was regarded as the best business-man to be entrusted with the lord's
affairs. But now the Polish aristocracy suddenly discovered that the
abilities of the Jew are worthless and that they must be replaced by
others. Prince Radziwill, whose family has for centuries dealt with Jews,
suddenly discovered that the "Jews smell of garlick," and he joined the
anti-Jewish fascist front. Like the Endeks, the Conservative Party
urges the "Polonization" of the towns and the emigration of the Jews.
They too are for the boycott and ghettos.
To explain this sudden change in the attitude of the Polish aristocracy
towards the Jews one has only to state, that nearly one third of the total
arable land in the country is in the hands of the gentry.20 In 1921,
13,000,000 hectares or 44 percent of the total land was in the hands of
rich land owners,21 whilst only 3,500,000 hectares were in the hands of
64 percent of all the peasant population of sixteen million. Since that
time about three million hectares have been divided out amongst the
land-hungry peasants. Yet even today three million Polish farmers are
forced to maintain themselves and their families on less than two hectares
of land.22 The agrarian reforms which were effected in the post-war
period in countries like Czechoslovakia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Esthonia
were not realized in Poland. Here the influence of the nobles was so great
19The meeting was held on June 19, 1938 in Warsaw. See Sprawy Polityczne, Biuletyn Wszystkich
Stronnictw, no. 171525 of June 20, 1938.
20 See the Polish Statistical Year Books for 1935-36-37, published by the Polish State Statistical
Office, Warsaw.
21 Glos Poranny, for May 15, 1937.
22 Polish Statistical Year Book (1938).

248

JEWISH

SOCIAL STUDIES

that not even Mr. Witos, the peasant leader, and three times primeminister of Poland, dared touch their land and divide it among the
peasants. Even Marshal Pilsudski dared not tackle land reform and he
rather made up with the nobles. But the peasant still needs the land.
He will never be lifted from his nineteenth century level until he is given
more land. Instead of being given land the peasant is advised to "go to
the town" and oust the Jews. It is thus their desire to retain their vast
holdings which determines the antisemitic policy of the conservatives in
Poland.
The Peasants
The attitude of the Polish Peasant Party towards the Jews has also
undergone several changes. In the early years of the newly established
republic there were several peasant parties in the Diet. Of these the
Piast and the Wyzwolenie were the largest and most influential. They
were represented by about one hundred representatives in the diet.
Article 14 of the Peasant Party Piast program, formulated in the early
stages of its activity in the diet, declares: "The Piast desires to base its
relations towards the minorities in Poland on principles of justice and
harmonious co-operation based on equality, guaranteed solemnly by the
law of the constitution." This lofty declaration is further explained to
mean that the Piast wants the minorities to enjoy "full and undisturbed
cultural and national freedom of development."23
Led by one of the noblest Poles, Stanislas Thugutt, the Peasant Party
Wyzwolenie declared in article 13 of its program: "The rights of man and
the rights of citizenship in Poland must be considered as the main objects
of our party. No one's rights of citizenship must be reduced because of
his profession, religion, or nationality."24 This somewhat vague though
noble declaration was re-enforced by Thugutt in another statement made
in 1922, in which he said: "Poland must and can be strong not through
the mere love of Poles alone but through the love of all of her citizens."
"The power and very existence of the country depends," he added; "on
whether the minorities too will love her or not."25
Both peasant parties at first thus maintained a positive attitude
towards the Jews. In 1931 all the peasant groups united to form one
party called the Stronnictwo Ludowe, or Populist Party. A change in
attitude towards the Jews then became noticeable. After long debates
within the newly united party a new program was adopted in 1935, which
23Balcikowska, op. cit., p. 181-84.
24Idem, p. 235.
25 Kalendarz Wyzwolenia (1922), party calendar, issued in Warsaw.

POLISH OPPOSITION PARTIES AND THE JEWS

249

defined the attitude of the Peasant Party towards the Jewish problem.
Article 8 of this program states: "All citizens in Poland irrespective of
creed and nationality must enjoy equal rights. The Jews, however, as
has been proved, cannot be assimilated and are a consciously alien nation
within Poland. As a middle class they occupy a far more important
position in Poland than in other countries, so that the Poles have no
middle class of their own. It is, therefore, most vital for the Polish state
that these middle class functions shall more and more pass into the hands
of Poles. We must realize this objective not through fruitless acts of
violence, which only brutalize the nation, but above all through the development of the co-operative movement in the country. While we profess
the principle of equal rights for the Jews in Poland we shall nevertheless
aim to solve the Jewish problem through the emigration of Jews to
Palestine and to other places."26 The need for economic war on the Jews,
"Polonization" of the towns and Jewish emigration thus crept into the
program of the Peasant Party to becloud the lofty ideals of equality
which had been earlier embodied in their program.
What is the attitude of the Polish peasants towards the Jews in
Poland today? Since the congress of 1935 the Peasant Party leaders
have "taken down" the Jewish question from their time tables. Whilst
the Endek Party and the fascists in Poland push the problem to the
forefront to make it appear as the "most vital" problem, the peasants
either ignore the problem altogether or make but slight reference to it.
For them it is not the most important problem in the country. At the
two important Peasant congresses held in 1937 in Warsaw and at the
beginning of 1938 in Cracow, no special attention was devoted to the
Jewish problem, beyond a "condemnation of Endek violence" mentioned
in a resolution adopted at the Cracow congress. Mr. Witos, the exiled
peasant leader now living in Czechoslovakia, sent greetings to both
congresses, but carefully omitted any reference to the Jewish problem,
although in his long and secret letters he discussed all problems in Poland.
Neither did the other leaders like Rataj, or Kolodziejczyk, mention this
problem. Only Thugutt referred in his address to the "defense of freedom for all." The other speakers and the resolutions were concerned
with the demand for "a democratic government" and the need for cooperatives and education for the peasants.
The silence of the peasants regarding the Jewish problem is explained
by two reasons: First because the Polish peasants regard the fight for
democracy and their share in the government as the most vital demand.
This was actually stated in the resolutions passed at both congresses.
26 Biuletyn WVszystkich
Stronnictw, of December 19, 1935, no. 51/439, outlining the full party
program of the United Peasant Parties. The congress was held on December 7-8, 1935.

250

JEWISH

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The tenth resolution adopted by the congress in 1937 declares: "We

considerthe fight for freedomand democracyas the most cardinalaim."27
Not the Jewish question but democracyis most crucialfor the peasants
today. This is made clear in an authoritative article published in the
party organ, Piast, following the congress. To the reproach that the
congress "failed to deal with the Jewish question," made in the antisemitic press, the Piast replied: "We do not regard the Jewish problem
as the main axis aroundwhich everything centers in Poland. The main
enemy of the Polish peasant today is the rulingparty, the regime,which
oppresseshim materially,morally,politically,and culturally. The Polish
peasant will not allow this fight with the regimeto be weakenedby the
Jewish question."28 And further:"The Endeks tell us, 'Attack the Jew.'
We have no intention to competewith them in this. We intend to realize
our programin that respect by the organizationof co-operativesand
our own shops. This method is more effective and also more cultured
than the smashing of Jewish windows."29Another reason why the
peasants preferto keep silent regardingthe Jews is that they have realized that despite huge antisemitic propagandathe peasants have not
been won over to the antisemitic front. The peasant still maintains a
perspective of realities and fair qualities of judgment. He is able to
distinguishbetween his real and unreal grievances. What he needs and
wants first is the land to which he is attached since ages and not the
Jewish shop in the town. He wants political power and a fair share in
the governmentof the country from which he was deprived for years.
No amountof Endekpropagandaor agitationon the side of the conservatives to teach the peasant that his "only enemy" is the Jew could make
him believe that his salvationwill come when he has ousted the Jew from
his job.
Of course, a good many peasants have been poisoned against the
Jews, but not as many as the Endeks had hoped. It should be stated to
the credit of the Polish peasant that his attitude towardsthe Jew, happily for him, for the Jew, and for Poland, is still guided by a sufficient
dose of commonsense which not even all the evil spirits freely amuckin
Poland today have been able to destroy. The Polish peasant still prefers
27
28

Biuletyn Wszystkich Stronnictw, no. 3-482, for January 26, 1937.

Piast, no. 5.

29 Sprawy Polityczne,
Biuletyn Wszystkich Stronnictw, no. 4/483. The Zielony Sztandar a peasant
weekly, made reference to the Jewish problem in the issue of January, 1937. "The peasants do not
believe that the Jewish problem can be solved with stick, stone, or knife. These methods the peasants
regard as immoral and as useless. The Polish Peasant Party aims towards a partial solution of the
Jewish problem through the formation of co-operative societies in the Polish villages. But the Polish
Peasant Party does not conceal its view that if some one must emigrate to Madagascar, it should
be the Jew and not the Polish peasant."

POLISH OPPOSITION PARTIES AND THE JEWS

251

to deal with the Jew despite the enormousboycott propaganda. When

the peasant strikes and riots broke out in August, 1937, during which
about 40 people were killed, the Jewish populationwalked about freely
and unmolested. Not a single Jew was attacked although agitation
amongst the peasants was at its highest. This would have been impossible were the peasants actually hostile to the Jews. The peasant with
his ratherprimitive,apolitical,and unsophisticatedmind findsit difficult
to comprehendwhy the Jew should suddenly be taken out beyond the
pale of citizenshipwhen both he and the Jew have lived and workedon
the same soil for centuriesand can continue to do so for the future progressof Poland. This and the fact that the peasantis fightingfordemocracy
against fascism leads Jews in Poland to maintain that if the 16,000,000
Polish peasantscame to power the Jewish question in Poland would be
bound to lose a good deal of its urgency, and its present bitterness
and acuteness. This would certainly be the case if the peasants, as most
of them desire,co-operatedwith the Polish workersin their mutual fight
for democracy.
ThePolish SocialistParty
Whereas the attitude towards the Jews of the nationalist group is
definitely hostile and that of the peasants neutral, the attitude of the
Polish Socialist Party is definitely positive. The Polish Socialist Party,
called for short P.P.S., is the only Polish oppositionparty which has the
will and the courage to raise its voice against the wave of antisemitism
and Endek terror. Being a Marxist party, the P.P.S. has continuously
co-operatedwith the Jewish workersin Poland and they maintain close
relationswith the Jewish Bund and the Poale Zion.
The principles whereby the P.P.S. aimed to regulate its attitude
towards the minoritiesin a free and independentPoland were first outlined at the seventeenth party congress held in 1919. The congress
resolvedthat in Poland"all citizensmust be guaranteedfull rightsregardless of sex, religion,or nationality. Minoritiesliving in compact masses
in certain parts of Poland should be granted autonomy."30The same
principles were upheld during the nineteenth party congress, which
dealt with the new Polish constitution. "All minorities,"the congress
resolved,3'"must be guaranteedby the constitutionthe free use of their
own languagein the schools. State subsidiesshould be distributedwithout regardto national or religiousinterests. Administrativepersecution
of the minoritiesmust cease. All citizens must enjoy equal opportunities
S0 Balcikowska, op. cit., p. 362.
31Idem, p. 370.

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for employment in the civil service." From this standpoint the Polish
Socialist Party has not, in the main, made any material deviations.
Today, as in the early days of Poland's independence, the party stands
for freedom, democracy, and for equal rights in Poland. Its program,
outlined and reshaped again at the twenty-fourth party congress in
Radom in 1937, dealt with the minorities problem in Poland and demanded "national cultural autonomy for all minorities and territorial
autonomy for those who, like the Ukrainians, live in compact masses in
certain parts of Poland."32 A special resolution was adopted by the congress, representing the bulk of Polish workers in Poland, condemning
fascism, antisemitism, and Endek propaganda. "Behind the antisemitic slogans, behind the slogans of pogroms, which aim to cheat the
masses there lurks the real desire to supress all progress and democcracy."3s When, following the pogrom in Przytyk, Jewish workers and
Jews generally proclaimed a protest strike, the Robotnik, the official
organ of the P.P.S., warmly supported the move. "Polish workers,"
wrote Niedzialkowski, the editor, "fully understand and sympathize
with this movement."34 Similar sentiments were expressed in the Front
Robotniczy, the leading organ of the Polish workers.35
Under the leadership of the P.P.S., which represents the majority of
the close to a million industrial workers in the country, the congress of
Polish Trade Unions, held on October 24, 1937, passed a resolution to
start "a campaign to counteract antisemitism in Poland and to instruct
the masses of its danger to them."36 Two months later the executive
committee of the trade unions passed another resolution against the
attacks on Jews in the universities. "Events now taking place in the
universities," the resolution declared, "are evidence of the brutalization
of the youth in these institutions, institutions to which the sons of workers
and peasants still have no access. We firmly demand from the authorities to put an immediate halt to the wild and arbitrary acts in the
universities."37 Student members of the P.P.S. very often rose in defense
of Jewish men and women who were attacked. There were numerous
cases reported in which Polish students, members of the P.P.S., ostentatiously moved over to the left side of the lecture rooms to join their
Jewish colleagues who were ordered to occupy the ghetto benches. In a
32 Sprawy Polityczne, Biuletyn Wszystkich Stronnictw, February, 1937. The congress was held
in Radom, near Warsaw, on January 31 and February 1-2, 1937.
33In same issue of the Sprawy Polityczne.
34 Robotnik, for March 14, 1937 (socialist daily, Warsaw).
35No. 16. The Front Robotniczy is the leading weekly of the Polish workers and of the Polish
Socialist Party, around which are grouped mainly the younger elements of the party.
36 Sprawy Polityczne, Biuletyn Wszystkich Stronnictw, no. 18/494.
3 The same issues of Biuletyn.

POLISH OPPOSITION PARTIES AND THE JEWS

253

number of towns young members of the Polish Socialist Party helped

defend Jews attacked by Endeks during the riots.38
Although the Polish Socialists still adhere to their principles of freedom and equality and although they continue to demonstrate their
friendly attitude towards the Jews in their present plight, there nevertheless has been some change in their dealing with the solution of the
Jewish problem. The solution of the Jewish problem by mass Jewish
emigration, which is now the main topic among all parties in Poland,
also seems to have found its way into the ranks of the P.P.S. To the
vital question as to whether the Jews as a nation will have a future in
Poland in the event of a socialist or democratic government, some Polish
Socialists reply in the negative. This viewpoint was expressed recently
by J. M. Borski, one of the Socialist intellectuals, in a special pamphlet
defining the attitude of the P.P.S. towards the Jews.39 According to
Borski, "only those Jews who are thoroughly integrated in Polish culture
and Polish life will be able to remain and live freely in Poland." The
large masses of Jews, he declares, will have "to emigrate from the country." This new tendency, which seeks the solution of the Jewish problem
by Jewish emigration, should not be considered representative of the
official policy and attitude of the P.P.S. In fact the political leaders of
the party have never made such a declaration and the official party press
has made it clear, in reply to objections by leaders of the Bund, that this
view does not represent the party's stand. It is symptomatic, however,
of the results which anti-Jewish propaganda has produced in influencing
even some Socialists to regard the mass of Jews as aliens and to consider
mass emigration as the sole solution to the Jewish problem in Poland.

The Democratic Party

Founded only recently, at the end of 1937, the Democratic Party has
from the start maintained a definite positive attitude towards the Jews.
Its founder, Professor Senator Miczyslaw Michalovitch, has used every
occasion to raise his voice in defense of the Jews. The declaration, passed
at the constituent meeting of the party, states: "Nationalism is becoming
a destructive force in Poland where one-third of the population is made
up of different minorities. Nationalism breaks up the state from within
and endangers its unity and power. We are opposed to nationalism and
we desire to replace it by the principle of equality for all citizens. We
88 Warszawski Dziennik Narodowy, in special reports from the anti-Jewish boycott campaign in
Kielce; A number of special reports during October, 1937.
89 Sprawa Zydowska a Socjalism (Warsaw 1937).

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SOCIAL STUDIES

condemn all attempts to solve internal, social, and economic problems

on racial, national, or religious grounds."40 From declarations the party
quickly passed over to action. It began issuing publications openly
combatting antisemitism and discrimination.4' It was instrumenal in
organizing a group of Polish professors to issue a protest against the
introduction of the ghetto benches in the universities. It carries on an
active educational campaign of enlightenment and endeavors to unite
all the democratic elements in Poland in the fight against antisemitism
and fascism. The Democratic Party is still very young. It came on the
scene in the midst of a sea of anti-Jewish propaganda and hatred and it
was greeted with derision, hostility, and at best skepticism, shared also
by some Jews. Yet the party is making progress. Senator Michalovitch,
an old veteran fighter for freedom who fought for Poland's freedom by
the side of Marshal Pilsudski, has already organized a large following
all over the country. The creation, existence, and development of the
Democratic Party in present day Poland should, in my opinion, be taken
as some proof, at least, that not all Poles are Endeks, not all are antisemites, not all want the boycott, beatings, mass emigration, or expulsion of Jews. Around the Democratic Party are being grouped some of
the noblest minds and hearts in Poland, Poles whose voice was stilled
and subdued by the violent anti-Jewish propaganda, Polish and German,
but whose voices can not and will not remain silent for ever.

Youth Movementsin Poland

This discussion would be incomplete without some mention of the
newly formed factions and movements of Polish youth. These factions
are still in the process of creation. They have not yet matured enough
to be called parties but they are beginning to play an important role
and they are bound to influence the present fate of the Jews in Poland.
Resolutions adopted at various meetings of the youth organizations
reflect the tendencies prevailing in the parties of the older generation.
The nationalist youth is almost entirely antisemitic. The vast majority
of the student organizations and students corporations at the Polish
universities are violently anti-Jewish. From their ranks come the
National Radical Youth Organisation, called Nara for short, the Falanga
40 The declaration of the Klub Democratyczny was published in the Sprawy Polityczne, Biuletyn
Wszystkich Stronnictw (October, 1937), and in all papers except the antisemitic ones.
41 Czarno na Bialym, a weekly newspaper first published by the Democratic party in Lwow and
later transported to Warsaw with a wide circulation. Its editor is Colonel Grendzinski, a former
member of the Pilsudski party and an old legionary, who fought with the late Marshal for Poland's
independence.

POLISH

OPPOSITION

PARTIES

AND THE JEWS

255

and the militant anti-Jewish Oboz Wielkopolski and the A.B.C. movement, all sworn antisemites.
To give the reader a glimpse of the mentality of these violently antiJewish movements, I shall only quote a resolution adopted at a meeting
of university youth, at which representatives of all the above movements
were represented. The resolution declared: "The Polish legislature must
adopt laws to deprive all Jews of all political rights in the country and
to bar their entrance into military service. Jews should be forced to live
only in certain areas in the country. They should be deprived of all
possibilities to carry on business or trade, or practise a profession. The
Jews should be expelled from all places in Poland, which are of religious,
military, or economic importance. They should be driven out from
Gdynia, Katowice, Czenstochowa, and the frontier zones."42 The
Mlodziez Wszechpolska issued an important appeal to students in
September, 1937, asking them to "fight the Jews." The Zwionzek Mlodej
Polski, which in its original program spoke of "rights for all," now finds
a solution for the Jewish problem in "energetic emigration."
The attitude of the peasant youth towards the Jews is not unanimously as hostile. The right wing is definitely antisemitic. At the congress of the Zwionzek Mlodej Wsi, held in Warsaw on June 30, 1937,
a resolution was adopted "denouncing all brutality which cripples the
Polish soul." But the same resolution went on to state that "from overcrowded Poland the Jews must be the first to emigrate because they are
a foreign element and dangerous to Polish society."13 Less hostile
towards the Jews is that section of the peasant youth which still remains
more or less under the immediate influence of the official Peasant Party.
At a congress of this youth held in Poznan in November, 1937, a resolution was adopted stating: "Minorities of Slav origin must be given the
opportunity for free cultural development. In respect to other minorities
the criterion of their rights should be measured by the level of their
loyalty." As regards the Jews the resolution urged the creation of Polish
co-operatives and Jewish emigration.44 There is still another section of
the Polish peasant youth grouped around the Wici movement, which
stands for equal rights for the Jews and which professes democratic and
some of them even socialist ideals. The Polish socialist youth stands
for equal rights for the Jews and has the same attitude towards the Jews
that of the P.P.S.
42 A resolution adopted by the Rada Naczelna of the Zwiazek Korporacji (executive council of
all academic societies), held in Danzig in January, 1938. See Sprawy Polityczne, Biuletyn Wszystkich
Stronnictw, for that month.
43 Sprawy Polityczne, Biuletyn, nos. 11/490 and 12/491, p. 210-12, June 1-10, 1937.

44Ibid.

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Although numerous and active, these Polish youth organizations and

factions have as yet no real say in public matters. They may contribute
and they undoubtedly do contribute towards making the fate of the
Jews harder in the universities and in general public life. But control
of all the vital problems, including that of the Jewish, is still in the hands
of the historical political Polish parties. It is their attitude towards the
Jew that is having a decisive effect on the position of the Jew in Poland
today and it is they who will decide his fate in the near future. Much
of course will depend on whether democracy or fascism, on whether freedom or nationalism will triumph in the fierce battle which is now going
on in Poland as in Europe generally.