Early Inter-War Polish Politics

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Main initial concerns for Paderewskis government were territorial Pilsudski soon secured Vilnius and Lwow The Russo-Poland war started in 1919 as Bolshevik and Polish forces moved into the vacuum left by the collapse of Germany The Red Army threatened Warsaw at one point, but Pilsudski headed this off and chased the Red Army back to Belorussia where an armistice was agreed in 1921. As such the border of Poland was very much what Lord Curzon had agreed upon. Building a New State, Diversity in Poland Had inherited territory from Austria-Hungary, Germany and Russia Even these partitions had partitions within them though, eg. The Belorussian and Ukrainian peasants 6 currencies varying educational practices no standard legal systems

Economic and social development was equally mixed In the West, industrialisation and market orientation was popular, large farms driven for profit were common In the East quasi-feudal relationships survived, very small holdings, not warranting capitalisation

Poland was the largest Jewish state in the world, 7.8% of Polish population were Jewish Predominantly urban, engaged in small workshop manufacturing and trading: 69% of those engaged in trading in 1921 were Jewish o There was therefore a tension between the average Pole and the Urban Jew, which Dmowski exploited. Polish Politics, 1921-1926 The wartime national defence cabinet had concealed tensions between the Dmowski and Pilsudski. Following the treaty of Riga, although there were

many different parties, people mainly followed Pilsudski or Dmowskis National Democrats Pilsudski gained most of his support from army, which he attempted to keep removed from party politics Army was very happy about this, also gained a lot of civilian support due to his war record. Dmowski did get involved with politics, his National Democrat party joined with other Right Wing parties to form the Popular National Union their movement was referred to as the endecja Other parties were the Polish Socialist Party (which Pilsudski had once been a member), National Peasant Party and Witoss agrarian Piast group, which was closer aligned to Dmowski concerning their views to minorities 1921 constitution cut presidential powers considerably, granting most of the power to the Sejm (lower house) the multiplicity of parties meant that in order to form ministries positions they had to combine in blocs which would then barter over posts in the cabinet: the government was a coalition of coalitions. 1922 elections were fruitless and as such a non-party cabinet under Sikorski was formed (Centre Left) President Narutowicz enraged the Right on his election as they had done well at the elections and now felt an opposition president had been forced on them. He was assassinated days into his presidency by a Right Wing fanatic. The following Witos government (May 1923) battled with inflations Poland had no gold reserves Dislocated trade and industry Successive governments meant no budget was ever successively balanced Cost of war both WWI and Russo-Polish War Liberation Tax from allies Polish Mark pulled down by its German namesake Witos administration didnt want to hurt peasants or industry so the urban population suffered most

Resulted in labour unrest in Cracow, death of 14 workers and the resignation of the government (December 1923) in under a year. Following governments experienced similar economic turmoil E.g. the boycott of Germany on Polish exports until Polish German minorities were better treated (post-1922)

Pilsudskis Coup

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Government had been hopelessly weak in the face of social and economic difficulties In no small part due to the 92 political parties o 32 of them represented in the Sejm Socialists prevented wage control, agrarians vetoed price regulation, National Union shielded industry and land holders. Many cabinet coalitions were only held together by promises of offices and exemption from land reform By 1926 national minorities were also disaffected Local government concessions had been promised in 1922 but nothing had materialised Ukrainians particularly angered, 1925 violence broke out. Pilsudskis attitude towards minorities had always been generous and Germans had not forgotten his initial wartime allegiance to Germany and Austria-Hungary Peasants had seen no improvement in their quality of life either Unemployment had nearly rise to 1/3rd Coup also affected by foreign policy From 1921 the basis of Polish foreign policy were treaties with Romania and France in the spirit of the Treaty of Versailles Following Locarno in 1925 Poland was no longer guaranteed by Western commitment The Soviet-German neutrality pact was also disturbing: o 2 of Polands biggest neighbours were on good terms Poland could not afford to be weak.

The Sanacja

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Argued that he did not want to rule by the whip, didnt want to change Polands political system, just cleanse it. Determined to keep the army away from being a political instrument The first period (1926-1930) was dominated by Bartel. He was a moderate who achieved considerable success Stabilised inflation through the gold standard Balanced the budget Managed to partition plenty of land in the countryside for peasants, actually more than the 1925 act obliged Central authority was increased over regionalism, allowed him to cut down on the bloated nature of the Polish administration Modifications to school laws which eased pressure on minorities Jews welcomed a series of measures to encourage revival of Jewish trade

Pilsudski was very successful in shielding the army from politics Removed a number of dubious officers from commands BUT- Unfortunately Pilsudski actively discriminated against AustroHungarian and Russian officers, preferring those who had served with him Meant that the experience of the Polish army was slight and aged, with officers only being able to imagine warfare as they had experienced it in the 1919-1921 war. Air Force was neglected, Pilsudski believed it was only useful for reconnaissance no provision for anti air guns was commissioned His contempt for the Sejm continued, he refused to give his address unless they all stood up and refused the presidency: something that needlessly offended both the Sejm and the Senate As such opposition formed around Dmowski, bringing Right Wing factions together into the Camp for Great Poland This struck a particularly resonant chord among Polish students Pilsudski on the other hand became more ingraciated with the Old Right, offended by the vulgarity of the CGP

The 1928 election therefore, was basically a referendum on the May Coup. Pilsudski won, but not by an overwhelming majority Did produce a surprisingly high 7% vote for the communists, Sanacja parties received 25% of the vote. Most sources indicate that the election result was that of the genuine sentiment of the time and a popular endorsement of the regime.

Sancja: Crisis of 1930

The 1928 government began badly

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Disagreements on tax and rowdiness in the Sejm Increasing militancy of Ukrainian ethnics Drastic turn of economic tide

A number of political affairs led to a destabilisation in the government led to the resignation of some of Pilsudskis supporters such as Bartel, increased the amount of army presence in the Cabinet. Socialists were angered when they lost control of the funds which the state medical scheme was funded Parties of the centre left and left issued a joint refusal to a government invitation to discuss issues Ukrainian Military Organisation started a campaign of terror in 1930 During this time the Great Depression forced the first major cut in the budget Unemployment reached 25% in 1931 National income had steadily declined, it dropped by 25% between 1931 and 1933 Steep reduction in agricultural prices Tensions became so bad that Pilsudski himself became Prime Minister and on the 9th of September had 11 Centrolew (centre left) leaders arrested. By the next month several thousand opponents had been arrested. Shortly after this an election was called; the Centrolew with all their leaders arrested only polled 22% of the vote compared to Pilsduskis 47% However, must understand that there were many who voted for the Sanacja regime because it was still better than those that had come before it. On the other hand, when those that had been arrested were released, their accounts of their treatment appalled so many Poles that Pilsudski lost a lot of support

Rule of the Colonels 1931 the Pacification of Ukraine begins

all that remained of the Sanacja regime was the Praetorian

guard of military commanders o The lice crawled all over me Pilsudski 1931- By this time the Centrolew had been effectively destroyed. 3 peasant parties came together to form a united Peasant Party (PP) Government took steps to dissolve the CGP, which then reformed into a more radical National Radical Camp, itself splitting off into different factions as was the norm in Polish politics. November Bill, 1931- Conscription of railway workers in times of war or national emergency In 1932 the government enacted decrees to limit the power of Right and reduced the autonomy of the universities

Pilsudski appointed his friend, Jozef Beck as Foreign Minister Brokered 1932 non-aggression pact with Stalin 1934 non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany Pilsudski started to sense at this time that French guarantees towards Poland would not be honoured o German agreement lessened pressure on the Polish corridor

Pilsudski enacted a new constitution, making the President not responsible to the Sejm but to God and History The power of the Sejm was reduced dramatically The President now had the power to appoint the supreme commander of the armed forces, who was responsible only to him Proportional representation was removed Pilsudskia died days after the constitution was ratified on 12th May 1935

Death of Pilsudski to War

After Pilsudskis death the Sanacja remained weak.

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The opposition boycotted the election following Pilsudskis death and less than half the population turned up to vote. The military aspect of the Sanacja dominated the civilian. The appointment of a compromise candidate to the left angered the colonels. He was forced to resign with a general replacing him. There were calls for a centre right coalition, swinging to a pro-French foreign policy and to restore democracy in Poland The Sanacja responded with their own group called the Camp of National Unity o 40% nationalism, 30% social radicalism, 20% agrarianism and 10% anti-Semitism o Dmowskiite ideas which Pilsudski hated meant that the party found little support Many young Poles wanted to follow the image of Italy in growing strong through the ideology of Fascism. Young intelligentsia, with poor employment prospects argued the most for this. Moreover, in the countryside the quality of life for peasants was rapidly diminishing. It was not until 1933 that anyone did anything about this Reports of no sugar or having no more than one set of clothes. Number of strikes in Galicia in 1932 and 1933 o Peasants refused to sell their produce in 1932 o PSP secured notable success in municipal elections of 1936 Minority races did not support the Sanacja either Disturbed by local government reforms in 1933 which made Polish the official language in local government bodies Removal of the minority protection treaties in 1934

Jews were in a worse position Virulent anti-Semitism of the youth, encouraged by Nazi Germany meant wide-scale persecution Dmowski and his allies insisted that the Jews be expelled

Germans on the other hand enjoyed improved quality of life due to the beneficial relations with Nazi Germany Beck kept good relations because he assumed that Hitler would be more interested in Austria and its surrounding lands, this would negate any embarrassing questions concerning the Polish Corridor or Silesia. In the long run Germany might appreciate Polish efforts against Russia, Pilsudksis long argued enemy of Poland However given the reluctance of the Western allies to act against Hitler, Beck had very little alternative to this policy But, Beck had miscalculated, the Third Europe was not an option, Hitler was ready to use Stalin against Poland and his gaze was not fixed firmly on the South. Despite this Beck argued that the British guarantee would save Poland from destruction

Even in the face of emergency in 1939 the Sanacja would not open its doors to former opponents, Smigly-Rydz refused to include Witos and other exiles in any form of national government