💾 Archived View for library.inu.red › file › magda-romanska-anarchism-in-poland.gmi captured on 2023-01-29 at 12:48:33. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
➡️ Next capture (2024-06-20)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Title: Anarchism in Poland Author: Magda Romanska Date: 2009 Language: en Topics: Poland, history Source: Romanska, Magda. “Anarchism, Poland.” In The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest: 1500 to the Present, edited by Immanuel Ness, 140–141. Vol. 1. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009.
From 1772 until 1918 Poland as such did not exist; the country was
partitioned by Russia, Prussia, and Austria. The anarchism movement thus
sprang from the emancipatory impulses of various nineteenth-century
underground groups that fought to reestablish the Polish state. The area
occupied by Tsarist Russia experienced the bloodiest persecutions. The
first anarchist group, consisting mostly of young Poles of Jewish
descent, was organized in 1903 in Bialystok. In the following years, the
group’s activities spread to other cities: Warsaw, Lódz, Kielce,
Siedlce, and others. The goal of these groups was to disrupt the civil
order set by the occupants. They often engaged in acts of terror:
robberies, assaults on the police, bombings, and so forth. At the same
time, some anarchist groups began to be interested in
anarchosyndicalism, which rejected terrorism and focused on organizing
revolutionary trade unions and engaging in various propaganda
activities.
Polish anarchism thrived among socialist philosophers. Edward Abramowski
(1868–1918, author of Socialism and the State and A Public Collusion
against Government) advocated, as an alternative to the state, voluntary
unions based on principles of common interest and collaboration.
Influenced by Leo Tolstoy, Abramowski suggested that unions provide a
foundation for individual freedom, while safeguarding justice and social
order.
Jan Waclaw Machajski (1866–1926) began his political career as a member
of the Polish Socialist Party, but soon rejected its bureaucracy and
intellectual elite and believed the state should be destroyed by the
working class. From 1920 to 1939, a short period of Polish independence,
Abramowski and Machajski’s anarchosyndicalist ideas influenced the Union
of Trade-Unions (ZwiÄ…zek ZwiÄ…zkĂłw Zadowowych) (ZZZ), a 130,000-member
organization from 1931 to 1939. After World War II began, anarchist
ideas influenced Poland’s subsequent struggles, opposing the Nazis
during the war and Russian rule from 1946 to 1989. During World War II,
members of ZZZ created ZwiÄ…zek SyndykalistĂłw Polskich) (Union of Polish
Syndicalists), participating in many resistance activities, including
the Warsaw Ghetto uprising.
In the 1980s, anarchist ideas reappeared, with the Movement of
Alternative Society. Shortly thereafter, small anarchist groups emerged
in various cities across Poland in opposing the communist regime. These
groups resorted to what Peter Sloterdijk calls kynicism, the recourse to
irony and humor to undermine repressive regimes, organizing street
happenings, performances, and impromptu performance events. These groups
included Pomarańczowa Alter-natywa (The Orange Alternative), Klub Sigma
(Club Sigma), and MiedzymiastĂłwka Anarchistyczna (Anarchy
International). In the 1980s the anarchosyndicalist section of the
Anarchist Federation published the newspaper Kombinat (The Factory), and
the Anarchist Workers’ Initiative (Anarchistyczna Inicjatywa Robotnicza)
(AIR) published the newspaper Direct Action. Although initially founded
on anarchist organization, in 1989 Solidarność (Solidarity) emerged as
an official political party.
SEE ALSO: Anarchism ; Solidarność (Solidarity)
Nagorski, R. (1924/1977) History of the Anarchist Movement in Poland.
Cienfuegos Press Anarchist Review 2: 20–2.
Osa, M. (2003) Solidarity and Contention: Networks of Polish Opposition.
Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Tyszka, J. (1998) The Orange Alternative: Street Happenings as Social
Performance in Poland Under Martial Law. New Theatre Quarterly 14, 56:
311.