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Stockholm political talks between activists in the country and liberal democrats in exile in Russia

100%

Miodowski A.

Białostockie Teki Historyczne

2006

issue 4

129-146

A revolutionary coup that took place in Russia in 1917 created an opportunity for the Poles residing in this country to activate themselves and to take independent political and military actions. The Russian pro-independence centre could potentially gain a dominant position and surpass the other two communities that were active in the country and Western Europe. The condition that had to be fulfilled to gain such a leading position was to build a lasting unity between Polish political fractions functioning in exile in Russia. All initiatives towards this cause, however, ended in fiascos. In such a situation, both dominating Polish political fractions in Russia, i.e. liberal democrats and national democrats, together with weaker fractions supporting them, decided to seek support for their actions with activists in the country and pro-coalition circles based in Western Europe, respectively. The consequence of such a situation was the need to coordinate the activities of both communities with the directions set by leading centres. This was easier for national democrats, since there were accessible communication channels between Coalition members, that Poles in the eastern and western parts of the continent could potentially use. For liberal democrats, contacting the activists was not possible, as they were separated from the country by a tight border of the eastern front. Because of this, an idea was born to organise political talks on the neutral ground, with the aim of synchronising the activities of all Polish fractions in favour of the programme contained in the 'November 5th Act'. The first meeting was held between 5 and 10 May, and the second one at the turn of August and September 1917. Both were held in Stockholm. Arrangements made in the capital of Sweden during both conferences shaped the directions of common actions of activists in the country and their liberal democratic supporters from Russia. It was not until the Bolshevik coup, that fundamental changes had to be made to political tactics of both fractions of this camp. These new geopolitical and strategic circumstances made the coordination of common action much easier, as the chaos in Eastern Europe enabled more frequent contacts of political leaders from the country and from the émigré community in Russia. Liberal democratic leaders visited Warsaw, while emissaries of the Regency Council and parties from its powerbase travelled in the opposite direction.

A conflict between liberal and national democrats for political leadership in the environment of Polish refugees in Russia at the time of the February Revolution

100%

Miodowski A.

Studia Podlaskie

2006

vol. 16

41-62

The relations between liberal-democratic and national-democratic environments in exile in Russia were very bad already in the time before the February Revolution. Conflict between these political forces escalated at the end of 1916, mostly due to discrepancies in the evaluation of the Act of 5th November and actions taken by political elites under its influence in the Country. Liberal-democratic groups became engaged in cooperation with liberal and left-wing Russian opposition, recognizing Temporary State Council in Warsaw as a ruling organ of the reviving Polish state at the same time. On the other hand, National Democratic Party together with their advocates gathered around it under the name Polish National Committee, maintained good relations with Russian ruling spheres, severely negating the idea of recognizing Temporary State Council as representation of the Polish society in the Country at the same time. In post-revolution Russia the position of National Democratic Party worsened considerably, which was mainly the result of Polish liberal-democratic environments uniting into one uniform organizational structure which Democratic Committee became. Due to connections of its leaders with post-revolution Russian elites this fact additionally weakened National Democratic Party's position in Russia. Wishing to take advantage of political opponent's weakness, after February revolution liberal democrats took up action aiming to push National Democratic Party aside into a political margin. The first main motive of their attacks on 'endecja' (National Democrats) was the fact this environment was involved in close cooperation with the tsarist regime. However, with time, when differences in opinions between the two camps on the issue of forming Polish army in Russia became apparent, this matter started to be the main field of fight between liberal-democratic groups and National Democratic Party for the government of souls among Polish refugees circles in Russia. The conflict between liberal democrats and national democrats naturally involved Alexander Lednicki as well, despite the fact that in result of being appointed a President of Liquidation Commission for the Matters of the Kingdom of Poland, he decided, at least officially, to depart from Polish Democratic Club in Moscow and generally from the entire environment gathered under the name of Democratic Committee. The fact that A. Lednicki was involved in this conflict was not only the effect of his connections with liberal-democratic environment, but it also resulted from his political ambition to play a role of a leader of the Polish community in Russia. In other words, aspirations of President of Liquidation Commission required political fight that had broken out between liberal and national democrats to alleviate rather than inflame. In this background there appeared a chance to consolidate Polish political groups in Russia and avoid shocking fight that basically had started with the matter of organizing Polish army in this country.

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1 Białostockie Teki Historyczne

1 Studia Podlaskie

2 2006

2 Miodowski A.

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Stockholm political talks between activists in the country and liberal democrats in exile in Russia

A conflict between liberal and national democrats for political leadership in the environment of Polish refugees in Russia at the time of the February Revolution