EN
This paper presents the views of the creator of Warsaw positivism – Aleksander Świętochowski on functioning of the state society and Polish national character in former Rzeczpospolita, included in his work Genealogy of the present, which was published for the first time in fragments in 1935. The intention of the author is to present the most interesting elements of historical conception of Świętochowski. However, all considerations are reduced to a few important aspects: presentation of character of particular social groups and typical national characteristics of Poles. As a backdrop for these researches, the author presents of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth political system.