POLISH POLITICS AND THE REBUILDING OF THE NATION

jan peczkis|Tuesday, December 20, 2011

POLISH POLITICS AND THE REBUILDING OF THE NATION is the title of this 2-volume Polish-language book. (Review based on 2nd, 1937 edition, reprinted in 1988). Owing to the breadth of its content, I focus mainly on what Dmowski is most remembered for--his evaluation of Jews.

     
  Polityka polska i odbudowanie panstwa (Polish Edition)         Polityka polska i odbudowanie panstwa (Polish Edition)
Ironic to those who accuse Dmowski of being an anti-Semite, he actually condemned those who demonize Jews and ascribe fantastic powers to them--as much as he condemned those who made light of Jewish power and influence! He also thought it a mistake to overlook the contributions that Jews had made to human civilization. (V2, p. 44). Nor does Dmowski scapegoat Jews for Polish problems. He puts much blame on none other than Poles themselves. He faults Poles (specifically their weak middle class) for facilitating the rapid growth of Jewish population since the 17th century. (V2, p. 279). He chides Poles for still having a weak overall sense of political organization in 1914, after decades of improvement. (V1, p. 207). While in the USA, instead of dwelling on the pro-German and Jewish influence in the American media, he primarily faults Poles for not getting the word out. (V2, p. 90).

Although Dmowski does not use the term Litvak (Litwak), he describes how Jews, driven out of Russia, were artificially transplanted into Russian-ruled Poland. These Jews did not consider themselves Poles. They were ruled by Jewish nationalists who were hostile to Polish overtures. This led to the Polish boycott of Jews. (V2, p. 279).

Jews under tsarist Russian rule, having acquired positions of authority, had displayed enmity towards Poles well before the pivotal events of 1905, and the 1912 Jewish-led election of the pro-Russian Jagiello to the Duma had been among the political moves that had threatened the very viability of the emerging Polish national movement. (V1, p. 163). This prompted Dmowski to retaliate by launching his much-condemned boycotts of Jews. Long before Dmowski had taken any measures against Jews, however, they had been strongly attacking his Polish-independence movement, in the press, as being "reactionary." (V1, p. 148).

The German-Jewish symbiosis was probably an even greater threat to Polish independence than the Russian-Jewish one. Jews had played an instrumental role in the growth of Bismarck's Prussia. Much of its banking, industry, and commerce had been in Jewish hands. (V2, p. 50). Small wonder that Jewish vested interests were hostile to the resurrection of the Polish state. (V2, p. 52).

In the Austrian-ruled part of Poland, the conduct of the Jews towards Polish national aspirations was no better. (V1, p. 232). Jews had acquired such significance in the government and economy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire that they had assumed the role of "glue" holding the Empire together. (V2, p. 50).

Although Dmowski does not use the terms Judeocracy or Judeopolonia, he does mention the fact that some Jews had come to see foreign-ruled Polish territory as a second Land of Canaan--existing for the benefit of Jews, and not the native Polish inhabitants. (V2, p. 52). [Later, while in the USA, angry Jews beset Dmowski, demanding that the new Polish state grant "cultural autonomy" to its Jews. (V2, p. 84)].

Dmowski shows how Jewish separatism had become politicized in the form of Jewish nationalism and early forms of Zionism, which had tended towards the goal of acquiring Jewish territory (not necessarily in Palestine). This found encouragement in a 1902 proposal to carve the Austro-Hungarian Empire into a union of autonomous units, as well as the possibility of a German-ruled Jewish state in German-ruled Poland facilitated by the close similarity between Yiddish and German. (V2, pp. 46-47).

In time of war, Jews tended to give their loyalty to whomever they think was stronger or would emerge victorious. (V2, p. 17, 51). The influence of German Jews upon world Jewry was very strong, and Jews sided with Germany during the first half of the Great War. (V1, p. 189; V2, p. 49). Erstwhile Polish Jews in Prussian-ruled Poland had become so pro-German that local Poles did not want them in the Polish armed forces for this reason. (V2, p. 39; see also p. 36). The German press served as a conduit for [mostly bogus] Jewish reports of massive pogroms in Poland. This was a pro-German, anti-Polish provocation. (V2, pp. 115-116).

In 1917, the Jews, in large part, switched their loyalties, but never totally abandoned their Germanocentric orientation. (V2, p. 52). [Parenthetically, this change in loyalty led to "Jews stabbed Germany in the back" accusations by the later Nazis.]

Pro-German, anti-Polish Jewish influence in Britain had contributed to the impression that those who live in Poznania willed for it to remain part of Germany. (V1, p. 259). In fact, Lewis Namier (Bernstein) exemplified the influential anti-Polish Jew who caused great geopolitical harm to Poland. (V1, p. 264, 266). He also spread false information about what Dmowski had been doing. (V1, pp. 309-310). Lloyd George had been steered into an anti-Polish, pro-German direction by influential Jews. (V2, pp. 61-62, 139, 147). On the other hand, anti-German sentiment in the US had proved too strong for the same to happen to President Wilson.

In France, when in a discussion with Clemenceau and President Wilson, Dmowski said that Poland was situated in a part of Europe in which peace was the most threatened. Dmowski had to juggle languages because the Jewish translator, Mantoux, had twisted Dmowski's statement into: "My nation represents the greatest threat to peace." (V2, p. 128).

When in the USA, Dmowski talked for hours with Louis Marschall, a prominent American Jew. Marschall said that American Jews are unambiguously enemies of Poland--because of such things as the boycotts of Poland's Jews. Dmowski replied that Poland's Jews should strive to help Poland be independent, strong, and rich. (V2, p. 94).

Dmowski touches on the enmity of Freemasonry against everything Catholic--ever since it had been associated with the Hannover Dynasty and the Jacobins, and had become a tool of Frederick the Great. (V2, p. 141). For more on this, see the Peczkis review of: The War of Antichrist with the Church and Christian Civilization, Lectures.