11 November 1918 is considered the symbolic date on which Poland regained its independence. However, the process of laying down the legal foundations of the reborn state continued for a number of years. One of the main things was to draw up a constitution. As early as February 1919, the single-chamber Legislative Sejm (parliament) elected… Continue reading March Constitution
The end of World War I in November 1918 made it necessary to conclude peace treaties that would define the borders of the states that emerged after the fall of the German Empire, Austria-Hungary and the Russian Empire. The natural representative of the Polish people were the circles gathered around Roman Dmowski and the Polish… Continue reading Roman Dmowski’s speech at a meeting of the Council of Ten
Poland’s first parliamentary elections following the restoration of independence were to the Constitutional Sejm. They were carried out on the basis of the Decree of November 28, 1918 on elections to the Sejm, drafted and adopted by the Provisional People’s Government of the Polish Republic headed by Jędrzej Moraczewski, and approved by Józef Piłsudski, the… Continue reading Decree on the electoral system for the Constitutional Sejm (excerpt)
The Interim People’s Government of the Polish Republic run by Jędrzej Moraczewski, was established by Józef Piłsudski on 18th November 1918. In political terms, it partly continued the policies of the Lublin-based government led by the Prime Minister Ignacy Daszyński. Moraczewski’s Government declared the establishment of a Legislative Sejm, to be elected through a secret,… Continue reading Statement from the Polish government
Headed by Ignacy Daszyński as Premier, the Provisional People’s Government of the Polish Republic was established on November 7, 1918 in Lublin by a group of independence-oriented Leftist activists (PPS, PSL Wyzwolenie). This Government did not however attain a nation-wide reach, and functioned alongside other power centres, among them the Polish Liquidation Commission in Galicia.… Continue reading Manifesto of the People’s Government of the Republic of Poland
During the First World War, the Polish independence milieus disagreed on geopolitical choices and decided to support different European powers. Roman Dmowski, the leader of the National Democracy (Narodowa Demokracja, ND), wanted to strive for autonomy within the Russian Empire so before the outbreak of the war, he supported the Triple Entente that was the… Continue reading Founding Meeting of the Polish National Committee
The Republic of Poland lost its independence in the 18th century as a result of 3 partitions of its territory conducted by its neighbors —Russia, Prussia, and Austria —in 1772, 1792 (only Russia and Prussia), and 1795. The 3rd partition whiped Poland off the map. Throughout the 19th century Poles made numerous attempts to reinstate… Continue reading Józef Piłsudski’s address to troops of the Riflemen’s Association and the Polish Rifle Squads
The leftist Polish Socialist Party (Polska Partia Socjalistyczna, PPS) and the nationalistic National Democracy (Narodowa Demokracja) were the two most powerful Polish pro-independence groups established towards the end of the 19th century which continued their political activity in the 20th century. Among the most prominent figures in the first one was Józef Piłsudski (pseudonym “Ziuk”),… Continue reading Józef Piłsudski’s letter to Feliks Perl
The organizers of the January Uprising, which broke out in the Russian partition in 1863, tried to win the peasant masses over to the national cause. The Insurgent National Government had drawn conclusions from the people’s insignificant support for the November Uprising and from the tragic Galician Slaughter. In the absence of a regular army,… Continue reading The Golden Writ
On January 22, 1863, the Polish ‘Central National Committee’ proclaimed the outbreak of an uprising and issued a manifesto whereby it proclaimed itself the Interim National Government. The document appealed to all the inhabitants of the former Polish-Lithuanian Rzeczpospolita (Commonwealth), within its pre-partition borders, to fight against tsarist rule for liberty. The manifesto heralded the… Continue reading Manifesto of the Interim National Government
