Historical calendar – anniversary of the establishment of the “Temporary Government of the People's Republic of Poland” in Lublin, headed by Ignacy Daszyński.
Today in our calendar we will look at the turbulent period preceding the collapse of the Regency Council.
On 5 November 1918, the Regency Council issued a decree establishing its administration in the erstwhile Lublin Austrian province. Having found out about this, leftist activist Ignacy Daszyński immediately left for Lublin. On the night of 6-7 November, the Provisional People's Government of the Republic of Poland was established there. On November 7, he issued a peculiar manifesto. Its content was as follows:
To the Polish people!
Workers, peasants and Polish soldiers! Above the bloody and tormented humanity, the lights of peace and freedom rise. The governments of capitalists, factorymen and localists, the governments of military oppression, and the social exploitation of working masses are crumbling. Everywhere the working people come to power. And there will be no better part of the Polish nation if the core and the vast majority of it, the working people, does not take into their hands the construction of the foundations of our social and state life.
The destiny of the Polish people must not proceed to be governed by the Regency Council, by abroad and hostile factors imposed upon us, which, at the same time, pushes the Polish people to the abyss.
This socialist manifesto should be amazed, among others, by violent treatment Tadeusz Rozwadowski. He was called an Austrian soldier, and yet all the officers of the time served in 1 or another of the business armies. Daszyński - as it was expected to be a lying socialist - did not disturb that little than a week after the release of the manifesto full of power in Poland was won not even by an Austrian officer but by an Austrian officer (TW Stefan II) and most likely besides by a German intelligence agent, Józef Piłsudski.
In order to rise the horror of this manifesto even more, it is worth comparing its content with a fragment of a somewhat later act – the PKWN manifesto, written in Moscow and announced on July 22, 1944 in Chełma.
To the Polish Nation!
My countrymen! The hr of liberation has come. Armja Polska crossed Bug alongside Red Army. Polish soldier fights on our homeland. White and red banners again flew over the tortured Poland. ...
My countrymen!
A nation fighting the German occupier for freedom and independency created its representation, its underground parliament — the National Council. Representatives of democratic parties — peoples, democracies, socialists, members of the PPR and another organizations — entered the National Council. The Polish National Council of Poland and the Polish Patrjots Association and the Army created by it have been subjected to it. The National Council, established by the fighting nation, is the only legal origin of power in Poland.
The emigration “government” in London and its delegation in the country is simply a self-proclaimed authority, an illegal authority, based on the illegal fascist constitution of April 1935. This “government” has hampered the fight against the Nazi occupier, and has pushed Poland towards a fresh catastrophe.
As we can see, both papers are very akin in content. But that is not all.
The demolition of the Regency Council was not just about limiting its territorial power by creating a crashed Lublin government or a Galician Elimination Commission (in which Daszyński besides participated!). In Warsaw alone socialists organized strikes and pickets all fewer days. The full atmosphere looked like the announcement of the imminent outbreak of the communist revolution.
Then, in Magdeburg, 2 envoys of the German General Staff, including number Harry Kessler, called the "red count" due to political views, arrived at Joseph Piłsudski, who was imprisoned there. It is not known precisely what they were talking about, in any case, he was then transported to Berlin for further talks.
From there, on the afternoon of 9 November, a peculiar train consisting of a locomotive and 1 carriage, Piłsudski and his companion Kazimierz Sosnkowski were dispatched to Warsaw. On November 10, around 7 a.m., activists arrived in the capital. At the station, they were expected by Prince Zdzisław Lubomirski and a group of activists of the Polish Military Organization with Adam Koce at the head.
Piłsudski then went to Józef Ostrowski's flat where he spoke to representatives of the Regency Council. The next day the Council handed over the army to him, which was in line with the announcement of Prime Minister Świeżyński.
The simple question is: what business did Germany gotta bring Józef Piłsudski to Warsaw? After all, they could fire him from interning in Magdeburg and leave him to his fate. The answer is very simple: The deteriorating interior situation of Germany caused them to reactivate Piłsudski. The German general staff seriously feared communism and saw as a remedy, among others, an independent Polish state, which would temporarily stand in the way of a merger of revolutionary forces from Russia and Germany.
It was anticipated that Poland would not pose a threat to Berlin within the limits of the legislature Kingdom and that it would become economically and politically dependent in time. In turn Piłsudski, who gained considerable prestige among Poles, will be able to discipline the threat of revealing cooperation with Austrian and his own interview. possibly in their eyes the Regency Council could not fulfil a akin role, as it enjoyed besides small social prestige.
Perhaps there were another factors that we do not know, and we can only guess about, for example, the effort to safe German estates in Wielkopolska and Pomerania. As the later accidents showed Piłsudski did not want to aid the Wielkopolska insurgents.
Anyway, on the same day on 11 November 1918 another manifestation of socialists and communists took place in Warsaw. This time, in addition to the overthrow of the Regency Council, a very circumstantial thing was demanded – the creation of the Prime Minister's remark by Ignacy Daszyński from the Lublin government. Not much, due to the fact that the delegation with Tadeusz Zaremba at the head of the organization wanted to present Józef Piłsudski with the red flag of the revolution.
Piłsudski refused to accept stating that he had a work to act on behalf of the full nation. surely this average Piłsudski was 1 of the crucial arguments for the Regency Council itself, increasingly seriously afraid of the outbreak of the communist revolution. On 13 November 1918 all factories and workshops stopped in Warsaw, and trams did not leave the city. At 10:00 a.m., immense crowds gathered. Another socialist rally took place again, which is not hard to predict, under the slogan of the resignation of the Regency Council.
Then the same Zaremba, who handed Piłsudski the red flag 2 days earlier, took part in the PPS action, in which the same flag was suspended at the Royal Castle.
The Regency Council was terrified. She succumbed to Piłsudski's pressures and the crowd and dissolved the next day. She gave Pilsudski full executive power. This was incompatible with the declaration of independency of October 7 and meant a de facto coup d'état, but no 1 cared about it at the time or later.
Previous entry from our calendar is available Here.
