On February 18th this year, Bolesław Piasecki's birth anniversary was passed – during the pre-war leader of the National-Radical Movement "Falanga", and after planet War II, president of the Association "PAX".
To say about Piasecki that he was a political activist or a politician, is to say nothing. Bolesław Piasecki was a political visionary, and specified fewer were included in the pages of Polish history. Piasecki's uniqueness was not only about the charisma mentioned by his colleagues, but besides about the uncommon ability to act effectively even in the most unfavourable circumstances and the ability to draw conclusions from past and make the right decisions at the moment.
The political activity of Bolesław Piasecki can be divided into 2 stages – the pre-war period with years of business and the post-war period. Despite the abandonment of many old slogans and postulates after planet War II – Piasecki's views stay unchanged on the most crucial issues. Only the reality and conditions in which he had to act changed. Born on 18 February 1915 Bolesław Piasecki was an activist of the Academic Camp of large Poland and the Young National organization Section before the war. In 1934, together with a group of SN secessionists, he formed a National-Radical Camp, followed by the National-Radical Movement “Falanga”, of which he was the leader.
He rapidly gained authority and designation among older national activists. 1 of his associates at the time Vladimir Sznarbachowski He put it this way: “Already in his freshman year, he fascinated his colleagues with individual conversations, drawn them to the OWP or the Youth of All Poland. We compared him to Christ, who told the fishermen, the taxation collectors, the future apostles simply, “Follow me” and we went on to give ourselves to him for years.” [1] In the pre-war period “Falanga” was the most extremist part of the Polish national camp, not only about radicalism of action, but besides about social radicalism. The RNR programme "Falanga" suggested among another things: the nationalisation of manufacture and banking without compensation, the introduction of a planned economy and the concentration of production, which mostly coincided with the demands of the social left. Despite this, the assumptions of “Falangi” and the views of Piasecki himself were definitely anti-communist at the time.
Many colleagues stressed the pragmatism of the leader of RNR “Falanga”. For example Wojciech Wasiutyński He wrote: “Piasecki’s starting point has always been a tactic. How can we act now? On this he built the next line of reasoning: what can be done? Only then came the issue: how to justify it?” [2] Clearly, the tactical nature of the cooperation between “Falanga” and the National Unity Camp in 1937. Piasecki then met with the head of OZN Adam KocemHe made a large impression – according to the witness message after gathering with Piasecki, Colonel Koc was expected to say that he felt like he was back in the Legions. This is not about assessing the relevance of the political line "Falangi", but about Piasecki's individual characteristics, which could have a remarkable effect on the interviewers. The Piasecki Phenomenon relied on the power of argumentation and the ability to convince itself of political reasons. It should be stressed that he was only 22 years old in political negotiations with the head of OZN Piasecki.
The war reality was sometimes highly hard and filled with tragic events for Bolesław Piasecki. After the September campaign, he was arrested by the Gestapo and released only in April 1940 due to the intervention of his friend Lucciany Frassati-GawronskaShe is the daughter of an Italian senator friend of Mussolini. During the business Bolesław Piasecki formed an organization under the name of the Confederation of the Nation and its armed troops – the Shocking Cadro Battalions, which after the merge action became part of the Home Army. During the Warsaw Uprising, Piasecki Halin's wife was killed, while he himself was arrested by the NKVD in November 1944. It can be said that Bolesław Piasecki's destiny seemed predestined at the time – as a nationalist and anti-communist he was a natural opponent of the fresh power.
Piasecki, however, could separate ideological issues from geopolitical conditions and draw the right conclusions. During interrogations he could convince gene. Ivana Sierova on the request to affect Catholic communities in the construction of People's Poland. He took advantage of the fact that many of RNR's socio-economic assumptions "Falanga" coincided with the PKWN programme and the demands of the fresh power. It should be noted that Piasecki's motive was not only to save his own life but besides to defend his colleagues and political allies. In keeping with political realism Piasecki did not believe in the effectiveness of the fight against the fresh system, nor even the sense of specified actions. Despite political and world-view differences, he was aware that the demands of forces representing “Polish Lublin” coincided with the Polish national interest, conditioned by the fresh geopolitical order. The fight against the fresh strategy meant the further bleeding out of the society, decimated during the Nazi business and led to a de facto fresh war, which threatened the biological existence of the Polish nation. An alternate to specified actions was to engage in postwar order building and to effort to influence the fresh reality. This was served by the creation of an environment related to the letter “Today and Tomorrow”, followed by the formation of the Association “PAX”.
After 1945, until his death in 1979 Bolesław Piasecki tried to build his political environment with a better or worse effect and to influence the reality of the People's Poland. For apparent reasons, his influence was limited, but in many respects Piasecki fulfilled his political goals. First of all, it is crucial to emphasise the aid given by the president of the “PAX” to many people, as well as to people who are not associated with the national camp, specified as Paul Jasienice. Thanks to his influence Piasecki not only pulled people out of prisons, but besides was able to supply them with a material existence, employing in companies associated with the association (United economical Teams INCO, PAX Publishing Institute). The PAX economical base has become a very rapidly functioning company under the conditions of PRL. In the PAX structures, many pre-war RNR “Falanga” activists, soldiers of the Shocking Personnel Battalions, and even the National Armed Forces whose political pedigree was far from communism, conducted political activity. These included: Zygmunt Przetakiewicz, Jerzy Hagmajer, Mieczysław Kurzyna, Zenon Komender, Ryszard Reiff, Jerzy Rutkowski, or Mirosław Ostromęcki.
The “PAX” association besides carried out extended publishing activities, an alternate to authoritative Marxist propaganda. At this point, we should mention the concept of multi-universal perception as preached by Bolesław Piasecki. This concept, as he noted Ariel Eagle “ It was meant to mean a belief in the anticipation and request of equal designation of materialism and Catholicism, and thus of the Catholic organization as an equal partner of the communist party. It was stated that, according to the Piasecki movement concept, the state should not only become world-neutral, which was understood as a cessation of the policy of confrontation with the Church, but besides show support to the spiritual worldview" [3]. Of course, the Association “PAX” was not an equal partner of the Polish United Workers' Party, and so not all of Bolesław Piasecki's demands could be fulfilled. Nevertheless, PAX's publishing activity was a breach in the party's quest for a unified worldview narrative. The essence of the concept of multi-university was the belief that there could be a consistent coexistence of world-oriented environments, but combined with a common concern for the common good – the good of the Polish People's Republic.
Therefore, Bolesław Piasecki published in 1956 an article "State Instinct" in which he stated that: "Intellectual anarchy manifests itself in portraying the past of the People's Poland as a band of betrayals and failures, while it is apparent that this communicative consists of the advantage of large achievements over large and unacceptable errors. The one-sided criticism must be reminded that despite its shortcomings, the Polish nation is not so stupid or afraid to agree to do specified a huge, heroic work with its sense of nonsense. Intellectual anarchy manifests itself in proving that it is natural for the public life of a nation to have a state in which all the principles and authority of this life are eternally debatable and in which any conducted construction can be interrupted and started again. The effort to transform Poles permanently into unknowing, what socialism is, and at the same time surviving in socialism – has a circumstantial and seductive intellectual charm, but for the applicable life of the nation it means nothing but anarchy" [4].
The sense of state instinct and political realism did not leave Bolesław Piasecki besides in 1968, erstwhile he incorporated himself in the right run for the purification of public administration staff from the relics of Stalinism, mistakenly regarded as a "anti-Semitic campaign". However, this did not mean strictly following the orders of the Polish United Workers' Party. As he noted red Jan Engelgard“ Piasecki did not interact closely with ureters. Yes, he was in favour of clearing the organization from post-Stalinist elements (mainly Jews), but at the same time he felt that it was not adequate to modernize the country, to break out of the alleged "small stability" into which Gomułka drove us" [5].
Such hopes arose in the 1970s after the 1st Secretary of the KC PZPR took office by Edward Gierek, however, despite first spectacular successes, the Game squad plunged the country into debt spirals and economical crisis. Piasecki continued at all times in his attempts to transform the PAX association into a political party, which was, among another things, raised in the memorial: "About the prospects for the improvement of socialist democracy" of November 1977. These actions were discontinued with Piasecki's death on 1 January 1979. This date was besides a critical minute in the past of the PAX Association – Bolesław Piasecki did not leave a worthy successor. Richard Reiff he did not have the charisma and authority of his predecessor and was a politician of much smaller format.
It should be stressed that Bolesław Piasecki was a politician who did not grasp the ideology of National Democracy, he decently understood its message, especially in the context of the political realism right for this formation. He could emergence above political divisions and act even in the most unfavourable conditions for the good of Poland. 1 of his closest associates, Zygmunt Przetakiewicz, said: “It was a unique man with a large influence on the environment, an outstanding individuality. He devoted his full life to serving the nation while remaining at the same time delicate to the concerns of a common man. He was clean and honest, and there was nothing false about him. She spoke the fact through him, which attracted people seeking something sublime" [6].
Michał Radzikowski
[1] Włodzimierz Sznarbachowski: origin of wikipedia (wikicytaty);
[2] Michał Przeperski: “Poland “night of long knives” – histmag.org.
[3] Ariel Orzełek: "The concept of socialism of the multi-worldly Association of “PAX” in the assessment of the central safety authorities of the People's Poland during the period of the governments of Władysław Gomulka and Edward Gierek (1956–1980)" – “The Latest Days”, Yearbook LI – 2019, rcin.org.pl.
[4] Bolesław Piasecki: ‘State Instinct’: (‘The Universal Word’, No. 248 (3162), 16.10.1956)
[5] Interview with Jan Engelgard – Youth of the Empire, legitimacy.org.
[6] Zygmunt Przetakiewicz: “From ONR to PAX, Local Press Publishing House, Warsaw 2010.
