Our generation, rising in the 20th century, did not have a decently political legacy. The experience of erstwhile generations taught us a lot, but taught mainly what should not be done to prevent Poland from losing.
What to do, what ways to go, to get closer to the restoration of a state existence, our fathers did not tell us. erstwhile we looked into Poland's situation, we came to the conclusion that the improvement of the nation's interior improvement and the improvement of its position in Europe created conditions for rebuilding our country quickly, we realised that we were politically rather unprepared to benefit from the most friendly conditions.
We have seen that we do not have any not only paved, but even uncovered ways of action, no established concepts of possible and essential alliances, but we do not even have a clear purpose, we do not know which country, within which limits we are to rebuild. This work the erstwhile generations have not done for us. On the another hand, we were burdened with the legacy of suicide acts, harmful habits, the legacy of a nation that for 3 centuries did not have what could be called national and national politics. It took quite a few effort, thought and will to come out of this political nothingness. Above all, moral effort was needed. We had to break the political tradition of the post-marriage period. It was essential to defy the excruciating political romance of any and spreading against the background of his fall of others' resignations. At the same time, the fight had to be spent on short-sighted materialism of the fresh day, listing in politics the large issue of the nation for tiny local, class and individual interests.
In a hard, stubborn fight, at work without rest, gaining political concepts almost from the abecca, we were moving rapidly forward and within 1 generation we managed to make a strategy of Polish politics in the main features. erstwhile the decisive minute came, we were comparatively prepared for it, aware of Poland's place in the planet War, with a clear intent and marked paths of action. We didn't have moments of uncertainty and hesitation, we didn't waste time knowing, we didn't play blind lottery.. This has enabled us to accomplish large things with our small forces. The consequence was far from what we wanted, but it is inactive a miracle of God that a generation as mediocre as we have gained what we have earned. I want to place strong emphasis here not on the fact that the consequence of our work is simply a united Poland, but on the fact that this work created a strategy of Polish policy, that it gave it a chop which must remain, must be the basis on which our successors will make Polish policy.
It is essential for people here to realize that this Poland, which we have, is not a work of chance, did not come from just a happy coincidence of external circumstances, that we would not have it if we had no Polish policy. And it is essential for them to realize that in the politics of the nation it is impossible to set goals of any and any way to them; its goals and paths are dictated by the nation's interior state and its external position. These factors do not change greatly overnight, and so the politics of the nation cannot be a flag that changes direction behind any wind. If this policy, which our generation has created, has undergone a fire test, it is not lost in this test, but has demonstrated its worth – it cannot die in the future. This means that the policy organized by us, which led to the reconstruction of the united Poland, must be a policy of the Polish state, developed in adaptation to conditions and improved from generation to generation.
In order to make this policy, we had to break distant from the tradition of the immediate past, with the tradition of disasters and the progressive humiliation of Poland, we had to mention above the heads of 10 generations to the tradition of Jagielloński and Piębowska – due to the fact that without tradition there is no national policy. Based on this distant but surviving tradition of national power and state reason in our souls, we have not prepared a fresh disaster for our homeland. After many, many years Poland had the first and this not tiny victory. And due to the fact that it was a victory, that in it the Polish policy stood the test, we must see in it the basis on which the policy of the regained state should be further developed.
Roman Dmowski on a vacation under Paris, from right Stanisław Kozicki (August 1919)
These generations that will come after us will no longer be forced to make Polish politics again – they will already receive its foundations, having a political tradition of 1 or more generations. Talking about it in Poland is not necessary. besides small has always shown the ability to work continuously from generation to generation, to carry on and gradually improve in the fresh generation what the erstwhile generations began to do. Above all, our civilisation, which has produced highly small first things, our own, which would service us better, and have become our origin to universal civilization.
The fact that we do not have our own kind in architecture and interiors of our homes can be explained by the fall of cities in Poland, and hence by the fall of craftsmanship and fine arts. But how do we explain that we did not produce Polish breeds of cattle, horses or dogs, as a farming nation, who liked hunting, celebrated as riders?... Only that these things are not done in 1 generation, it is essential that each generation continues to work, started by the erstwhile generation. There was 1 thing we didn't want to do, while others had besides much false ambition to do something completely new, and more frequently to make a mockery of what the country had not yet seen.
Therefore, where the genius of 1 man creates large works, as in poetry, we have an accomplishment with which we can stand next to the first nations in Europe, and in the fields of national creation, which must consist of the uninterrupted work of generations, we are among the poorest. The fact is, there are fewer nations whose work has so frequently destroyed political disasters, enemy invasions... The nation's political system, which cannot come from the blind imitation of alien patterns created by another nations, in another surviving conditions, must be the work of the nation's spontaneous creation. It is, however, 1 of those works that comes from the work of generations. In this work there must be continuity, each generation must complete and improve what the erstwhile generations have done. In our rebuilt country, the false ambition of doing at all costs another than those of the predecessors played a crucial role.
At times, the Polish state's policy was made to have as small resemblance to the policy of the National Committee in Paris as possible, to go in different ways, to establish another alliances, otherwise even Poland understood. It was not realized that these were not things that anyone could realize in their own way, that the nation had no 10 politicians to choose from. The reality is 1 and only 1 can be in the main lines of the nation's policy, which counts with reality. Fortunately, reality has a strong pronunciation and rapidly teaches people reason, but this discipline usually costs dearly.
Therefore, in the politics of our country, what was not due to the knowing of reality must have rapidly subsided from the field, and it has already converted much to the paths that have been followed by our policies leading to unity and independence. However, the country paid besides much for trying to get distant from these roads. We didn't do this policy, we did life. The full point is to realize life. We weren't making inventions, we were just trying to keep our eyes open and logical. It was not our fantasy to believe that Poland cannot be a tiny nation and a tiny state. This lies in the very essence of Poland, in its past, in the number and manner of settling Poles, in the construction of an economical country and in the spiritual strategy of the nation; for this function the tiny state yet does not let us our geographical location.
And we didn't invent that the main enemy of our own existence was Germany. The consciousness of this in the nation was strong. We have only of apparent fact drawn all the consequences for our policy. The facts besides proved that these consequences were drawn logically. So he who wants to reject them fights against reality – a fight that is always doomed to lose. As shortly as the nation's policy knows where the main danger lies, it has already set its way to seeking alliances. Our alliances were not any kind of improvisation. They were dictated by necessity. And this necessity was more or little conscious in society. Even what cost us the most effort, which was the most effort, which was the most hard – going on a fresh way towards Russia – was not our invention. The request to change this relation in our society has not been felt since yesterday, and trials in this respect already have a long history. We truly understood that, based our attitude towards Russia on a comparatively close assessment of the overall situation.
The essence of our policy towards Russia was not combinations with any transient factors – we saw the request to agree with what is sustainable in Russia, with the Russian people, we understood the importance of this agreement and for us, and for Russia. By fate, we have achieved the eventual goal of our efforts without Russia's participation. As a consequence of this, the Polish consciousness has besides blurred the feeling that the future of our relation with Russia is the most crucial task of our full policy. And in this area, our country's further policy must be based on what we have started.. russian governments in Russia will pass away, but Russia will stay and the attitude towards the Russian people is more crucial than the attitude towards the passing rule. We only made the beginning. Getting on an equal way with Russia of the future is simply a occupation requiring large effort of thought and energy. This is the most hard of our policies, not only due to the past, but besides due to the fact that we face most obstacles from foreign, hostile influences both in our country and in Russia.
The position taken by us towards Russia in this war, working with it against the Germans, decided on the destiny of the Polish case, led us to unification and independency of the homeland. Our further attitude to Russia, what we will do in this area, will be more than anything else a test of our political value, our ability to direct the destiny of our own country. We request to think more profoundly about how Poland was rebuilt, how we got to the large goal our fathers dreamed of and for which so many victims had been made – then we will realize more easy what needs to be done to preserve and guarantee successful development.
In the first months of the war, visiting the Lazaret in Warsaw, where injured prisoners were lying, I sat by the bed of a compatriot, a soldier from the Prussian army. I asked him about his wound.
– I have a bullet in my tummy – he answered sadly.
– The doctor says I'll only live to see... He mentioned his wife and 2 children left in the countryside close Gniezno.
– Lord – he asked with a silent voice – tell me how this war will end. Who will win?...
– The Germans will surely be beaten – I replied – and will be Poland.
The eyes of the mediocre man shone, laid his hands like a prayer, and whispered:
- Thank God!
We in this war survived the top tragedy: the sons of our land were forced to fight in enemy ranks, feeling that they were fighting against the origin of their own homeland.
Unity and independency of Poland bought hundreds of thousands of Poles fighting in abroad ranks, brother against brother. It wasn't a voluntary sacrifice, but it was the most painful 1 could possibly imagine. We who live in our own country at the expense of this sacrifice must not forget this for a moment. Then we will know how large it is for us to defend future generations from always experiencing the same misfortune, to assure them that erstwhile the Pole is forced to fight, it is only for his cause, for Poland.
Roman Dmowski
"Polish Policy and State Restoration", 1925 (Final fragment)
