In the vertical context of the class structure, as well as in the class structure of feudal society, the peasants formed the most numerous and at the same time lower layer of the social hierarchy. It was impossible to determine the exact number (especially during the initial period of the class structure formation) in the Polish lands divided into sections, due to the lack of statistical data. We will therefore discuss the final period of the peasant reform, which ended in 1865-1870.

We associate the abolition of serfdom with the development of capitalism in agriculture and the formation of a new social structure with its classes and strata. Russian statistics compiled in the early 70s of the XIX century help us here. It takes into account the social division of the population. At that time, 75% of the inhabitants of the Kingdom of Poland were peasants ^.1 According to the next general population census (1897), there are only data on people who worked in agriculture. They accounted for 56.5%. This not very good criterion for determining the number of peasants was also used in Prussian and Austrian statistics; sometimes it was supplemented by the explanation that this was a population "living on agriculture". Despite the inaccuracies, the data on persons engaged in and living in agriculture are closer to the actual number of peasants than those obtained on the basis of information on persons who lived in the countryside, which significantly overestimate the number of peasants.

After the peasant reform, the number of peasants fell throughout the Polish lands, but in each part of the divided country - to a different extent. In this respect, the Kingdom of Poland took the first place, with a large number of its peasant population emigrating overseas (to both parts of America) and to European countries, including a small percentage to Russia proper. This movement manifested itself already in the 70s of the XIX century, and in the 90s and on the eve of the First World War, it swept in two waves, called the "Brazilian fever". Simultaneously with the 70s of the XIX century. The Kingdom of Poland entered the path of developing its own industry and urban growth, which created significant opportunities for providing work to the population leaving the countryside. Such opportunities were not available to the peasants in the other two parts of divided Poland. They were mostly covered by emigration. We were the first to go

¹ W. Zaleski. Statyslyka porownawcza Krolestwa Polskiego. Т. I. Warszawa. 1876, str. 34 - 35.

page 76

across the ocean, proletarianized peasants from the Prussian part of Poland. Here the peasant reform deprived a considerable number of peasants of land and bread. The folwarks, which were enriched by peasant land, and the large group of large peasant farms that remained in this part of Poland could not provide work for the rural proletariat that emerged as a result of peasant reforms. Emigration continued continuously, only changing direction in the 80s of the XIX century. At that time, Germany was already developing its own industry, which attracted the population from Polish lands more than overseas, always full of risk trips. In addition, with industrialization, the need for agricultural workers to work in the Junker folwarks located in the interior of the state that participated in the partitions of Poland also increased. They were better paid there than in the Polish lands; they also found better working conditions in technically equipped and organizationally modernized farms. In addition, the growth of emigration was influenced by the policy of the State party to the conflict, which absorbed the Polish population displaced from their native land.

Peasants also came to Prussia from other parts of divided Poland, many of them from the Kingdom of Poland. The size of the emigration of peasants from the Prussian part of Poland to Germany proper is indicated by the decrease in their number from 57% in 1882 to 51% in 1895. At that time, the lowest drop in the number of peasants was in the Principality of Poznań - from 61.8% to 59.4%; the largest drop was in the industrialized Upper Silesia - from 47.8% to 38.1% ² . Among the Polish lands, only Upper Silesia and Cieszyn Silesia in the part of Poland captured by Austria already had less than half of the population working in agriculture or living in it in the 19th century. In Cieszyn Silesia in 1900, peasants made up about 35% of the population.

The most" agrarian " land remained in the part of Poland annexed by Austria - the so-called Galicia, which lagged far behind in economic development compared to the rest of divided Poland. The rural population here in 1890 was 77.4%, and after 10 years its number decreased only by 1%. The emigration movement appeared in Galicia also later, and its wave swept in the mid-90s of the XIX century, raised by the "Brazilian fever". The constant growth of this emigration, which continued in the XX century, is evidenced by the data that in 1890-1900. 302 thousand people left Galicia, in 1900-1910 - about half a million, and in 1913 - about 800 thousand people.

Emigration and developing industry were not the only factors that caused a decrease in the number of peasants. But their importance was dominant in the process of leaving the village of its permanent residents. Economically backward Galicia, but with a well-developed network of Polish schools and two functioning universities in Krakow and Lviv, gave the children of well-to-do peasants chances for promotion, for a career as an intellectual outside the village, and even for entry on the rungs of the ladder leading to the professorship. Here many people, mostly sons of peasants, entered theological and teaching seminaries, participated in political life, and worked in the administration. The other two parts of divided Poland were completely deprived of these opportunities, exhausted by Germanization and Russification, sometimes very intense.

² J. Marchlewski. Pisma wybrane. T. I. Warszawa. 1952, sir. 304.

page 77

From the general quantitative balance of peasants at the end of the XIX century, compiled by V. Grabski for the three parts of the divided Polish lands (without the eastern suburbs, Mazury, Warmia and Silesia), it follows that they accounted for 55%, and with the eastern suburbs-57% of the total population.

Further withdrawal of peasants from the countryside was delayed by the First World War, and its economic consequences caused a reverse direction in population migration. After the war, there was a wave of re-emigration to the reborn Poland, and with it an influx of people working in agriculture. From November 1918 to November 1920, 2573.6 thousand people passed through the checkpoints in the east, and at least 700 thousand people came from Germany ^.3 The 1921 census shows that in Poland the rural population was 65.5%. This is 10% more than the share set by V. Grabsky for the end of the XIX century. The second general census (1931) found a 5.1% drop in the number of people working in agriculture, with a total Polish population of 32 million, including 52% of peasants and 29% of workers ^.4 This meant that the percentage of the number of peasants and the total population in Poland in the early 1930s was almost equal to what it was at the turn of the XIX and XX centuries.

More complex than the quantitative changes, which indicate a very slow decline in the number of peasants, were the changes in the Polish countryside, which were influenced by peasant reform, then by capitalist stratification and the policies of the powers that divided Poland, as well as other factors. The peasant reform, the economic, political and ideological background of which is generally well known and requires no comment, made major changes in the structure of the peasantry of the Polish lands. Its implementation, which took place in different ways in each of the three parts of Poland, created three different models for the distribution of land ownership and the social structure of the peasantry. It is no exaggeration to say that the peasant reforms deepened the division of Poland, creating three different regions in terms of agrarian and social structure, subordinated to different political programs of the powers participating in the division. Even more significant is the fact that differences in the sphere of social and agrarian relations split the most numerous and poorly conscious part of the Polish people, which was the peasantry. A common feature of peasant reforms in all parts of divided Poland was that they took into account the interests of the landlords as much as possible: most of all in Prussia, with certain restrictions in Galicia, and least of all (for political reasons) in the Kingdom of Poland, where tsarism made peasant reform a bait for attracting peasants and a means of punishing the Polish gentry for the rebel movement.

Peasant reforms in Polish lands continued for more than half a century. They were preceded by the abolition of personal dependence of peasants in 1807 in the Prussian part of Poland and in the Principality of Warsaw. For the longest time, gradually and in stages, they were carried out in the Prussian part starting from 1811. In Galicia, they marched from 1848 under the onslaught of the revolution, in the Kingdom of Poland-from 1864 under the pressure of the uprising of 1863 and the abolition of agrarian reform announced by the insurgent National Government. The date of completion of peasant reforms with slight deviations in all parts of divided Poland falls on the 70s of the XIX century.

³ Z. Landau, J. Tomaszewski. Gospodarka Polski migdzywojennej. T. I: 1918 - 1923. Warszawa. 1967, str. 38.

⁴ "Rocznik Statystyki Polski 1928", tab. 2, 8; "Maiy Rocznik Statystyczny 1938", tab. 3, 22, 23.

page 78

Peasant reforms in none of the parts of divided Poland reduced the size of folwarks and even increased them in the Prussian part at the expense of peasant land. This was because the peasants were obliged to pay with land and only partially with money for the received allotments and abolished corvee duties. Until 1880, folwarks in the Poznań region increased their area by more than 45 thousand hectares, and in Upper Silesia-by 50 thousand hectares. The easement rights of peasants in the Prussian part of Poland were also eliminated to the benefit of the folwarks. Left behind in Galicia and the Kingdom of Poland, they became the subject of constant disputes between the village and the manor house. In Galicia, easements were eliminated "from above" more than 10 years after the peasant reform, also with losses for the peasants. In the Kingdom of Poland, they were eliminated by voluntary agreements, slowly and in a continuous struggle, and some of them survived even in the interwar period. As a result of the peasant reforms, large proprietors in the Prussian part of Poland concentrated in their hands about 50% of the land, in the Kingdom of Poland-56.5%, in Galicia-42%, becoming at the same time almost monopolists in the possession of forests, 75% of which they had (peasants - only 0.7%).

The strongest economic positions were maintained by large landowners in the Prussian part of divided Poland. They excelled in turning folwarks into capitalist farms, with good results in modernizing the economy and increasing production. They had an easily accessible mercenary force at their disposal during the most difficult period of peasant reform for the Folwarks. The latter created a large army of the rural proletariat in this part of Poland, often liquidating entire peasant farms attached to folwarks, and sometimes even to large peasant farms. This changed in a fundamental way, as in no other part of divided Poland, the agrarian and social structure of the countryside in comparison with its condition before the peasant reform. Here the number of peasant farms decreased, and the dominant type of farms (with the exception of Silesia) became middle-class and large-scale peasant farms. The latter occupied 25% of the land of small proprietors, and the smallholders, who were the least numerous in this part of Poland, owned 0.6% of the area of peasant land.

To a lesser extent than in the Prussian part of Poland, the agrarian and social structure of villages in the Kingdom of Poland changed as a result of the allotment of land to about 200 thousand landless people. Here the number of medium-sized farms increased (about 2.8 ha), the number of rural proletarians decreased, and the dominant agricultural structure was dominated by medium-sized farms of up to 8.4 ha (34.7%) and over 8 ha (37%); large farms were not numerous (6.5%), but farms of less than 1.5 ha were quite numerous (21.8%).

A certain role in the formation of the social structure of the village.The gmina reform, which was carried out simultaneously with the peasant one, played a role in the Kingdom of Poland. It was the gminna reform that served primarily as a means of punishing the Polish gentry with tsarism. It deprived landlords of their posts as voits of the Gminas. These positions were given to peasants who owned at least 3 hectares of land. All eligible persons in the gminas were required to have a land qualification of more than 1.5 hectares. No educational requirements were imposed on the Voits or their constituents. The gmina reform helped to strengthen the social position of well-to-do peasants and at the same time increased the barriers between farmers with allotments and landless ones, without giving the latter any rights in the gmina.

page 79

In the Austrian part of divided Poland, the peasant reform did not change the model of agrarian structure established before it was implemented. It did not affect the landless population at all and preserved numerous feudal remnants that hindered development. By granting the right of ownership, the peasants ' lack of land and fragmented fields were consolidated, with an acute shortage of forests and pastures. Most of them were dwarf and small-scale farms - 68.1%. At the end of the 19th century, their share increased to 80%. At the same time, as a result of family divisions and stratification, the average area of peasant farms decreased from 10 morgues at the time of the peasant reform to 4.5 morgues in 1898. Peasant farms that were large in the size of their allotments accounted for 8.4%, while they covered only 6.3% of the peasant land. Not all of these farms guaranteed their owners prosperity, and in the group of middle peasant farms, their owners did not always achieve economic independence because of the poor land, mostly located in the foothills.

Table 1

Agricultural structure of Polish lands at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries ⁵ (in %)

-----

¹ Kingdom of Poland.

² Galicia.

³ Gdansk Pomerania, East Prussia, Grand Duchy of Posen, Upper Silesia.

On the basis of the agrarian and social structure that emerged as a result of peasant reforms and was different in each of the three parts of divided Poland, the capitalist factor of stratification worked. The peasant strata endowed with land moved mainly in the direction of the less well-to-do. A well-known exception was a group of large peasant farms in Greater Poland and Pomerania, whose increased holdings indicated a capitalist economy.

⁵ См.: "Dzieje Polski". Warszawa. 1975, str. 535; Z. Landau, J. Tomaszewski. Op. cit. T. I, str. 144, tab. 49.

page 80

land concentrations. There was also a non-economic factor in the struggle against the Germanization of Polish lands. In other parts of divided Poland, there were only sporadic cases of peasant enrichment and their transition to a more well-to-do stratum.

Stratification in the Prussian part of Poland increased the distance between the rural bourgeoisie, which consolidated its property status and raised its own standard of living, approaching (especially its upper stratum) the Polish landlords, and the much larger poor, who were doomed to seek earnings in the industry of the German Empire or in emigration. This boundary was much more mobile in Galicia, and the stratification trend was weaker. From the time of the peasant reform to the beginning of the twentieth century, the number of farms there almost doubled. The peasants here defended themselves with desperate dedication against proletarianization. For many, permanent or seasonal emigration has become a salvation.

In the Kingdom of Poland, stratification was hindered by regulations prohibiting family divisions with allotments of less than the established 3 hectares (however, the peasants circumvented this ban). Proletarianization was less feared here, with access to industrial cities and considerable opportunities for non-agricultural pursuits. Many people also went to neighboring Prussia for seasonal work. On the eve of World War II, the number of seasonal workers exceeded 500 thousand. Such movements were at the same time the embodiment of a lively national connection, based on a language that united seasonal workers with the local population. Farmers from Galicia also took part in seasonal trips for a piece of bread. The humiliating journeys to the so-called Saxons (seasonal work, mainly in Saxony) brought together Polish peasants, especially their poorest strata, and awakened the consciousness of a broader national community with the local population, who also spoke Polish.

The stratification of the peasants and the parcelling of folwarks, which was carried out partially or completely in all parts of divided Poland (most slowly in Galicia) and always with the broad participation of the peasants, changed the property relations in the countryside: the possessions of large owners were reduced; the areas in the hands of the peasants were expanded.

Peasant reforms aroused the activity of the peasants. Already in the course of their implementation, they showed discontent, which manifested itself in clashes with the landlords, sporadically - in the Prussian part, and more often - in the Kingdom of Poland (mainly with commissions on peasant affairs). Struggling with the difficulties of running their own farms, they took the path of organized forms of social activity in order to acquire capital, improved tools of labor, and above all agricultural and general education. They were not constrained in this respect by either the Prussian or Austrian authorities. In the Kingdom of Poland, however, the tsarist authorities did not allow the creation of any peasant organizations and societies until the 1905 Revolution.

The first in the Prussian part of Poland began to establish peasant agricultural circles - already in the early 60s of the XIX century-the inhabitants of Pomerania and Greater Poland. In Pomerania, in Piaseczno, in Anger, the peasants created their own Agricultural Society in 1862, free from the patronage of landlords. The printed organ of this society, Piast, reflected the aspirations of the peasants who had freed themselves from the tutelage of the landlord class. Following their example, the peasants of Greater Poland founded the first agricultural circles in Dolsk in 1866. Stronger than the independent peasant movement

page 81

In this part of divided Poland, there was a patronized current directed by landlords and priests. It was held under the slogan of social solidarity, uniting peasants and large proprietors. Since 1873, M. Yatskovsky became the head of this movement and its patron. Creating agricultural circles, he also subordinated the organization of peasants to a single leadership. The scale of the movement of agricultural circles is evidenced by their number in Pomerania and Greater Poland - about 500 with more than 20 thousand members in 1913-1914. The character of these circles was influenced by the upper ranks of the rich peasants associated with the landlords. The movement of agricultural circles has also established a network in Galicia. And along with them, in the Prussian and Austrian parts of divided Poland, people's cash registers and banks emerged that provided loans at low interest rates. In Galicia, they were especially popular among the peasants, saving them from the oppression of the widespread private usury here. The Polish cooperative system of the patronized type, which very successfully competed in the Prussian part of Poland with the German cooperative, consisted of cash registers, people's banks and circles.

Patronage in Galicia was different from that in the Prussian part of Poland. At the head of the entire socio-economic and educational movement in autonomous Galicia was the regional department, which had its own budget and personnel of the advanced, democratic Polish intelligentsia. Patron of agricultural circles F. Stefchik got in touch with the right wing of the Ludov movement when it took shape organizationally. Here, too, as in the Prussian part of Poland, social solidarity celebrated its victory, drowning out class contradictions. However, he did not succeed in suppressing the class struggle of the peasants against the landlords. All these cases were loudly echoed in the regional Sejm, which had been sitting in Lviv since 1861. Starting from the first convocation, it also included 35 peasants, including 18 Poles and 17 Ukrainians. From the 70s of the XIX century, the number of peasant deputies decreased, and in 1876-1889. they were completely ousted by the ruling conservative landowner camp. To the Regional Diet and the Parliament in Vienna, to which deputies were also elected in Galicia, the peasants were indebted for the early awakening of their interest in political life.

The slogans of social solidarity, which influenced the social movement and the development of so-called organic work in the countryside, were unable to extinguish the class contradictions that were brewing in Galicia, which they significantly blunted among the land-owning peasants of the Prussian part of Poland. Here, the main force opposing exploitation and oppression by the landlords was the rural proletariat. In the 80s of the XIX century, in Pomerania and Poznań region, it accounted for 4/5 of the total population living in agriculture. These workers, often held in subjection to the landlords by the whip, began to fight for their rights only at the end of the XIX century. In addition to demanding higher wages, they sought equal rights with land-owning peasants and legal protection from landlords ' wilfulness and exploitation. All that was achieved was that they could no longer be subjected to corporal punishment, and the right to form their own organizations was granted to the rural proletarians only in 1918. This did not break the barrier that separated peasants from agricultural workers all over Poland, especially folvarochny workers, contemptuously called dvorni.

In the last year of the nineteenth century, agricultural workers in Galicia, together with small-scale peasants, began the strike struggle. Three years later, 25 povyats in Eastern Galicia were already on strike, with the participation of almost 100 thousand people. To the Ukrainian population, in large numbers-

page 82

Polish peasants joined the celebration of those who lived here. The class of landlords in Galicia consisted of Poles. The opposite was the case in the Polish territories under Prussian rule, especially in Pomerania, Warmia, the Masurians, and Silesia. Most of the landlords there were Prussian junkers. Agricultural workers in all parts of divided Poland were roused to fight by the Russian Revolution of 1905 and 1907. The leading role in this struggle at that time belonged to the agricultural workers of the Kingdom of Poland. But earlier agricultural workers with relentless force waged a class struggle against the landlords in the Kingdom of Poland since the beginning of the 70s of the XIX century. The struggle was over the boundaries that separated the peasant lands from the folvaroch lands, and most of all over easement rights and their elimination. At the turn of the 70s-80s of the XIX century, signs of an agrarian revolution appeared: the landlords 'meadows and pastures were seized, and the felling of landlords' forests became widespread, especially in magnate, state-owned and granted estates.

In the struggle against the landlords ' estates, which were protected by the troops and the tsarist police, the peasants realized that the landowner class had common interests with tsarism. The peasant movement in the Kingdom of Poland was becoming anti-pomeshchichy and anti-tsarist. Its anti-government orientation deepened during the elections of the caraway authorities. Clashes with BIT-by-BIT bosses who rejected candidates for voity elected by the majority of the gmina's members, instead of whom people who were obedient to the authorities were approved, were often repeated throughout the province. This caused a massive gmina movement in the Kingdom of Poland, in which, along with independent peasant owners, the landless and small - scale took part, who achieved equal rights for all residents of the gmina.

The peasant class movement in the post-reform period expanded the field of struggle in the Polish lands belonging to Russia and Prussia. This was due to the Germanization and Russification oppression of the authorities of these countries against the Polish population. In these parts of divided Poland, the Polish language, Polish names, and Polish employees were eliminated from gminas, schools, cumin courts, and other institutions. The Voit of a gmina in the Kingdom of Poland, usually illiterate, was not an employee, but only a puppet representing the tsarist power in the field. Polish peasants responded to this policy of the authorities with active actions. In the Kingdom of Poland, they took the path of secret enlightenment. Since the 70s of the XIX century. they organized their secret elementary schools in peasant huts. In 1870-1904, the tsarist authorities discovered more than 400 such rural schools in 6 provinces of the Kingdom of Poland. Teachers and parents of children were fined. During the revolution of 1905 - 1907, young people, supported by their parents, took the path of strike struggle. A powerful movement of struggle for the polonization of Gminas, Gminas ' courts and schools throughout the Kingdom of Poland developed before the revolution and continued throughout its entire period.

At that time, peasants in the Prussian part of Poland were also fighting the Germanization of schools and land. Children in Wrzesna protested against the abolition of the teaching of the law of God in Polish, and were beaten and terrorized for this, starting a wave of school strikes in Poznań and Pomerania in 1901. In 1906-1907, strikes of rural schoolchildren in these areas became widespread and became known as people's strikes. After all, over 80% of their participants were children of agricultural workers and peasants. According to official data, almost 70 thousand schoolchildren went on strike. Hromadkar movement in Warmia and Mazury, developed by Polish peasants and rural workers-

page 83

It was also used as an evangelical household worker, defended the Polish language, and sang psalms and prayers in it during crowded services.

The Prussian method of Germanizing the Polish population also affected its economic base. In the mid-90s of the XIX century, the authorities created a Colonization Commission, which had millions of marks to buy land from Poles and settle Germans on it. In 1896-1904, they managed to buy about 200 thousand hectares from Polish landowners. This was about 60 thousand hectares less in comparison with what Polish farmers bought at the same time. Part of the Polish landowners, especially the peasants, supported by funds from specially organized cash registers and Polish banks, and especially by parcel societies (created with the idea of fighting for land) and the entire widely developed Polish cooperative system, defended every piece of their native land. They also took an extensive part in the distribution of folwarks. Polish re-emigrants from Germany also bought land with their savings. A lot of ingenuity was shown in order to circumvent Prussian regulations and prohibitions. For example, in 1904 there was a ban on the construction of houses on colonized parcels without the consent of the Colonization Commission. The M case echoed loudly around the world. Djymaly from Greater Poland, who lived with his family in a gypsy caravan, without having permission to build a house. On the orders of the authorities and after numerous persecutions, he had to leave this dwelling as well. However, he had many followers in Pomerania and Mazury, who managed to survive a difficult time. Just as successfully as with the Colonization Commission, the Polish peasants fought against the Union for the Promotion of Germanism in the Eastern Provinces, created in 1894, abbreviated as "Gakata" (after the initial letters of its founders). The peasants fought for the preservation of the land and their native language, using reading rooms and Louis publications. The latter were published several times, and they were edited by intellectuals, often of peasant origin, ardent patriots, defenders of everything Polish and the culture of their region. Gazeta Grudziadzka, published from 1894 until the Second World War, became very popular among the peasants. Before the First World War, the number of its subscribers reached 134 thousand.

In this part of Poland, the peasants were distinguished by a high national consciousness and patriotism. The development of their class consciousness was influenced by solidarism, patronage of landlords and clergy. Only the Masurian peasants, adherents of the Evangelical Church, who were doomed to live next door to the Prussian Junkers and work for them, were distinguished by social radicalism. In 1896, they created the Masurian Ludovician Party, which, in an unequal struggle against the pressure of Germanization, supported the parcelling of the estates of the Prussian junkers. Shortly before the First World War, a moderate Catholic Grassroots Party emerged in Pomerania. She called for the preservation of the national way of life (often identified by peasants with Catholicism), as well as for the fight against landlords.

It was only in the Prussian part of Poland that the Ludovite political movement did not develop. The parties that emerged there were only a manifestation of the awakened political consciousness of a small part of the peasants, who for the most part were distinguished by highly developed national feelings, but were not socially conscious and poorly awakened in class relations.

A more solid foundation for the development of the political movement was laid by the peasants of Galicia and the Kingdom of Poland. The first already in 1895 created Stronnitsvo ludowe, which in 1903 took the name of the Polish stronnitsva ludowy, later supplemented by the name of its printing organ - "Piast". Peasants of the Kingdom of Poland

page 84

the last ones to create an underground political organization called the "Polish People's Union" (PLS) on the Polish lands, already on the eve of the revolution of 1905 - 1907, in October 1904. The Union did not survive the revolution. Liquidated in 1907 as a result of arrests, it marked the beginning of a new stage of the peasant movement.

The revolution won for the Kingdom of Poland the right to create socio-economic organizations. This made it possible to introduce, following the example of Galicia and the Prussian part of Poland, agricultural circles and a network of cooperatives that differed from their prototypes in that they were not patronized. The peasants of the Kingdom of Poland valued more than others the need to preserve their independence. Under the slogan "For ourselves", the periodical Zaranie (Dawn) was published in Warsaw from 1907 to 1915, and it played the role of a bridge that allowed the peasant movement to pass through the difficult period when there was no guiding political force in it, and to preserve and develop the program installations of the PLS. With the participation of the Rassvet group and two smaller political groups, including one initiated by the Socialists,the Polish Stronnictwo Ludowe was established in 1915 in the Polish lands occupied by Austria with the Wyzwolenie newspaper. PSL - "Piast" in Galicia and PSL - "Wyzwol" in the Kingdom of Poland led the peasant movement during the First World War, during the creation of the revived Polish state and then its existence until 1931. From that moment on, the Ludowska movement in Poland, divided into many political parties of the left-radical, moderate and center-right persuasions, united into a single Stronnitstvo Ludowe. Under his political leadership, after years of continuous struggle with the ruling rehabilitation camp, the peasants had to defend Poland and its independence during World War II and the Nazi occupation, standing together with the working class and the entire Polish people.

It is difficult to cover the issues of the Ludovite movement in a brief article, although they are brought to the fore when the subject of study is the peasantry. Since the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, this movement has shaped the life of a significant part of the peasants, first in Galicia and in the central regions of Poland, and after 1918-in the entire Polish state. But this movement was not the only political force that united the peasants. Even before the appearance of the Ludovite parties in all three parts of divided Poland, the political party of National Democracy (abbreviated as endeki), which had secretly existed since 1897, developed its activities in the countryside. This camp united a large number of peasants, finding fertile ground on the lands of the Prussian part of Poland, as well as in the Kingdom of Poland. He had less influence in Galicia. The Endeks were ahead of the Ludovians in the elections to the Polish Sejm, and out of a total of 394 deputies after the first elections in 1919, they had 140, the Ludovians-117. The number of mandates received by Ludovites increased slightly in the 1922 elections (to 125, or 28% of all deputies of the Sejm), while the peasants made up more than 60% of the total population of the country at that time. Thus, half of them voted for non-peasant deputies, mainly for Endeks, and took a conservative-solidarist position. The great influence of Endeks in rural areas is also evidenced by the large number of rural youth united in Catholic youth societies under the patronage of priests and significantly exceeding the number of young people organized in the Central Union of Rural Youth, independent of any patronage.

page 85

There were many peasants who did not belong to any political camp, passive and unconscious, especially at a time when political life was conducted secretly from the authorities in the lands of the Kingdom of Poland and the Prussian part of Poland. With the advent of the competing Ludovsky and Endetsky camps, the process of political development of the peasants became more complicated. The test of strength in the struggle for influence over the still unconscious strata of the peasantry took place already during the revolution of 1905-1907 and intensified as the moment of Poland's independence approached. In the revived Polish state, it took the form of open rivalry, and at times - a fierce struggle.

Despite the political and social differences and the lack of common historical traditions that shaped the consciousness of Polish peasants within three different state bodies, one problem brought them all closer together - the hope for the restoration of independence, which grew more and more as the First World War approached. The idea of reviving Poland also aroused much critical thinking and apprehension among the peasants. They did not hide their fear in the face of the transfer of power to the masters. There were even fears that their power might restore the corvee and oppression already unknown to the post-reform generation. Among the Galician peasants, sympathy and affection for the person of the reigning Emperor Franz Joseph were still strong. The peasants of the Kingdom of Poland were freed from illusions about the "good tsar", and there is nothing to indicate that such illusions were held by Prussian subjects robbed of the peasant reform. It is clear that the problem of land reform, especially in Galicia, was very significant for the peasants. In the Kingdom of Poland, it was also extremely necessary to provide land for the ever-growing layer of low-earners.

Table 2

Class structure of peasant farms in interwar Poland (in %)⁶

The number of landless people increased at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, reaching 1 million. But when the issue of Poland's independence was approaching, its revival was expected even more than land reform. The implementation of the latter was postponed until the time of the creation of their own state and the corresponding decision of the Polish government, pinning their hopes on a parliamentary resolution on land reform that would benefit the peasants.

Meanwhile, the struggle for Polish independence was still ahead of them, and the peasants, especially the youth of Galicia and the Kingdom of Poland, were also preparing for it, creating the Bartosz (Glowacki)squads

⁶ М. Mieszczankowski. Struktura agrarna Polski rnigdzywojennej. Warszawa. 1960, str. 348, tab. 157.

page 86

and Kilinsky and joined the riflemen's detachments, legions and the ranks of the Polish Military Organization (POV). They disarmed German and Austrian soldiers, liquidated occupation institutions, and organized Polish security and public order forces. In Greater Poland and Pomerania, they supported the uprising aimed at expelling the Germans, and organized their Kosiner detachments, which grew with lightning speed. In Pomerania, they retained partisan detachments until 1920 to support the expected action of including these lands in Poland. Due to the small number of peasants in Silesia, a relatively smaller number of them took part in the three Silesian uprisings.

The politically fragmented and socially stratified peasantry was united by the struggle for Polish independence. The Louis Movement of the Kingdom of Poland played an active role in the creation of the Polish State and its first government. Together with the Polish Socialist Party (PPP), the PSL - Vyzvolene created the first Polish government in Lublin on November 7, 1918, on a piece of liberated Polish land, which was called the "people's" government. His activity was probably the shortest compared to the work of all the offices that then existed in interwar Poland. Despite this, this government was important in recognizing the peasantry and the working class as participants in the creation of the new state, formally guaranteeing them equal rights with other classes and social strata, and declaring them responsible for the future destinies of the state and nation.

Representing the peasants in the "people's government", the party was distinguished at that time by a high degree of social radicalism. It took the position of compulsory alienation by law of all non-peasant lands. It was characterized by the anti-clericalism blunted in the Galician PSL-Piast, the close ties with the working class established during the revolution, and the recognition of the proletariat as an ally in the struggle against the exploiting classes. While the peasant movement in Galicia was anti-pomeshchichy and anti-feudal, the peasant movement of the Kingdom of Poland also had certain anti-capitalist features. This was expressed in the desire to transform the social system into a republican - cooperative one. All the peasants were advocates of parliamentarism and solving their problems in this way, as well as forming a bloc with partners in the government.

The peasants took part in the Seimas elections with great interest, testing their political forces and comparing their positions. Split into the Ludovite and national camps, they were also split between Ludovite parties, whose numbers were growing on both the radical left and the center-right. The election results indicated a decline in the ranks of the PSL - "Wyzbolene", known for its radicalism, and the growth of the moderate PSL - "Piast", which gained increasing influence in Central Poland and in the lands that were previously part of Prussia. This was evidence of the moderate views that prevailed in the Louis movement, with a tendency towards the right-wing forces of society. Piast's position was strengthened with the increasing activity of right-wing forces. In the alignment of political forces in Poland, the Ludovians took a centrist position, and the "Vyzbolene" tended to socialists. But the radicalism of the "Zawolene" was surpassed by the Independent Peasant Party (NCP), which emerged in 1924 and had close ties with the Communist Party of Poland. After the dissolution of the NKP in 1927, the Zednochene of Levitsa Khlopskaya - "Sampomots" - became the successor of its work

page 87

(Association of the peasant left "Samopomich"), which has been active since 1928. At that time, the Ludovites were an active force and one of the partners of the ruling coalition, having three times as Prime Minister the head of the PSL - "Piast" V. Vitos, in 1922-1927. Marshal of the Sejm-M. Ratai, a figure of Piast and Vyzvolene, and several other Ludovites in the rank of ministers: T. Nochnitsky, B. Stolyarsky and others. Witoe headed the Government of National Defense in 1920, acting in favor of peace and ending the Polish-Soviet war, against which the peasants remained restrained. In 1926, Vitoye was deposed as Prime Minister in a coup d'etat by Yu. Pilsudski.

During the first decade of the existence of the bourgeois-democratic government in Poland, the peasants showed a lot of activity in their socio-economic activities, self-government, in the development of culture and education, created a network of peasant organizations that were free from the patronage of landlords and priests, or were generally released from any guardianship. Rural youth were often more active. United in the Central Union of Rural Youth (CSSM), in 1928 it opposed the patronage imposed on it by the Central Union of Agricultural Circles, which was politically subordinated to the rehabilitation influence. The case ended with the split and division of the CSSM into an independent current "Vici" and a subordinate rehabilitation "Sev". "Wici" and "Siew" are the names of the print media they published. Women were the last to organize, creating rural housewives ' circles( CSCs), which initially avoided ties to political parties. As the sanation's efforts to subordinate the activities of the CSH to its own goals intensified, women overcame their dislike of politics and sought support in the Stronnitstve ludov.

Peasants, and especially rural youth, were attracted by the idea of social work and the desire to learn. Self-education was used to overcome the barriers that arose due to the different school systems that separated the village from the city. The fight against illiteracy, which has intensified since the first years of independence, has brought good results and blurred the differences between cultural zones formed as a result of the fact that the powers that divided Poland in the XVIII century neglected the needs of Polish lands, subjecting them to Germanization and Russification.

The awakened activity of the peasants was slowed down for the whole second decade of independent Poland by the strengthening of the rehabilitation camp. True, he took a lot of care to preserve the developed forms of economic self-government of public organizations and rural institutions. Through various channels, rehabilitation financed declining institutions and declining organizations, creating new ones, especially among young people. Attempts to split the Ludovite political movement failed. With the small exception of just a few high-ranking party figures who leaned on the side of sanation, all the Ludovite parties became in opposition to this regime. They soon rallied their forces at the unification congress of the three main Lu-dov parties: the PSL-Piast, the PSL-Vyzvolene, and the Stronnitzwa Klopski in 1931. A single Stronnitsvo ludove (SL) was created, and Witoe, who was in exile in neighboring Czechoslovakia, was elected its head. He was brought there along with many leaders of the democratic camp (who settled mainly in France) by the defeat of the Centrolev, created in 1929 from a parliamentary coalition to fight the ruling reorganization. The defeat of Tsentrolev by arrests and trials of its leaders pushed the masses and socialists to the path of extra-parliamentary struggle. We are speaking here precisely of the masses of the people, since the entire peasantry is not a part of the state.-

page 88

reshelo took the position of fighting sanitation. The Endeks and their associated peasants were also opposed to sanitation. This did not change the mutual hostility between the Ludovite and national camps, which was based on fundamental ideological, political and programmatic differences.

The SL, and with it the Union of Rural Youth (SSM) - Vici, after a period of passive opposition, caused to a greater extent by the depressed state and exhaustion of the countryside, which was hit in 1929-1932 by a deep economic crisis, switched to the use of methods of struggle tested by the working class, and on rural soil - by agricultural workers. In 1932, the peasants began a strike struggle to reduce trade fees and demonstrate their strength. Under the leadership of the SL, the strike struggle was waged by the farmers ' trade union, which kept the masses of unconscious peasants and strikebreakers from going to the cities and delivering agricultural products there. The strike, which swept through the center of the country and Little Poland, won. This prompted sharp counter-measures from the Government. There was a wave of arrests, especially in Lesser Poland. About 700 peasant activists were jailed there, and many were subject to administrative sanctions. In turn, this gave rise to a whole wave of clashes between peasants and the police and troops. There were dead and wounded, most often those who entered the fight with their bare hands or armed only with a stick and scythe. The government used merciless methods of suppressing unrest against the peasants. In many provinces of Lesser Poland, it pacified entire villages. It was then that a two-thousand-strong crowd of peasants on their way to the old estate in Lanzut was dispersed by a cavalry squadron. All the actions and clashes took place along the peasant - government axis, and the conflicts between the peasants and the landlords ' estates faded into the background. This did not mean that the peasants refused to demand land reform, which was twice approved by the Seimas (in 1919 and 1925) and carried out at a snail's pace, and the land was given to the peasants for payment. In 1935, the US Congress demanded the parcelling of folwarks without compensation.

The process of radicalization of the peasants was moving forward, and not only within the framework of an organized movement. In 1932, the SL had 120 thousand members, united in 6 thousand circles. It was an asset that organized strikes and numerous mass rallies and demonstrations. The participation of peasants in such demonstrations indicated a much wider scale of influence of this party and a larger circle of people closely associated with its activities than is evident from the data on the number of membership cards issued and contributions collected, since the party often provided a forum for expressing the opinions of the wider peasant masses. In 1935, at the suggestion of activists in Lesser Poland, the SL declared a boycott of the Sejm elections in protest against the anti-democratic constitution and the electoral regulations, which did not allow any opposition in Parliament. Together with Ludovtsy, the entire opposition boycotted the elections, and 63% of those who had the right to vote did not vote. This raised hopes for the overthrow of the rehabilitation regime by a coup d'etat. This issue was considered by the leadership of the SL, but in the meantime, the struggle was being waged for a democratic change in the constitution and the electoral regulations and for holding new elections to the parliament and local self-government bodies. The peasants made demands for the restoration of democratic freedoms to Pilsudski's successor, E. Rydz-Smigly, in June 1936 at a rally called in Novoselce, in the Przeworski powiat, when Rydz-Smigly hoped to win over the Ludovians to his side. The peasants then demonstrated the strength of the organized Ludovite movement, which was represented in the manifesto.

page 89

the campaign is about 150 thousand people. Slogans and banners proclaimed at the rally called for a change in the principles of the government's activities and tried to persuade it to make concessions. But neither the discussions with the government, nor the controversy that was conducted earlier in the parliament, met expectations. In the minds of the peasants, an increasingly strong thirst for active activity in their own and state interests matured. The annual ceremony of the Ludovsky holiday, organized in mid-August with the end of harvesting operations, was called the celebration of the day of "Peasant Action". There was growing ferment among the peasants, especially in Lesser Poland, which was tempered in Central Poland; in the western regions of the country, public demonstrations were not organized, despite the fact that opposition to sanitation was widespread there. This struggle of the peasants, who sought to change the Constitution, the electoral regulations, the right to self-government, and proper participation in matters concerning Poland and the nation, led to numerous new victims, arrests, fines, and various kinds of persecution. The campaign to pacify entire villages, covering Lesser Poland and the south-eastern regions of the Lublin region, has become widespread. By order of the authorities, the organizations SL and SSM-"Vici"were dissolved. They were looking for "hidden" Communists. This was a period when the Louisianist movement was establishing ever closer relations with the socialist and communist movements. Certain steps were taken to create a Popular Front in order to demonstrate the will to fight the rehabilitation regime and the right-wing nationalist reactionary forces in the country. Joint committees were formed with the participation of Communists, socialists and Ludovites, which edited the periodicals of the united front, the central "Dziennik popularny" and several regional ones (for example, in the Lodz and Radom-Czestochowa districts). The real basis for activity within the framework of the united front was created by the youth movement, which signed the Declaration of the Rights of the Young Generation of Poland in March 1936 in Przeworsk in Rzeszow region. It was signed by 13 representatives of the socialist, Communist and Ludovite organizations, including 5 members of the SSM-Vici.

In mid-August 1937, the masses of peasants in Poland, with the exception of the eastern suburbs, Pomerania and Silesia, used a political strike to persuade the government to abandon its policy of fascization of the country. About 5 thousand people were arrested again in Lesser Poland. Despite this, the US Congress decided in 1938 to launch a second strike for the democratization of life, the release of prisoners and a change in government policy. International events, and especially the Nazi threat to Poland, diverted attention from domestic problems and the organization of this strike, although a significant part of the SL members prepared the village for this action. The issue of the strike, which had caused much controversy among the party's leadership, was postponed, given that the situation had become unsuitable for it.

The SL at that time, according to police estimates, had 153,301 members in 4,771 circles. Compared to 1933, this meant a significant increase in the number of members while reducing the number of organizations. This was probably the result of" pacifications " and arrests, as a result of which the Ludovite organizations were dissolved, and perhaps also the result of a certain tactical maneuver within the SL itself. The growing number of SL members testifies to the growing authority and popularity of the Ludovite political movement among peasants who were not yet organized or participated only in socio - economic organizations, self-government and the enlightenment movement and were released from the patronage "guardianship" of rehabilitation. This was confirmed by the last ones before the start-

page 90

scrap of the Second World War local government elections. Ludovians then received from 50 to 80% of the vowel spaces. The situation was similar in the rural youth movement. The radicalism of the SSM - "Vici" attracted young people who were part of the rehabilitation SSM - "Sev". This is confirmed by discussions at the congresses and decisions taken by local organizations that demanded unification with the SSM - Vici. The central leadership of the Sev organization restrained the unification movement coming from below, although it also included supporters of the unification of the unified organization of rural youth, which was split in 1928. The unification of a large part of the Sev organization with the SSM-Vici took place in a completely different situation, which arose in connection with the outbreak of World War II, in the conditions of the mobilization of forces to fight the Nazi occupation.

Aware of the danger that threatened Poland, the Ludovites in January 1939, despite the poor relations with the government camp, proposed to him to create a government of national confidence based on a coalition of all political parties. So did the PPP and the Joint Venture (Party of Labor-Stronnitsevo pratsi). The government rejected this proposal, and the Ludovites were even accused of high treason for their solidarity with Czechoslovakia against Hitler's attack. The peasants, both organized and unorganized, behaved similarly to the leadership of the SL. Their dislike of the Government and lack of confidence in it did not obscure the national cause of Poland. They selflessly responded to the government's appeal by increasing the national defense fund and taking part in subscribing to the internal air defense loan. They did not bow in the face of the overwhelming force of Hitler's troops, actively supported the Polish army in September 1939 and without hesitation began a civil struggle against the invaders. They did not wait for orders from political parties that organized a common front for the underground struggle of the entire people, and they acted without orders, spontaneously.

This caused a lot of difficulties in the underground movement, when it was necessary to introduce it into an organized framework. The underground movement was led by the leadership, which consisted of representatives of four political parties opposed to the rehabilitation, including the SL and SN (Stronnitsvo narodove-National Party). The peasant movement was led by the SL and SN, who concluded an agreement on the defense of Poland. A third force, also rallying the peasants, was the Home Army, linked to the political leadership in exile. This situation did not ensure the proper organization of the armed forces. The peasants were initially part of three, and later four military formations. The SL created its own army - " Cotton Battalions "(Peasant battalions), numbering 150 thousand people. The number of CH combat units is unknown to us. Many peasants were in the Home Army, as well as in the Ludova Guard and the Ludova Army, when the Communists created their own armed forces.

The majority of Polish peasants, regardless of their political affiliation, as well as those who were not associated with any political party, were an active force of the anti-fascist front during the Second World War. They were distinguished by their national identity and patriotism. The situation was more complicated with the class consciousness of the peasants. In general, they were characterized by agreement on the creation of a State of social justice based on the democratic principles of equality of civil rights. The implementation of these principles was associated with people's Poland. In the Ludovite ranks, "Poland without landlords and capitalists" is universally approved-

page 91

las'. The nationalist camp, on the other hand, wanted to base post-war Poland on the principle of social solidarity and preserve the bourgeois-landowner classes, transferring power to them with the participation of representatives of peasant parties. In the programs of both camps, the question of raising the standard of living of the most economically deprived stratum of the peasantry - the agricultural workers-was passed over in silence. Only the radical current of the Ludovite movement paid some attention to changing the position of this stratum.

The SL, which operated during the war years under the name "ROH" (Radical Obuz khlopsky-Radical Peasant camp), united along with the broad moderate current a narrow radical current. The lack of space necessary to consider here the process of SL evolution only leads us to state the fact that during the years of the underground struggle there was a rapid process of radicalization of the masses of Ludovites, which was often held back by the movement's leadership. Bound by the quadrilateral agreement and the directives of the delegation of the emigration government, the SL leadership was not always able to reconcile the moderate course of its policy with the growing radicalism of the peasants, especially among young people. This Ludovite radicalism had a complex character, uniting a wide circle of adherents of agrarianism with a narrower current of supporters of socialism. But they were all united by the desire to create a people's Poland based on broad democratic principles and recognition of the working class as an ally of the peasantry. The policy of eliminating the capitalist system, which was based, in particular, on large-scale land ownership and the landowner class, won out.

Land reform, which the peasants failed to achieve during the entire interwar 20th anniversary, was the first and most urgent condition for structural changes in the course of building a people's Poland. Its implementation on uncompensated terms was guaranteed by the July Manifesto, published in 1944 in Chelm by the Polish Committee for National Reconciliation.-

Table 3

Changes in the population structure of Poland in 1931-1950 ⁷

⁷ "Wies w liczbach w Polsce kapitalisticznej i w Polsce Ludowej". Warszawa. 1952, str. 15, tab. 6.

page 92

national liberation. Its members, along with communists, included representatives of the radical wing of the Ludowska movement, members of the group "Wola Ludu", which emerged in 1942 and worked closely with the Polish Workers ' Party (PPR). They were representatives of a part of the peasants, supporters of an alliance with the working class in establishing people's power. They were followed by active peasant forces involved in the implementation of land reform and the development of the western lands returned to Poland and their integration with the motherland.

As a result of the land reform of 1944-1948, 747,400 new farms were created, 233,900 farms expanded their allotments, receiving a total of 5,994,800 hectares. Most of all (30.5%) were allocated to small-land owners (the size of ownership from 2 to 5 hectares), who received 19.6% of this area; the folvarochnaya service covered by the reform accounted for 25.6% of the total number of land owners and received 47.3% of the specified area. A new agrarian and social structure of the peasantry emerged, for the first time in the history of the village without a class of large landowners. In 1950, peasants made up 66.3% of the population, taking part in the construction of people's Poland.

page 93

Permanent link to this publication: