| JOZEF PILSUDSKI |
| CONTINUED |
Ignacy Jan Paderewski, the world famous pianist and composer became Poland's first Prime Minister, and Foreign Minister. He was instrumental in persuading Pilsudski and Dmowski to join forces and establish a single government, and thereby avoid civil war. Pilsudski's vision for Poland was a return to the pre-war Polish-Lithuanian federation, including Belarus, and the Ukraine. It was to be named Miedzymorze (Between the Seas). Poland would have regained its territory from the Baltic to the Black Sea, but the Polish-Soviet War of 1919-1921 put an end to such aspirations. Though the Bolsheviks and the White Russians were both enemies of the new Polish state, Pilsudski had no recourse but to choose the lesser of two evils - he chose the Bolsheviks. By so doing, he inadvertently saved the Bolshevik government by having refused to attack the Russian government. The Polish-Ukrainian War that followed served to clarify just who the real enemy was - it was the Bolsheviks. In April 1922, Pilsudski became Marshall, and signed the Polish-Ukrainian treaty establishing an independent Ukrainian alliance with Poland. As a result, the Ukrainian leader, Symon Petliura ceded eastern Galicia, a decision for which he was virulently denounced by the Ukrainian people. The Polish-Ukrainian armies fought successfully against the Russians. On May 7, with little effort they captured Kiev. The Russians then launched a successful counter-offensive against the Ukraine, and advanced into Poland. The National Democrats (Endeks) severely criticized Pilsudski for the Bolshevik victories, and demanded his resignation. Though Pilsudski tendered his resignation it was refused by Prime Minister Wincenty Witos. In the weeks that ensured, Pilsudski was able to halt the Soviet advance at the Battle of Warsaw, in August 1920, a battle which came to be known as the Miracle at Wisla (Vistula). His strategy was considered unconventional and risky. It involved spearheading an offensive to separate the Soviet troops from its Reserves, and to disorganize its mobilization. A copy of the plan accidentlaly fell into Soviet hands but was disregaded as a ruse. The Soviet error in judgement led to their defeat, a humiliating one at that, in the Battle of Warsaw. On December 9, 1922 Gabriel Narutowicz became the first President of the Second Polish Republic. Five days after the inauguration, he was assasinated by a right-wing anti-semetic painter, Eligiusz Niewiadomski. Pilsudski resigned his post as Chief of General Staff, blaming Witos for the President's death. In his absence, Poland's economy reached crisis proportions as hyperinflation and underemployment skyrocketed. At the urging of his allies and supporters, Pilsudski returned to politics and shortly thereafter resigned once again. He demanded the resignation of Witos Cabinet. When the Endecja formed a new government on May 12, 1926, Pilsudski returned to power in a military coup. President Stanislaw Wojciechowski and Prime Minister Witos stepped down. Pilsudski was offered the office of the Presidency, but he turned it down, aware of its limited powers. He chose to hold the offices of Minister of Militlary Affairs and Chairman of the Council of War. For the next 10 years, Pilsudski's Sanacja government put an end to parliamentary government. He declared that the coup was intended to be a " revolution without revolutionary consequences." From 1928 the Sanacja was represented by the Bezpartyjny Blok Wspolpracy z Rzadem, which had popular support. In 1935 the Polish Constitution was adopted and was tailored to Pilsudskis' specifications, providing for a strong presidential office. Pilsudski's regimes gave Poland much needed stability in a country fragmented by numerous ethnic minorities - they comprised a third of the population of Poland. The policy of the Second Polish Republic reflected Pilsudski's position of "state assimilation" rather than "ethnic assimilation". Citizens were to be judged entirely on the degree of their loyalty to the State. Many Polish Jews viewed Pilsudski favorably, as their position had improved with the appointment of Kazmierz Bartel to the Cabinet. However, with the rise of terrorism of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, and the Great Depression, the situation of Polands' minorities worsened. Minorities began to criticize Pilsudski's policies, in particular calling into question Pilsudski's Lithuanian-Polish background in order to discredit him. On 1930 he sent opposition leaders to prison at Bereza Kartuska, a compound he established for detaining political prisoners. In foreign policy, Pilsudski sought alliances with the western powers in order to maintain Poland's independence. He disapproved of the French and British appeasement of the USSR, but sought to maintain good relations with the latter. With this aim in mind, the Polish govenment signed a Non-Agression pact with the Soviets in 1932, and with the Germans in 1934. These pacts were entered into for no other reason than to elevate Poland's position in the eyes of its allies and neighbors. Pilsudski was well aware of the vicarious nature of these agreements and remarked, " Having these pacts, we are straddling two stools. This cannot last long. We have to know from which stoool we will tumble first and when that will be." Among Pilsudskis' foreign policies, the most important one dealt with the rumor that Poland had proposed a "preventive war" to the French government after Hitlers rise to power in 1933. France refused to comply. They had already constructed the Maginot Line which gave evey indication that in the event of a war with Germany, the French intended to maintain a strictly defensive position. Poland would be on its own. After years of poor health, on May 12, 1935, Pilsudski died of liver cancer at Warsaw Belvedere Palace. His funeral became a national tribute to a man who did more than anyone else for the restoration of Poland's independence. Pilsudski's body rests in St. Leonard's crypt at Krakow Wawel Cathedral. His brain was donated to science, and his heart was interred in his mother's grave at Vilnius' Rossa Cemetery. Sixty years after Pilsudski's death and following the collapse of communist rule in Poland, the Sejm issued a statement on May 12, 1995: " Jozef Pilsudski will remain in our nations memory, the founder of its independence, and the victorious leader who fended off a foreign assault that threated the whole of Europe and its civilization. Jozef Pilsudski served his country well and has entered our history forever." |
At Pilsudski's funeral in 1935, President Moscicki, expressed moving words for a man whose charismatic leadership restored Poland's independence: " He was the King of our Hearts and the Sovereign of our Will. During a half century of his lifes' travails, he captured heart after heart, soul after soul, until he had drawn the whole of Poland within the purple of his royal spirit... He gave Poland Freedom, Boundaries, Power, and Respect." |