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Review of Polska Dla Polaków! Kim Byli i Są Polscy Narodowcy? By Jolanta Mysiakowska-Muszynska, Wojciech Muszynski, and Marek Jan Chodakiewicz. 2015. Zysk i S-ka

THE ENDEKS DURING WWII

Very many Endeks perished during and after WWII, at the hands of the Germans and the Soviets. Others found themselves exiled in the West.

During the German occupation, the Endeks refused Nazi enticements to remove Jewish lawyers. (pp. 239-240). Later, quite a few Endeks gave their lives while trying to save fugitive Jews. (pp. 236-on).

The BRYGADA SWIETOKRZYSKA is well-known for its adventures. Contrary to Communist propaganda, it never fought on the side of the Germans. In fact, it waged combat against the Germans, and later resisted German enticements to make it part of the Waffen SS, for use against the Red Army. A small group, led by Captain “Tom”, accepted German training in parachute jumping, as a time-stalling tactic (with just several weeks left for the existence of the Third Reich.) The unit was parachuted into Soviet-ruled Poland, but was under no German directives. (p. 269).

PALEO-ENDEKS AND NEO-ENDEKS

For purpose of reference (and not terms generally used by the participants), Chodakiewicz et al. refer to paleo-Endeks as those Polish nationalists who remembered Poland before WWII, and neo-Endeks as those who, based in part on a revival of interest in the ideas of Roman Dmowski (p. 364), became nationally active in the 1970’s and especially the 1980’s. (p. 368).

After the post-Stalin “thaw” of 1956, some of the paleo-Endeks in Poland became more visible—only to experience renewed repression. A few named individuals bravely persisted in their activism despite renewed arrests and other difficulties.

Some of the émigré and local paleo-Endeks, faced with the reality that Communism in Poland was “permanent”, and sobered by the Soviet military repressions of 1956 and 1968, softened their anti-Communism, and advocated some form of modus vivendi with the Soviet-imposed Communist puppet government. (p. 359).

Of course, the paleo- and neo-Endek distinction is only general. For instance, one could think of Edward Staniewski (1929-2009) who, by virtue of his age and life experiences, was a paleo-Endek. However, his style of independent thinking and action, and his readiness to form alliances with people having different opinions from his own, was more characteristic of a neo-Endek. (p. 398).

The generational difference between paleo- and neo-Endeks was sometimes counterintuitive. That is, the members of the older generation could be more radical, whereas the youth could partake of ossified 1930s-style thinking. (p. 367). The neo-Endeks, unlike some of the paleo-Endeks, generally rejected any hope of reforming Communism. They affirmed the fact that Germany could potentially once again be an enemy of Poland, but also rejected the Communist-advanced notion that the USSR was the guarantee of the permanence of Poland’s western border with Germany. (p. 368).

THE SOLIDARITY ERA

The neo-Endeks eventually became part of the Solidarity movement and–as the Real Poles—clashed with the largely-Jewish leftist-secularist KOR (KOMITET OBRONY ROBOTNIKOW) element. (p. 366, 368, 403, pp. 409-410). The latter came to embody the left-wing of the Solidarity movement, and its best-known member was Adam Michnik vel Szechter [who remains unrepentant for the crimes of his Communist father and brother to this day.] According to one former KOR member, were it not for Jaruzelski’s imposition of martial law in 1981, the Solidarity movement would probably eventually have split up—into the national-Catholic group and the Jewish-secularist-leftist group. (p. 409). [The long-term antipathy towards Polish patriotism and Catholicism, of the original KOR element, lives on, to this day, under the auspices of the leftist and Judeocentric GAZETA WYBORCZA.]

CONTEMPORARY LEFTIST TACTICS IN ACTION

Authors Chodakiewicz et al. (pp. 304-305) point out that today’s leftists and neo-Stalinists misrepresent Boleslaw Piasecki and his PAX, as an example of the Communists trying to revive pre-WWII Endek nationalism, or even of being Endek nationalists themselves! Against this nonsense, we must realize that the Communists had merely recruited Piasecki for propaganda purposes, that the Communists never had anything other than enmity against Polish patriotism, and that Piasecki had been an opportunist who had supported whatever was in vogue.

Today, leftists zero-in on marginal groups (e. g, a few Polish skinheads, and what may be called “lumpen-Endeks”) and propagandize them as representative components of the Polish national movement. (p. 470, 472). It is an obvious smear tactic.

Nowadays, the presumed unique evil of the Holocaust is used by leftists to falsely associate Nazism with the political right, and thereby to form a guilt-by-association for all rightists, including modern ones. The Holocaust is also used as a weapon, by left-wingers, for attacking Polish patriotic traditions and the Catholic Church. In addition, the monolithic focus on the Holocaust serves to deflect attention away from Communist crimes. (p. 525).

POLISH NATIONALISM TODAY

The modern Polish national movement is hardly a singularity. It is allied with similar movements in Europe, notably Jobbik in Hungary. (p. 484).

One goal of the movement is to abolish the Round Table agreements and finally to end the harmful legacy of Communism. (p. 480). The long-taboo ZOLNIERZE WYKLECI (anti-Communist Polish freedom-fighting guerrillas) are finally honored, and the day to commemorate them has been set aside as March 1st. (p. 486).

There are many Polish nationalist activists. One of the most dynamic and popular of these is historian and publicist Leszek Zebrowski. (p. 441, 486-487, 494). Among classical Endeks, the works of Wojciech Wasiutynski especially continue to inspire young Polish nationalists. (pp. 390-393, 435, 440).

The first Independence Day march, in 2010, drew 5,000 marchers. In 2011, it was 20,000. In 2012 and 2013, there were 80,000 participants. (p. 480). Leftist counter-demonstrators tried to slander and physically assault the Polish patriots, but their hysterics have waned in recent years.

All indicators point to the Polish national movement growing in size and influence. Polish Power! POLSKA SILA!

 

 

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