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National Self-Denial and Marxist Ideology: The Origin of the Communist Movement in Poland and the Jewish Question: 1918-1923*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Julia Brun-Zejmis*
Affiliation:
Lincoln University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

Extract

At the formation of the second Polish republic in 1918 the Communist Workers Party of Poland (KPRP) displayed total disregard for the Polish national feelings. Polish communists actively opposed the creation of the new Polish state which they thought would impede the march of revolution from Russia to the West. They saw Polish national liberation as an expression of a bourgeois ideology hostile to the interests of the Polish workers. True national liberation, they maintained, could only be achieved by the way of the international proletarian revolution.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © 1994 by the Association for the Study of the Nationalities of the USSR and Eastern Europe, Inc. 

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References

Notes

1. Compare Antoni Czubinski, Komunistyczna Partia Polski (1918-1938), (Warszawa: Wydawnictwa Szkolne i Pedagogiczne, 1985), pp.3-29.Google Scholar

2. Compare the most notable studies and documents about the early communist movement in Poland and the Jewish question: Abel Kainer (Stanislaw Krajewski), “Zydzi a komunizm,” Krytyka, no. 15 (1983), pp.214-247.; Celia S. Heller, “The Appeal of Polish Leftist Parties,” in Celia S. Heller, On the Edge of Destruction, Jews of Poland Between the Two World Wars, (New York: Columbia University Press, 1977), pp.253-260; Jaff Schatz, The Generation, The Rise and Fall of the Jewish Communists of Poland (Berkeley, Los Angeles, Oxford: University of California Press, 1991); See also the review of Schatz's book by Daniel Grinberg inBiuletyn Zydowskiego Instytutu Historycznego w Polsce, no.155-156 (1990), pp. 191-193; Jerzy Holzer, “Relations between Polish and Jewish left wing groups in interwar Poland,” in Chimen Abramsky, Maciej Jachimczyk, Antony Polonsky, ed. The Jews in Poland (New York: Basil Backwell Ltd., 1986), pp. 140-146; Leon Baumgarten, “Rewolucjonisci Zydzi w pierwszych polskich kołtkach socjalistycznych i w Wielkim Proletariacie,” Biuletyn Zydowskiego Instytutu Historycznego w Polsce, no. 47-48 (1963), pp.3-28; Henryk Piasecki, ‘Zydowscy robotnicy i polscy inteligenci pochodzenia żydowskiego w PPS-Lewicy na tle rozłtamów i secesji w latach 1907-1918,” Biuletyn Zydowskiego Instytutu Historycznego,no.129-130 (1984), pp.15-23; Maurycy Tyrman, “O żcydowskich kołtkach robotniczych PPS Lewicy i SDKPiL w Warszawie,” Biuletyn Żydowskiego Instytutu Historycznego, no. 38 (1961), pp.128-145; Larysa Gamska, “Lewica zydowskich partii socjalistycznych wobec III Miedzynarodowki i KPRP (1918-1923),” Biuletyn Zydowskiego Instytutu Historycznego, no. 97 (1976), pp.61-75; Gereon Iwański, “Powstanie i dzialalnosc komunistycznej organizacji młtodziży ‘CUKUNFT’ w Polsce (styczeń 1922-kwiecień 1923 r.),” Pokolenia, no.3/47 (1974), pp.41-62; Gereon Iwański, “Żydowski komunistyczny związek robotniczy KOMBUND w Polsce 1921-1923,” Z pola walki, no. 4/68 (1974), pp.43-78; Zbigniew Szczygielski, “Warszawska organizacja Komunistycznej Partii Polski, problemy organizacyjne,” in Warszawa II Rzeczypospolitej 1818-1938, (Warszawa: PWN, 1968), vol. I, pp. 179-205; Larysa Gamska, “KPP wobec problemów kulturalno-oświatowych ludności żydowskiej w okresie od I Zjazdu do IV Konferencji,” Biuletyn Zydowskiego Instytutu Historycznego, no. 3/103 (1977), pp.35-47; Julian Auerbach, “Niektóre zagadnienia dzialalnosci KPP w srodowisku żydowskim w latach kryzysu (1929-1933),” Biuletyn Żydowskiego Instytutu Historycznego, no.55 (1965), pp.33-56; Wladysłtaw Mroczkowski, Aleksandra Tymieniecka, “Listy Komitetu Warszawskiego KPP do kierownictwa warszawskich organizacji PPS i Bundu 1934-1936 w sprawie jednolitego frontu,” Warszawa II Rzeczypospolitej 1818-1938, (Warszawa: PWN, 1971), vol.3, pp.133-154; T. Berenstein, “KPP w walce z pogromami antyżydowskimi w latach 1935-1937,” Biuletyn Żydowskiego Instytutu Historycznego, no. 57 (March, 1966), pp. 3-74; P. Rybak, “Wspomnienia o walce KPP z antysemityzmem i pogromami,” Biuletyn Żydowskiego Instytutu Historycznego, no. 13-14 (January-February, 1955), pp. 268-273; “Szymon Zachariasz: Dokumenty do historii ruchu komunistycznego wsród żydowskich robotników w Polsce (in Yiddish),” Bleter Far Geszichte, no. 2/3 (1953), vol.7, pp.58-169; Henryk Lauer-Brand, Glos w kwestji żydowskiej, (Warszawa: 1924), also under the title, “Czy stosunek do kwestji żydowskiej jest dla komunistów sprawa drażliwa? (Z notatek więznia),” 158/V-4/12, pp. 11-25, Archiwum Lewicy Polskiej (The Archive of the Polish Left), Archiwum Akt Nowych, former Archiwum Centralne KC PZPR (hereafter cited as ALP); Centralne Biuro Żydowskie, 158/X-2/ vol. 1-41, ALP; Korespondencja Sekretariatu Krajowego, 158/V-3, ALP. Google Scholar

3. II Zjazd Komunistycznej Partii Robotniczej Polski (19. IX-2. X. 1923) Protokoty obrad i uchwaly, (Warszawa: Książka i Wiedza, 1968), p.310. (Herafter cited as II Zjazd KPRP).Google Scholar

4. Compare Isaac Deutscher, The Non-Jewish Jew and Other Essays, (London: Oxford University Press, 1968), pp.25-41.Google Scholar

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6. Compare Tadeusz Zenczykowski, Dwa Komitety 1920 1944, (Warszawa: Editions Spotkania, 1990), pp. 9-50.Google Scholar

7. Ciolkosz, Adam, “Dzielnica Żydowska Obozu w Jabłtonnie,” Zeszyty Historyczne, no. 20 (1971), pp. 178-199.Google Scholar

8. 267/III/t.3, p.22, ALP. Google Scholar

9. Prager, Dennis, Joseph Telushkin, Why the Jews? (New York: Simon and Schuster, Inc., 1983), pp. 62-63.Google Scholar

10. Ibid., p.62.Google Scholar

11. Heller, , p.52.Google Scholar

12. Prager, , p.63.Google Scholar

13. Heller, , p.88.Google Scholar

14. Berenstein, T., p.22.Google Scholar

15. Skalinski, J., “Demokratyczne drzwi…,” Przegląd Powszechny, vol.217 (January-February-March, 1938), pp. 3-14.Google Scholar

16. Ibid., p. 14 (trans. Julia Brun-Zejmis).Google Scholar

17. Brun, Julian, “Cel i znaczenie hecy antyżydowskiej,” in Julian Brun, Pisma Wybrane, (Warszawa: Książka i Wiedza, 1956), vol II, part 2, pp.102-110.Google Scholar

18. Ibid., pp. 108-109.Google Scholar

19. Compare “Uchwałta protestacyjna przeciw pogromom antyżydowskim,” I Congress KPRP, February, 1918, in KPP Uchwałty i Rezolucje, (Warszawa: Ksiazka i Wiedza, 1954), vol. 1, p. 54; “Żydzi,” III Congress KPP, March, 1925, in KPP Uchwałty i Rezolucje, vol. 2, pp. 179-184; J. Spis (Julian Brun-Bronowicz), “Pogromy,” Nowy Przegląd, 1931, pp. 5-18; J. Brun, “Endecja,” Nowy Przegląd, 1934, pp.31-41; “Pogromy żydowskie w Niemczech i w Polsce,” Nowy Przeglqd, 1935, pp. 649-650; “Włtókniarze łtódzcy przeciw pogromom,” Przegląd, 1937, no.3, p.9; P. Rybak, “Wspomnienia o walce KPP z antysemityzmem i pogromami”; T. Berenstein, “KPP w walce z pogromami antyżydowskimi w latach 1935-1937.”Google Scholar

20. Compare “Stosunek do Bundu,” KPRP I Conference, April, 1920, in KPP Uchwaty i Rezolucje, vol. I, p. 103; Karolski-A. Waisblum, “Bolaczki roboty żydowskiej KPRP i jak je usuwać,” Nowy Przegląd, 1924-1925 (reedycja: Warszawa: Książka i Wiedza, 1959), pp.195-230.; “Rewolucyjne perspektywy w Palestynie,” Nowy Przegląd, 1929 (reedycja: Warszawa: Książka i Wiedza, 1966), pp.588-600; “Praca wsrod żydowskich i niemieckich mas pracujących,” V Congress KPP, September, 1930, in KPP Uchwałty i Rezolucje, vol. III, p.234-235; A. Szymonowicz, “Z walk proletariatu Żydowskiego,” Nowy Przegląd, 1931, pp.56-63; “Rezolucja KC KPP w sprawie pracy partji śród żydowskich mas pracujących,” Nowy Przegląd, 1931, pp.68-71; “Przeciw pozostałtosciom ideologicznym bundyzmu i poalejsjonizmu,” Nowy Przegląd, 1932, pp.30-39; “Dlaczego KC Bundu zerwałt rokowania o jednolity front? Rokowania powinny być natychmiast wznowione!,” Nowy Przegląd, 1934, pp.14-15; “PPS a antysemityzm,” Nowy Przegląd, 1934, pp.100-101.Google Scholar

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22. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto, (New York: Penguin Books Ltd., 1987), p.79.Google Scholar

23. Ibid., p.92. Compare James M. Blaut, The National Question, (London: Zed Books Ltd., 1987), p.23.Google Scholar

24. At the 1880 meeting in Geneva, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Polish national uprising of 1830, Ludwik Warynski, the leader of the first workers party Proletariat proclaimed: “Our motherland is the entire world…. We are compatriots, members of one great nationality, more unfortunate than Poland, the nation of proletarians.” (Trans. Julia Brun-Zejmis), Alina Molska, ed. Pierwsze pokolenie marksistów polskich, (Warszawa: Książka i Wiedza, 1962), Vol. I, p. 423.Google Scholar

25. Marx. Engels, p. 102.Google Scholar

26. Ibid., p.92.Google Scholar

27. Compare Walker Connor, The National Question in Marxist-Leninst Theory and Strategy, (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1984), pp. 1-20.Google Scholar

28. Cited in Connor, p. 15.Google Scholar

29. Cited in Connor, p. 13.Google Scholar

30. Connor, Compare, pp. 19-20.Google Scholar

31. According to Connor, “The founders of Marxism…came themselves to be influenced more substantively by national concepts than they were probably aware.” Connor, p. 19.Google Scholar

32. “On the Jewish Question,” in Selected Essays by Karl Marx (New York, 1926). Quoted after Leon, p.66.Google Scholar

33. Prager, Compare, pp. 137-140.Google Scholar

34. “On the Jewish Question,” p. 88.Google Scholar

35. According to Leon, “The social position of the Jews has had a profound, determining influence on their national character.” Leon, p.75.Google Scholar

36. “On the Jewish Question,” p. 92.Google Scholar

37. According to Leon's interpretation of Marx's thought, “It is not the loyalty of the Jews to their faith which explains their preservation as a distinct social group; on the contrary, it is their preservation as a distinct social group which explains their attachment to their faith.” Leon, p. 73.Google Scholar

38. Marx, Karl, “On the Jewish Question,” in Early writings (New York: Random House, Vintage Books, 1975), p. 236, p. 239.Google Scholar

39. Cited in Prager, p. 139.Google Scholar

40. Compare David McLellan, Karl Marx: His Life and Thought (New York: Harper and Row, 1973), p. 3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

41. S. “Das Judentum,” Die Neue Zeit, 1890, p. 28.Google Scholar

42. Lumer, Hyman, ed. Lenin on the Jewish Question, (New York: International Publishers, 1974), p. 71.Google Scholar

43. Bauer, Otto, “The National Question and Social Democracy,” in Tom Bottomore, Patrick Goode, Austro-Marxism, (Oxford: Clarendon, 1978), pp.102-117.Google Scholar

44. Compare Lenin's remarks on Austro-Marxism in Lenin on the Jewish Question, pp. 70-71.Google Scholar

45. Lenin on the Jewish Question, p. 135.Google Scholar

46. Ibid., p. 125.Google Scholar

47. Ibid., p. 125.Google Scholar

48. Ibid., p. 107.Google Scholar

49. Ibid., p. 24.Google Scholar

50. Quoted after J. P. Nettl, “Appendix: The National Question,” in J. P. Nettl, Rosa Luxemburg, (New York: Schockem Books, 1969), p.513.Google Scholar

51. Compare Feliks Tych, “The Historical Controversy on the Polish Question in the Revolutionary Movement from Marx to Lenin,” a paper presented at the IV World Congress for Soviet and East European Studies, Harrogate, England, July 1990, p. 18.Google Scholar

52. Tych, , p. 13.Google Scholar

53. Luksemburg, Roza, Wybór pism, (Warszawa: Książka i Wiedza, 1959), vol. II, pp. 147-148. Trans. Julia brun-Zejmis.Google Scholar

54. Ibid., pp. 123-124.Google Scholar

55. Walicki, Andrzej, Rosja, Polska, Marxism, Studia z dziejów marksizmu i jego recepcji (Warszawa: Książka i Wiedza, 1983), p. 217.Google Scholar

56. Luksemburg, Roza, Wybór pism, p. 148.Google Scholar

57. Walicki, Compare, p. 222.Google Scholar

58. Luksemburg, Roza, Wybór pism, vol I, p. 399.Google Scholar

59. Walicki, , p. 221.Google Scholar

60. J. P. Nettl, p. 517.Google Scholar

61. There are many religious references in the unpublished letters from Rosa Luxemburg's family. For example, in the postcard of Sept. 24, 1897, Rosa's sister Anna greeted her with the approaching Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year). In his mournful letter of October 30, 1897, Rosa's brother Jozef (who was a doctor) expressed his despair after their mother's death: “I can do nothing now,” he wrote, “every day I recite Kaddish for her at the temple, the way she would have done it if I were the one who left her. Mama was religius and she often asked to pray for the recovery during her illness.” (Trans. Julia Brun-Zejmis). In Anna's letter to Rosa of November 11, 1897, she remembered that their mother liked to read the Bible and to translate some passages into German for the sake of her daugther. Another letter from Anna, dated September 26, 1901, described the family's recitation of Ayl mo-lay ra-cha-mim in Rosa's name on the anniversary of their mother's death. (Rosa Luxemburg Collection, Hoover Institution Archive, Stanford, CA).Google Scholar

62. Quoted after J. P. Nettl, p. 517.Google Scholar

63. Tych, Feliks, ed. Rosa Luksemburg, Listy do Leona Jogichesa-Tyszki, (Warszawa: Książka i Wiedza, 1968-1971), vol. I, pp. 196-197. Trans. Julia Brun-Zejmis.Google Scholar

64. J. P. Nettl, pp. 516-517.Google Scholar

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66. Walecki, Henryk, “W kwestiiżydowskiej,” in Henryk Walecki, Wybór pism, (Warszawa: Książka i Wiedza, 1967), Vol I, p. 138. Trans. Julia Brun-Zejmis.Google Scholar

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68. Brun, Julian, Pisma Wybrane, (Warszawa: Książka i Wiedza, 1955), Vol I, p. 59.Google Scholar

69. During the internal party conflict between the “minority” and “majority” factions, following Jozef Pilsudski's 1926 coup, both Brun and Walecki were engaged in a crude political fighting. Ironically, two most distinguished party theoreticians on the national question were accusing each other of national Bolshevism. Compare “O polskim nacjonalizmie,” Nowy Przegląd, 1926, (reedycja),pp. 378-388; “Oswiadczenie tow. Julianskiego. Do KC KPP,” Nowy Przegląd, 1926, (reedycja), pp. 535-538; J. Spis, “Moj Błtąd,” Zbiór artykulów i materiałtów dyskusyjnych, (Warszawa, 1927), pp. 76-91.Google Scholar

70. In his unpublished letter to Franciszek Fiedler, Brun admitted that his theory was first inspired by the socialist system of the Soviet Union. 186/II-I, ALP. Google Scholar

71. II Zjazd KPRP, p. 25.Google Scholar

72. Ibid., p. 27. Trans. Julia Brun-Zejmis (all quotations from the II Zjazd KPRP).Google Scholar

73. Ibid., p. 176.Google Scholar

74. Ibid., p. 223.Google Scholar

75. Ibid., p. 220.Google Scholar

76. Ibid., p. 235.Google Scholar

77. Ibid., p. 197.Google Scholar

78. Ibid., p. 209.Google Scholar

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80. Ibid., p. 339.Google Scholar

81. Ibid., p. 210. In 1925, Brun actually used his strategic “exercise in disguise,” in his famous brochure Stefana Żeromskiego tragedia pomyłtek (Warszawa: Książka i Wiedza, 1958). In his brochure he artfully manipulated the moral dilemma of the liberal intelligentsia in order to convince it about communists' genuine Polish patriotism.Google Scholar

82. II Zjazd KPRP, p. 226.Google Scholar

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84. Ibid., p. 342.Google Scholar

85. Ibid., p. 333.Google Scholar

86. Ibid., p. 100.Google Scholar

87. Ibid., p. 337.Google Scholar

88. Ibid., p. 325.Google Scholar

89. Ibid., p. 391.Google Scholar

90. Ibid., p. 346.Google Scholar

91. Ibid., p. 528.Google Scholar

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94. II Zjazd KPRP, pp. 507-521.Google Scholar

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97. Bleter Far Geszichte, vol 7 (1954) no. 2/3. p. 67. Trans. Helena Wajcman.Google Scholar

98. “The Answer of the KPP's Central Committee to the Bund's Central Committee,” November, 1924, Bleter Far Geszichte, Vol. 7 (1954) no. 2/3, pp. 71-74.Google Scholar

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101. Ibid., p. 17.Google Scholar

102. Ibid., p. 18.Google Scholar

103. Ibid., p. 20.Google Scholar

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106. Cited in Heller, p. 268.Google Scholar

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108. “Z manifestu Centralnego Komitetu Wybórczego Związku Proletariatu Miast i Wsi. W sprawie Wyborów do sejmu w 1922r., Sprawa mniejszości narodowych,” (in Yiddish) Bleter Far Geszichte, 1954, t. 7, no. 2/3, pp. 68-69.Google Scholar

109. I am following Heller's distinction between the term “assimilationist,” as an active conscious existential choice, rather than the term “assimilated,” which implies passivity. Compare Heller, p. 183.Google Scholar

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116. Heller, , p. 205.Google Scholar

117. In his book, Schatz described communist Jews who ostentatiously violated Jewish religious norms and habits, while not daring to challenge “the opium of the masses” of the Polish Catolic Church, Schatz, p. 125.Google Scholar

118. Heller, , p. 212.Google Scholar

119. Sartre, , p. 135.Google Scholar

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121. Schatz, , p. 53.Google Scholar

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129. Prager, , p. 150.Google Scholar

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131. Isaac Bashevis Singer, Love and Exile, (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1984), pp. 168-169.Google Scholar