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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2018
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.
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
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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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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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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
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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
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