Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

From 1772 until 1918 Poland as such did not exist; the country was partitioned by Russia, Prussia, and Austria. The anarchism movement thus sprang from the emancipatory impulses of various nineteenth-century underground groups that fought to reestablish the Polish state. The area occupied by Tsarist Russia experienced the bloodiest persecutions. The first anarchist group, consisting mostly of young Poles of Jewish descent, was organized in 1903 in Bialystok. In the following years, the group's activities spread to other cities: Warsaw, Lódz, Kielce, Siedlce, and others. The goal of these groups was to disrupt the civil order set by the occupants. They often engaged in acts of terror: robberies, assaults on the police, bombings, and so forth. At the same time, some anarchist groups began to be interested in anarchosyndicalism , which rejected terrorism and focused on organizing revolutionary trade unions and engaging in various propaganda activities. Polish anarchism thrived among socialist philosophers. Edward Abramowski (1868–1918, author of Socialism and the State and A Public Collusion against Government ) advocated, as an alternative to the state, voluntary unions based on principles of common interest and collaboration. Influenced by Leo Tolstoy , Abramowski suggested that unions provide a foundation for individual freedom, while safeguarding justice and social order. ... log in or subscribe to read full text