Propaganda of Slavism in the Polish People's Republic from 1944 to 1947, with particular emphasis on the role of the Slavic Committee in Poland

Leszek Sławomir Pręcikowski

The years 1944-1946 mark a period in the history of the Polish People's Republic and other Slavic states located within the Soviet sphere of influence that can confidently be termed the "Slavic era." Slavic themes dominated both the internal and foreign policies of the communist authorities at the time. The adjective "Slavic" was conjugated in all cases in nearly every area of social life. The body responsible for disseminating Slavic ideas among the general public became the Slavic Committee in Poland (KSwP), which was directly supervised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Moreover, a number of organizations manipulated by the authorities (e.g., the Western Union of Poland, the Polish Teachers' Union, official Slavic Friendship Societies, the Polish-Soviet Friendship Society) as well as those created as independent social initiatives, based on the widespread enthusiasm at the time for the idea of Slavic cooperation and mutual understanding (e.g., the Society of Friends of Drzewid Roji, the Society of Friends of Lusatia, the Polish-Czechoslovak Friendship Society, the Slavic or the Polish Slavic Institute) - conducted lively Slavic propaganda. Slavic topics held an important place in the pages of all major newspapers and magazines. In foreign policy, the culmination of the so-called "Slavic" policy of the People's State was the idea, promoted for a long time (although ultimately ending in complete failure - due to opposition from the Kremlin), of incorporating into Poland territories west of Szczecin and the Oder line, up to the island of Rügen (Roję) included (as part of the program of reslawization of former Slavic lands)¹The slavicist ideology became a near-doctrinal dogma, conditioning all actions in the political and social spheres. The Polish Workers' Party played an important role in promoting - empty, in the then political conditions - Slavic rhetoric.

The Slavic thread was already clearly audible in the first appeal of the PPR from January 1942 and was subsequently consistently emphasized²The fundamental determinant of this direction of foreign policy, shaped by the PPR, was Poland's geopolitical location on the western outskirts of Slavdom; as well as the active and ever-growing anti-German propaganda of the All-Slavic Committee in Moscow (KW), which persisted despite the end of the war. In the KW resolutions from this period, it was clearly stated that the overarching goal for Slavic nations after the end of the war should be "greater tightening on a political and cultural basis of the ties connecting Slavic nations" in order to, among other things: "mobilize Slavic nations to eliminate the remnants of fascism"³These tasks were to be carried out through an extensive system of national Slavic Committees and the governments of Slavic states (which the resolutions of the SC called for). The SC also proclaimed the need to convene a pan-Slavic congress, which would affirm its role in the new post-war reality and mobilize the Slavic nations to "eradicate the remnants of fascism"⁴.

In the official PPR propaganda, historical and current political events were predominantly assessed from a "Slavic perspective." The so-called "Slavic triumph" was particularly emphasized - which was supposed to be the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. The front pages of party newspapers, with the main PPR organ "Głos Ludu" at the forefront, were filled with articles devoted to Slavic issues. The principle of including so-called Slavic columns in most Polish publications emerged - both those associated with the ruling camp, which had a propagandistic and political character, as well as those associated with the opposition peasant camp (publications of the Rural Youth Movement)⁵Propaganda aimed at the Slavic youth was also directed towards school-aged children, promoting the idea of establishing so-called Slavic school clubs.⁶Loudly was the idea of Slavic in sport (the slogan of so-called "Slavic sport" on this field active was well-known pre-war athlete, then activist of the central structures of PPS Jan Mulak) and cultural life of the country⁷.

An important aspect of this Slavic propaganda campaign was above all the emphasized anti-German accent. At the time, Slavic ideologists proclaimed that: "Poland [is] a sovereign and independent partner in the Slavic alliance [which] constitutes a great force directed towards the goals of peaceful reconstruction and international cooperation"; that: "Slavic alliances are not a paper document, but constitute a political current of Slavic life [...]"; that: "The new Slavic movement, hardened in the fires of liberation struggles, was sealed with the sacrifice of the blood and lives of hundreds of thousands of Soviet soldiers and soldiers of other Slavic nations", and that: "Conscious of the mortal danger threatening them from Germany and international instigators of peace, the Slavic nations strive to tighten their cooperation [...] Slavic solidarity is a democratic and anti-fascist movement"⁸In anti-German propaganda, even nationalist-racist accents were used: "The era that is coming will undoubtedly be Slavic [...] After the political exhaustion of the Roman races and the catastrophic collapse of Germany, Slavic nations are moving to the forefront of Europe. Their strength is not only their numbers, but also their unity cemented together on the battlefields [...] this unity will once and for all secure Slavic lands from new German aggression"⁹.

These historical premises - the "eternal Slavic-German conflict" - became the basis for defining the current tasks of Poland's foreign policy at the time. The issue of the Polish-German border had a fundamental importance here. Poland, as the most westerly Slavic state, was supposed to be not only a guardian of its own border but also defend the western frontiers of all Slavdom according to contemporary propaganda: "Poland, along with Czechoslovakia, is the western guardian of Slavdom [...] Poland, as the most exposed to the danger of a renewed German attack, must be particularly vigilant in this regard [...] Poland's geographical location predestines it to organize a system of peaceful Slavic cooperation - to defend peace for us Slavs and for the whole world"¹⁰.

This propagandistic aspect - Poland as the "bulwark of Slavdom" - was attempted to be used to legitimize the demands put forward by Warsaw at the time for a revision of the Potsdam border arrangements in the Oder estuary region. Marshal Żymierski, addressing the chief of staff of the Soviet Army, wrote: "The defense of the Oder and Neisse Lužica is not only the defense of Poland's borders, but also constitutes an important section of the western borders of all Slavdom"¹¹Poland submitted a number of delimitation amendments, proposing the course of the border line from Greifswald in the north - and further to the west of Anklam and Pasewalk - to the bend of the Oder near Oderberg (which was to remain on the Polish side)¹². There was also a demand to annex the island of Rügen (Roja) to Poland or to demilitarize it¹³. Here, the communist authorities' demands perfectly harmonized with the slogans of the Slavic fantasists from the Society of Friends of the Drzewid Knowledge of Władysław Kołodziej, who proclaimed that:

Rojana, Rana
Holy Land of the Slavs
Forgotten by her brothers,
The history of its revival [...]
It will be a fortress on the Baltic Sea
The Unyielding Barrier
On the way to the East for ruffians¹⁴.

As seen, the more or less realistic slogans of the ruling team - regardless of their chances of implementation - achieved their propaganda goal, falling on fertile social ground and gaining supporters for the new authority. The principle of Slavic solidarity was proclaimed as a norm in mutual relations between Slavic states (here, a common policy was demanded to defend the borders on the Oder and Neisse - emphasizing the resolutions of the Slavic Congress in Belgrade [December 1946]: "All Slavdom on guard for the western borders of Poland" - as "Głos Ludu" wrote at the time¹⁵); it was proposed to establish special relations between them. There was a lot of noise about the idea of creating a "Slavic bloc" in the UN: "delegates from Slavic states first and foremost implement a peaceful and anti-fascist policy in the UN." A tangible proof of the great weight and moral strength of the humanistic Slavic policy [on the UN stage], according to the Polish creators of this policy, included, among other things: "the victory in the Spanish case"¹⁶, i.e., the General Assembly of the UN on 9 II 1946 adopting a resolution recommending member states to break off diplomatic relations with Francoist Spain and not to admit it to the organization, as well as the joint struggle of Slavdom for the border on the Oder and Neisse (but also for "Slavic Carinthia" and Lusatia). Indeed, in the General Assembly of the UN there were then joint "block" voting of Slavic countries (including Belarus and Ukraine)¹⁷The propagandistic dimension was evident in the statements of the then Minister of Justice and deputy chairman of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, who said: "The Slavic movement is a form of collective security organization of free nations... The Slavic states - Poland, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia have concluded treaties of friendship, mutual assistance, and post-war cooperation with the Soviet Union. They also entered into agreements [...] with each other [...] These agreements constitute a permanent foundation for the policy of Slavic nations [...] within the framework of the United Nations Charter¹⁸.

Personal support for this understanding of the Slavic idea was provided by the leaders of the state ship at the time. This was evidenced by the content of the telegram-letter, addressed by Bolesław Bierut to the Slavic Congress in Belgrade: “Reborn Democratic Poland, having returned to the ancient Slavic lands over the Oder, Neisse, and Baltic Sea, has undertaken the arduous task of rebuilding the destroyed country, aware of its obligations as the western bastion of Slavic-ness against the ever-threatening German expansionism. I greet all Slavic Brethren, united yesterday in the fight against fascism, and today in the common work of creating lasting peace.¹⁹. Similar in tone were the telegrams from Bierut and Józef Cyrankiewicz addressed to participants of the II Plenum of the All-Slavic Committee (which met in Warsaw in June 1947): "friendship and cooperation between Slavic nations is the most important guarantee of lasting Peace"²⁰; “I believe that your deliberations [...] will contribute to the final liquidation of the remnants of fascism, which in such a painful way has taught our nations the great wisdom and Slavic solidarity”²¹.

The expansiveness of the Slavic propaganda of the Moscow-based Slavic Committee and the national Slavic Committees (within the framework of Polish Slavic policy) at that time caused concern among Western European public opinion (especially Anglo-Saxon). This was reflected in critical opinions in popular journals in these countries. The Slavic idea in the Soviet version was sharply criticized by Polish émigré circles close to the Polish government in exile. The lead here was taken by the largest Polish-language newspaper in London, „Dziennik Polski i Dziennik Żołnierza” („The Polish Daily & Soldier's Daily”), which labeled the Slavic movement in Poland (as well as the entire New Slavic movement) and its activists as a “Soviet fifth column,” aiming to subordinate Slavic nations to Moscow and infiltrate Western societies through Slavic émigré organizations.²²In Polish political opposition circles, the most notable position was that of Zygmunt Żuławski, who in his article titled Nationalism and Racism („Gazeta Ludowa”) warned against Slavic racial imperialism: "For the world, it is completely irrelevant whether racism manifests itself in hatred of myths, or in the claims of the German race to rule the world, or finally in the apotheosis of the Slavic race and some specific solidarity of Slavic nations." Such racism is no less evil.²³Propaganda Slavic - whose dissemination was entrusted to the Slavic Committee in Poland - was to serve "building the authority of the then authorities in the eyes of the nation, before the upcoming electoral decisions, in the atmosphere of the struggle for power. The roots of the Committee lay in external elements - the same ones that prepared the creation and program of the All-Slavic Committee in Moscow. Its origins should be sought in the section controlled by Wanda Wasilewska, the Polish Section of the KW. During the proceedings of the First All-Slavic Congress (August 11, 1941), Wasilewska, in her appeal, called for a joint struggle of all Slavic peoples against the Hitlerite invader: "A terrible battle has begun, a battle about which history has not yet dreamed. A battle for the world. In this battle, all Slavic nations must stand as one."²⁴The Congress of Slavic Soldiers (Feb. 23-24, 1944), in which the Union of Polish Patriots led by W. Wasilewska actively participated, outlined specific tasks regarding the advance of the Red Army into the territories of other Slavic states. In an appeal to Poles, it was urged: “Brothers and Sisters of Poland! The time of liberation is approaching. The Red Army [...] is advancing toward Polish land [...] the strength of ‘liberated Poland’ will lie in friendship with Slavic nations”²⁵. Slavic solidarity slogans continued to resonate in the programmatic documents of both the ZPP, which initiated or co-participated in many pan-Slavic events (with Wasilewska being particularly active in this area)²⁶, as well as the Polish Workers' Party. In its first proclamation (from January 1942), the PPR called for Poles to fight together with the rest of Slavdom against the Hitlerite invaders. The proclamation stated: "The Polish nation is not isolated in its struggle for freedom. All Slavic nations are fighting alongside us for their liberation. [...] Together with the great Russian nation, we all stand in holy battle for the liberation of the Slavs from the Teutonic yoke"²⁷The call for Slavic cooperation was repeated in the second programmatic declaration of the PPR, "What Are We Fighting For?" (from November 1943), where it was written, inter alia: "Establishing good neighborly and alliance relations with the USSR will become an important and decisive factor in strengthening our defense, economic potential, and position in Europe. Similarly, close ties of friendship and cooperation must also be established with other Slavic brotherly nations."²⁸In 1943, the authorities of the Polish United Workers' Party (PPR) sent "combat greetings" to the participants of the 111th Slavic Congress in Moscow.²⁹, while in the "Guidelines for Assessing the Political Situation" (October 6, 1945), it was stated: "The proletariat as the leading force in the national liberation war sets itself the following main political goals at the current stage [...] [in point B:] Consolidating the alliance with the Soviet Union and the Slavic states [...]"³⁰.

Moscow's masters of the emerging "new Slavic movement" considered its main goals to be, among others: "strengthening friendship and close ties between Slavic peoples with the USSR [...] establishing close cultural and economic ties between Slavic peoples and the peoples of the USSR"³¹These slogans became the primary task set for implementation in the official program documents of the National Council of the Republic, the National Committee for Liberation, and the cooperation agreements concluded between Poland and the Soviets. The most eloquent formulations were contained in the "Manifesto of the Polish Committee of National Liberation," which states: "Stand up to fight for Poland, which will never again be threatened by the German onslaught [...] History and the experience of this war prove that only the building of a great Slavic dam can protect against the pressure of German imperialism. [...] For 400 years, there was a period of constant conflicts between Poles and Ukrainians, Poles and Belarusians, Poles and Russians, to the detriment of both sides. Now there has been a historical turn in these relations. Conflicts are giving way to friendship and cooperation, dictated by mutual vital interests.³²The "building of the dam" was to be served by, among other things, the "Polish-Soviet Friendship Treaty" (concluded in Moscow on April 21, 1945), which stated, inter alia: "The High Contracting Parties will cooperate in the spirit of friendship and equality after the conclusion of the present war in order to further develop and strengthen economic and cultural ties between the two countries" (similar in content clauses were also contained in treaties between the USSR and the other Slavic states), as well as treaties concluded between Poland and Yugoslavia (March 18, 1946) and between Poland and Czechoslovakia (March 10, 1947).³³.

The organizational recommendations for establishing the Slavic Committee in Poland were presented by General of the Army Alexander Semenovich Gundorov during his visit to Poland in July 1945. Shortly after this visit, a local Slavic Committee was established in Kraków, the old center of Polish Slavistics. It was led by Professor Tadeusz Stanisław Grabowski of Jagiellonian University, former Polish ambassador to Bulgaria. At the same time, work began in Warsaw to establish a national Slavic Committee.³⁴.

28 VII 1945 in Warsaw, a meeting of the Initiative Group to establish the Organizing Commission of the Slavic Committee in Poland took place, chaired by Minister of Culture and Arts Władysław Kowalski. Guests from the USSR and Czechoslovakia also participated. The discussion at the meeting focused around a paper presented by Gundorov, after which the Organizing Commission of the SCP was established in the following composition: min. W. Kowalski, min. Henryk Świątkowski, Jan Wiktor, Wiesław Fijałkowski, Prof. Jerzy Loth, Prof. Stanisław Słoński, Prof. Stanisław Pieńkowski, Prof. Mieczysław Michałowicz, Col. Edward Ochab. A decision was also made to convene the First Congress of the Committee for August 22 and 23, 1945.³⁵

Both the composition of the initiating group (where the overwhelming majority were high-ranking PPR officials, including some "hardened" Moscow-trained activists of the All-Slavic Committee) and the fact that the organizational meeting of the Polish Slavic Federation was directed by the head of the All-Slavic Committee sent from Moscow (directly subordinate to Stalin) confirmed the decisive role of the PPR and Soviet factors in manipulating propaganda - Slavic policy in Poland at that time. The Slavic idea became merely a tool in the hands of communists at that time, serving one purpose - supporting the brutal struggle to take complete control of the country. Ultimately, the Slavic Committee in Poland was established on August 22-23, 1945, in Warsaw, during a meeting of representatives from the worlds of science, education, and culture, as well as social and political activists.³⁶.

A significant portion of well-known and respected figures in Polish science became involved in the work of establishing the Committee. The newly formed structure was chaired by Prof. M. Michałowicz. Additionally, the first composition of the Slavic Committee in Poland included: Prof. Henryk Batowski (First Deputy Chairman of the Committee), Prof. Józef Kostrzewski (Second Deputy Chairman), Minister W. Kowalski (III vice-chairman), Paweł Dąbek (secretary of the Committee), members of the Committee: Prof. Jan Czekanowski, Stanisław Fedecki, Lt. Karol Gruszczyński, Jerzy Kornacki, Prof. Tadeusz Lehr-Spławiński, Prof. J. Loth, Col. E. Ochab, Rev. Czesław Oraczewski, Col. Kazimierz Sidor, Minister H. Świątkowski, attorney Stefan Wilanowski³⁷A little later (February 1946), as reported by "Życie Słowiańskie": "for the faster and more efficient conduct of certain works," the KS Executive was established. Its members included: H. Batowski, M. Michałowicz, E. Ochab, H. Świątkowski, S. Wilanowski, and the then head of the KS office - Zofia Sobierajska (until February 20, 1947).³⁸The composition of the Committee was subsequently completed and expanded, so that in 1945-1947, in addition to the aforementioned individuals, it included - at various times - as the Treasurer of the Committee Henryk Wyrzykowski (a peasant activist), and as members of the Committee: Jan Grubecki, Michał Pankiewicz, Prof. Kazimierz Piwarski, Jan Rabanowski, Eugeniusz Szyr, Stanisław Trojanowski, Col. Mieczysław Wągrowski³⁹. In addition to those previously mentioned, the following individuals were directly involved in the work of the Central Office of the Association for the Protection of the State (KSwP) during the period in question: Prof. Stanisław Arnold - University of Warsaw, Wacław Barcikowski - SD, member of the Presidium of the Council of National Representatives (until 1952), vice-marshal of the Constituent Assembly, Col. Piotr Borowy (PPR), Stanisław Dobrowolski (PPS), Prof. Walery Goetel - a prominent specialist in environmental protection, creator of the scientific discipline dealing with the foundations of nature protection and the use of its resources and their sustainability - sozology (1965), Michał Kaczorowski - PPS, Minister of Reconstruction, Bogusław Kożusznik - PPR, undersecretary of state in the Ministry. Health, Gen. Władysław Korczyc - PPR, Soviet officer "assigned to work in the Polish Army", Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Army, editor Marian Kubicki, Professor Bronisław Kuryłowicz, Zygmunt Latoszewski - musicologist, conductor of the Poznań Philharmonic, Henryk Smuga-Ładosz - director of Łódź theaters, Professor Mieczysław Mulecki (d. 1946) - Slavist, lecturer at Jagiellonian University, Professor Zygmunt Mysłakowski - lecturer at Jagiellonian University, Jan Mulak - well-known Polish athlete in the interwar period, then member of the central authorities of the PPS (removed from the Central Council of this party under pressure from B. Bieruta in 1948, during the period of fighting the so-called "right-wing nationalist deviation", Władysław Ożga - PPR, vice-director of the department in the Ministry. Oświaty, Wincenty Rzymowski - former associate of the Polish Section of the CC, member of the SD (effectively in the service of the PPR, from early August to September 1944 representative of the PKWN to the government of the USSR, then minister of culture and arts, later minister of foreign affairs and minister without portfolio), Zygmunt Modzelewski - first post-war ambassador to Moscow, 1947-1951 minister of foreign affairs (previously undersecretary of state in the same ministry, began political career in 1917 in the SDKPiL), Prof. Leon Schiller - rector of the State Higher School Teatralnej in Łódź and director of the local Theatre of Polish Army, Wiesław Sobierajski (husband of Z. Sobierajska), head of the Southeast Division in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Prof. Henryk Raabe - a leading PPS activist, organizer and rector of the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, a prominent zoologist, 1945-1946 Polish ambassador to Moscow, Dr Tadeusz Spiss from Jagiellonian University, Prof. Henryk Ułaszyn from the University of Łódź, member of the local KS leadership. Change in the position of Secretary-General. The appointment of the Chairman of the Committee (which was taken by St. Trojanowski) and the Director of the Bureau of the Committee (which was taken by Jadwiga Kwiatowska) took place on 20 February 1947.⁴⁰

Direct party control over the activities of the newly established structure was ensured by the participation of a "veteran" of the All-Slavic Committee in Moscow, a member of the Central Committee of the PPR - Colonel E. Ochab, as well as other high-ranking officials of the PPR apparatus (P. Dąbek, K. Sidor, E. Szyr, St. Trojanowski), who directly consulted their activities with the appropriate PPR structures.⁴¹.

The Slavic Committee in Poland, being an essential structure of the Slavic dogma in Polish foreign policy in 1944-1947, remained in close dependence on the relevant authorities of the PPR and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where the Department of Soviet Affairs, the Department of Central European Affairs (including Władysław Łobodycz), and the Department of South-Eastern Europe (mentioning Maria Wierna and W.) were directly responsible for cooperation with the Slavic World Committee. (Sobierajskiego) which was part of the Political Department and the Press and Information Department. This chain of command resulted from the territorial scope of KSwP's activities, whose equivalents were located precisely in the area of the USSR, Central Europe, and Southeast Europe. Wierna, inter alia, supervised the so-called Łużyckie issue and the Committee's activities in this field. H. Batowski, who handled the Sorbian issue on behalf of the Central Committee for Polish and Slovak Affairs (KWsP), maintained constant contact with Wierna and submitted regular, periodic reports on the Committee's activities in this regard. Sobierajski was particularly closely tied to the Committee through his wife (Zofia) - who until February 20, 1947, served as head of the KWsP's office - who was closely involved with the Committee. He personally engaged in a number of matters related to his activities, including reviewing the new "Statute" ("Internal Regulations") of KSwP from June 1947, overseeing cultural contacts with Yugoslavia and Bulgaria, and consulting with the Committee's authorities on the feasibility of Slavic initiatives (Slavic College) of the Polish Teachers' Union⁴². The Polish Embassy in Moscow, which was headed by people directly linked to the Committee (and previously to the Polish Section of the CC in Moscow) at that time, was responsible for contacts with the Moscow control center - Stefan Wędrychowski (plenipotentiary of the PKWN VII-XII 1944), Z. Modzelewski (XII 1944-VIII 1945), H. Raabe (VII 1945-IX 1946), Henryk Wolpe (as charge d'affaires) (IX 1945-IV 1947), Marian Naszkowski (IV 1947-XI 1950). Among the staff of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MSZ), connections with the New Slavic movement and, consequently, oversight of its work were held by: Stefan Wierbłowski (June 1945 - January 1948 - Ambassador to Prague, later Secretary-General in the rank of Ambassador at the MSZ and Undersecretary of State) and Wiktor Grosz (Director of the Press and Information Department at the MSZ, later [February 9, 1950] Ambassador to Prague).⁴³The most important decisions regarding "Slavic" matters (including the Lusatian issue, cooperation with Polish diaspora and Slavic emigration organizations in the West) were settled by the Minister of Foreign Affairs himself in consultation with the decision-making center in Moscow⁴⁴The function was held at that time by W. Rzymowski (May 1945-February 1947), a member of the central authorities of the Polish Slavist Association, and Z. Modzelewski (February 1947-March 1951, previously [July 1945-February 1947] undersecretary of state in the same ministry), a member of the Polish Section of the Central Committee in Moscow. Jacob Berman undoubtedly had an influence on decisions regarding Slavic propaganda and the Slavic direction of foreign policy. He, in turn, consulted most of his political decisions with the executor of the Kremlin's foreign policy - Mokotow. Berman was one of the main architects of the foreign policy of the Lublin camp, as a co-organizer of the Polish Committee of National Liberation and co-author of the "Manifesto of the PKWN," and as a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the PPR - belonging, along with Władysław Gomułka and Roman Zambrowski, to the so-called party triumvirate that took (along with the triumvirate of the PPS) the most important political decisions. By overseeing, on behalf of the Political Bureau, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, and finally the Polish Academy of Sciences, he controlled not only foreign affairs (an integral part of which was the activity of the New Slavic movement), but also the entire range of issues falling within the sphere of interest and activity of the USSP (culture in a broad sense and inter-Slavic cooperation in this matter) as well as the environment constituting the core of the movement (cultural and scientific elites).

On behalf of the PPR, the activities of the Slavic Committee in Poland were supervised and directed by the Foreign Department of the Central Committee (WZ KC PZPR), as well as by the appropriate departments of the provincial committees of the party in relation to the provincial branches of the Committee. Personal "patronage" over the activities of the Polish new Slavic movement was exercised by the long-time head of this Department, a leading propagandist in the PPR apparatus, and the then editor-in-chief of "Głos Ludu" - Ostap Dłuski (Adolf Langer). In the Foreign Department of the CC, decisions were made regarding tasks included in the annual work plans of the Provincial Committees, the content presented in the statutory organ of the Committee - „Slavic Life”, personnel matters, and most importantly, the nature of the „Statute” of the Provincial Slavic Committees.⁴⁵.

The Committee, being an integral part of the "new Slavic movement", remained in direct dependence on the Moscow center and personally on the Chairman of the All-Slavic Committee, A. S. Gundorov (who personally manipulated the creation of the foundations of the new Slavic movement in Poland), as well as the Secretary-General (responsible) of the same Committee, Valentin V. Mochalov. Then - after the Slavic Congress in Belgrade (8-11 [16] December 1946), also from Igor Miedviediev, the Secretary-General of the All-Slavic Committee (OSK) in Belgrade. In turn, the dependence of these entities on the highest factors in Moscow (including Stalin) has already been mentioned. These dependencies were strengthened (as of September 1946) by the ideological supervision of the newly established Slavic Institute of the USSR. The directives from the Kremlin were transmitted through the Secretariat of the Polish Embassy in Moscow, and particularly important matters were coordinated through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The structures of the All-Slavic Committee for Poland (KSwP) were duplicated until the beginning of 1947 - i.e., until the transformation of the All-Slavic Committee into the General Slavic Committee (11 Dec 1946) and the establishment of the Slavic Committee of the USSR (27 Mar 1947) - by the Polish Section of the Slavic Committee (of which some activists of KSwP remained members)⁴⁶.

In addition to the units of the apparatus of power already mentioned, the activities of the new Slavic movement in Poland were directly interested in: the Ministry of Public Administration, the Ministry of Information and Propaganda, as well as the Office of the Council of Ministers - as evidenced by the accumulated archival material⁴⁷.

The actions of the Committee, in accordance with the recommendations of the guiding bodies in Moscow and Warsaw, were intended to "soften" Polish society and win over as much of the Polish public opinion as possible for the idea of building a socialist state based on the Soviet model of socio-political development. They were intended to smuggle communist ideology and the practice of social life into Poland.

A peculiar phenomenon of the New Slavic movement was that Professor Michałowicz, a man from the closest circle of Józef Piłsudski and since the interwar period associated with Freemasonic organizations - playing a leading role in the structures of Polish Freemasonry - stood at the head of the structures controlled by communists.⁴⁸The participation of so many well-known and respected figures from the cultural and scientific spheres in the preparatory work of the Slavic Committee in Poland demonstrated that a significant portion of the Polish elite was unaware that the newly created structure was merely a cleverly implemented political manipulation. Meanwhile, the communists promoting the "Slavic movement" saw it as a convenient tool for spreading internationalist slogans and Sovietization of both the Polish and other Slavic societies.

It became clear that the Polish world of culture and science, which had placed its hopes in this movement, was mistaken - after the establishment of the Polish Slavic Society, when lofty ideas collided with the brutal political reality of the Stalinist period. It is also worth noting here that the vast majority of former activists of the Polish Slavic Committee preferred to remain silent about their participation in the work of the New Slavic movement in Poland, or earlier, the All-Slavic Committee in Moscow. After years, they probably treated their activity in this field as a embarrassing "mistake in their biography", which is why we do not find even the slightest mention of it in the encyclopedic biographies of the Committee's activists (coming from the circle of the then scientific and cultural elite, with the exception of H. Batowski); or in specialized publications such as "who is who" of Polish science. Still alive at the time of writing this work, the elder statesman of the movement, Prof. Batowski, did not, however, decide to accept the proposal for an interview (interview) on his contribution to the works of KSwP. It is interesting that even "people in power" - then political officials - are very reticent in their memories about their participation in the work of the movement. Practically none of the activists and collaborators of the All-Slavic Committee or KSwP mention their work there⁴⁹.

During the discussions at the Warsaw meeting (in August 1945), the main goals facing the Committee were outlined. Świątkowski, in his referat "On the Tasks and Goals of the Committee," stated that the primary task of the Slavic Committee would be "to deepen the Slavic idea through work among young people, introducing the teaching of Slavic languages and the history of Slavdom into schools, and work among adults, conducted by teams of scholars dealing with Slavic issues."⁵⁰According to Minister Świątkowski, "in the political field, the Committee will strive for emotional rapprochement between the Polish nation and other Slavic nations [...] supporting economic cooperation"⁵¹.

Without forgetting all the negative aspects that lay at the foundation of the emerging Polish branch of the New Slavic movement - remembering that its main political goal was to work towards subordinating Poland to the Moscow center - one cannot remain silent about a number of valuable initiatives that arose within the Slavic Committee in Poland. One of the most significant initiatives of the SCP was the idea of supporting the independence aspirations of the Sorbs. The Lusatian issue sparked the most lively debate within both the Polish and the entire Neo-Slavic movement. Although this initiative was not brought to an effective solution, it undoubtedly was one of the greatest achievements in the activities of the Committee. The case of Lusatia aroused considerable emotions among Polish political elites at the time (both in the West and among Polish communists supported by Moscow). This was due to the revival of the idea of returning Poland to the old Piast lands along the Oder and Neisse rivers. Even during German occupation, pro-Western political circles associated with the Delegation of the Government in Exile established the Łużycki National Committee, which aimed to promote the idea of reviving Łużyce as a region linked to Poland. They were served by (appearing since 1942) clandestine periodicals intended for Sorbs: published in Polish "Sprawy Łużyckie" and the German-language "Wendischer Bote"⁵²In the "Memorial" of that Committee (dated October 20, 1942), it was written: "[...] we longingly turned our eyes and hands towards you [...] Remember us when the hour of reckoning comes, remember that beyond the Neisse, which is your natural border, there are Slavic lands that also desire to enter as a free state into the Polish Empire"⁵³Among Polish activists in the Soviet Union, W. Wasilewska showed the greatest interest in the Lusatian issue.

After the liberation of Lusatia (by Soviet troops of the First Ukrainian Front, with significant participation of the II Army of the Polish People's Army), hopes for linking it with Poland seemed very realistic. The defeat of Germany and the appearance of Slavic liberation armies on the Serbo-Lusatian national territory became an impulse revitalizing Serbian independence aspirations. Organizations were formed demanding either full sovereignty - the Anti-Fascist Association of Sorbian Serbs "Domowina" in Bautzen, or the annexation of Lusatia to Czechoslovakia (a postulate not new, raised as early as the Versailles Conference in 1919) - the National Committee of Sorbian Serbs in Prague. The Bautzen Committee sent two memoranda to the UN, demanding independence for the Sorbian Serbs⁵⁴. Sorbian activists appealed to raise the issue of Lusatian sovereignty at the peace conference. The Sorbian National Committee (Serbski Narodny Wubjerk) sent a delegation to London for the inaugural session of the United Nations General Assembly (opened on 11.I.1946) with a request to address the fate of Lusatia. This action gained wide support in Czech (Association Friends of Lusatia - chair Jozou David and the Central Committee for Aid to Sorbs, operating under it) as well as in Polish Slavophile circles.⁵⁵.

The Slavic Committee in Poland - particularly its Kraków branch - initially showed great interest in the Lusatian cause. At the initiative of the Committee's activists, Professors T. St. Grabowski and J. Kostrzewski, the Society of Friends of Lusatia was established there. Knowledge about the history and present day of this smallest Slavic people was popularized. In January 1946, a special Referat for Lusatia was established within the KSwP56 - initially accepted by governmental circles, which considered the possibility of drawing Łużyce into Poland's sphere of influence, as well as due to the development of the international situation.

The issue of the Sorbs was a matter of urgency for Poland at the time due to the excessive involvement in this direction by Prague, which proclaimed a program of uniting Łużyce with the Czechoslovak state. This problem was signaled by Polish war correspondents Edmund Osmańczyk and Mieczysław Zarzycki, who in July 1945, for the Polish Foreign Ministry, explored the prospects for the development of the Serbo-Sorbian issue in Łużyce.⁵⁷The Polish authorities were particularly alarmed by the publication on June 1, 1945 (through the Czech Society of Friends of Lusatia [Společnost Pratel Lužice] led by Vladimír Zmeškal) of the "Memorandum of the Lusatian Serbs, a Slavic people in Germany who demand liberation and union with Czechoslovakia." It was proposed there that the great powers, during the peace conference, should decide to create an independent Lužica state closely linked to Czechoslovakia - with the eastern border of such a state being proposed to be conducted along the line of the Kwisa and Bóbr rivers (thus with significant encroachment on Polish holdings according to the Potsdam arrangements). This clearly indicated Prague's desire to use the Łužica issue as a bargaining chip in territorial disputes with Poland (in the context of Czechoslovakia's territorial claims to the Kłodzko Land, Opole Silesia, Zaolzie, Spiš, and Orava). Given the ongoing open armed aggression by Czech forces in the Cieszyn Silesia region, combined with persecutions of the Polish population on the Czech side of the border, such demands had to provoke strong aversion and opposition⁵⁸In January 1946, Łużyckie organizations united into the Łużycka Rada Narodowa, which was intended to serve as a government - a representation of independent Łužica. Pro-Czech tendencies (ks. Jan Cyź, Jurij Cyź) and pro-Polish tendencies (Paweł Nedo and Dr. Jan Cyź) clashed within it. The pro-Polish representatives of the Council made efforts to establish "diplomatic relations" with Poland, which culminated in the establishment of a Łużycki delegation in Warsaw, led by Wojciech Delanow-Koćka. In the face of the clear lack of real (beyond expressing general sympathy and supporting - without specific commitments - the "just cause") involvement of the Czechs on the Łużyck side and the gradual shift of Łużyck activists towards Poland (as evidenced by the demand for full independence [raised in the memorandum from January 1946], rather than as previously - federation with Czechoslovakia) - the concept of supporting Łużyck aspirations and creating a pro-Polish Slavic state on the western borders of the Polish state seemed appealing. However, the clearly hostile attitude of Soviet authorities towards Serbian independence organizations made Warsaw adopt (similar to Czech) a tactic of waiting and "friendly support" for Łużyczan aspirations.

The result of this stance was the acceptance of („controlled”) development of pro-Lusatian activity in Poland - especially in the field of cultural relations. The Committee of Slavs in Poland was made responsible for this „control” of Lusatian matters, and personally the then vice-chairman of the Committee - Prof. H. Batowski (who systematically analyzed the development of the Lusatian issue for the Polish Foreign Ministry, as well as tried to gain support for Lusatian aspirations in Moscow and the Pan-Slavic Committee)⁵⁹A special Łužica desk was established within the Committee, and individual branches and activists of the Polish Slavic Association provided extensive support for the Łužica cause. The mouthpiece for the idea of free Łužica at that time was "Slavic Life" (the press organ of the Polish Slavic Association), where numerous articles kept readers informed about the Łužica people's struggle for self-determination.

Support for the struggle of the Sorbs for freedom was also reflected in the "Statute of the Slavic Committee in Poland." Alongside the Slavic Committees in Moscow, Belgrade, Sofia, and Prague, it specifically mentioned the Slavic (National) Committee in Bautzen as one of those with which the SCP "establishes and maintains close contacts"⁶⁰.

The Lusatian issue also ran through the current work of the Committee's bodies. Between the First and Second Congress of the Committee, 10 meetings of the Bureau of the CSWP were held, devoted to Lusatian issues. Meanwhile, during the Second Congress of the CSWP, a special resolution was adopted, with the significant title: "To Our Brethren, the Lusatians." It was written there, inter alia: „Sending warm greetings to the fraternal nation, the Slavic Committee in Poland expresses its sympathy for the national and cultural aspirations of the Sorbs [...] is ready to support it in this work, to the extent of its possibilities.” However, these were only gestures. Due to the hostile attitude of the Kremlin towards the idea of self-determination for Lusatia, Polish activists could only demonstrate. It was not even possible to push through the participation of a Sorbian delegation in the proceedings of the Slavic Congress in Belgrade (December 1946), where Sorbian activists only appeared informally - “not taking formal part in the proceedings of the Congress”. Repeated efforts by H. Batowski's appeals to the authorities of the All-Slavic Committee (later the Slavic Committee of the USSR), the General Slavic Committee, and the Soviet embassy for support for the struggle of the Sorbian Serbs yielded no results. The chairman of the ASC, Gen. Gundorov, and the chairman of the GSC, Gen. Božidar Maslarić, responded with deep hostility to Batowski's efforts (Maslarić even recommended the liquidation of pro-Sorbian societies in Poland and Czechoslovakia). Representatives of the Soviet commandanture in Lusatia accused Serbo-Lusatian activists of "fascist tendencies" (sic!)⁶¹From Moscow, through intermediaries such as Z. Modzelewski, pressure was exerted on KSwP to cease excessive involvement in support of the Sorbs⁶²In this situation, the authorities of the KSwP began gradually to distance themselves from officially supporting Łužica's demands.

Despite these developments, some activists from the KSwP and voivodeship branches (Cracow, Poznań, Wrocław) continued to actively support the national aspirations of the Sorbs. The Kraków Society of Friends of Lusatia was thriving. It initiated, among other things, an action to gain support for the Łużyczanie's efforts by the National Councils (an appeal was sent in this matter to 14 Voivodeship and 23 City NCs, which was met with their favorable reception). As a result of this action, an appeal was made by the National Councils to the Government of the Republic of Poland to support the Łużyck cause on the international stage. The Łużyck Association in Kraków secured 10 scholarships from the Minister of Education for Łužica people wishing to study in Poland. A memorandum of support for Łužica was also submitted to the Presidium of the Central National Council⁶³.

The Slavic Committee in Poland, carrying out the propaganda directives of the ruling power at the time, also conducted lively international cooperation - establishing numerous contacts with emigrant Slavic organizations (including the Congress of Slavs in America, led by a Pole named Leon Krzycki; Slavic organizations in Australia or South America). The representatives of the Committee participated, among other things, in the proceedings of the III Congress of All-Slavic America (September 20-22, 1946), and earlier the President of the Congress - Krzycki visited Poland⁶⁴On the invitation of KSwP, English Slavist Professor William Rose from Oxford came to Poland⁶⁵Maintained close contact with many Polish and Slavic minority organizations in Western Europe, Canada, and even China. Incidentally, it should be noted that the Committee claimed the right to evaluate Slavic emigrant organizations, subjecting their programs to a kind of censorship - dividing them into "democratic" and so-called "reactionary" organizations, which was the basis for establishing cooperation with them or not.⁶⁶.

In 1945-1947, contacts were also developed within the New Slavic movement. Through the Foreign Department of the PPR (O. Dłuski, tow. Spychała), a constant contact was maintained with the Central Committee (later the Slavic Committee of the USSR) and the Moscow decision-making center of the communist movement (i.e., the All-Union Communist Party [Bolsheviks]) and the remaining national Slavic Committees⁶⁷In May 1946, a delegation from the Slavic Committee in Moscow (Gen. A. V. Suchomlin, Col. V. V. Mochalov, Prof. A. R. Zhebrak) visited Poland. The purpose of the visit was to “discuss the goals and tasks of the work of the Slavic Committees, the principles of closer cooperation between the Slavic Committee in Poland and the All-Slavic Committee in Moscow”. Immediately thereafter (on May 23), the KSwP delegation, consisting of: Prof. Michałowicz, Prof. Batowski, Deputy Wilanowski, and Z. Sobierajska, went on a visit to Moscow - "to discuss a number of organizational matters and methods of cultural cooperation between Poland and the Soviet Union, and to familiarize themselves more closely with the activities of the All-Slavic Committee", i.e., in fact, to receive instructions from the Soviet comrades - to discuss a number of organizational matters and methods of cultural cooperation between Poland and the Soviet Union, and to familiarize themselves more closely with the activities of the All-Slavic Committee", i.e., in fact, to receive instructions from the Soviet comrades⁶⁸The Polish delegation participated in the "Pan-Slavic" celebrations of the day of Saints Cyril and Methodius - "apostles of Slavdom" - organized annually by the Slovak Committee of Czechoslovakia at Devin near Bratislava (in the place where the capital of Great Moravia once stood). In the summer of 1947, the vice-president of the Polish Slovic Committee, Prof. M. Halowski, and the director of the Committee's Bureau, J. Kwiatowska, visited Belgrade to consult on cooperation between national Slavic Committees. At the meeting devoted to these issues, the chairman and general secretary of OS K - Gen. B. Maslarić and Editor I. Miedviediev, as well as the chairman of the Yugoslav Slavic Committee, Prof. Stevan Jakovliević, also participated. During the meeting, inter alia, the principles of publishing cooperation between the editorial office of "Slavic Life" and the KSJ's "Slovensko Bratstvo" were discussed. Similar consultations - aimed at strengthening mutual contacts - were then conducted in Sofia with activists of the local KS: Georgi Petrov, Krum Velkov, Georgii Mikhailov, Stella Blagoeva, and representatives of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Slavic Studies at Sofia University⁶⁹.

Skillfully fomented by the ruling factors, Slavic propaganda, in the atmosphere of general enthusiasm for Slavic cooperation after a long period of Hitlerite terror, then found fertile ground. Numerous social organizations advocating Slavic solidarity arose spontaneously. They were often controlled by the authorities and used to support the propaganda slogans of the ruling apparatus about "readiness to fight the resurgent hydra of fascism and German imperialism". Among the numerous ephemeral Slavophile groups, we should mention, for example: the Society of Friends of Roja's Druids, the Polish-Czechoslovak Friendship Society (de facto established without the permission of the authorities), or the utopian ideas promoted by Józef Mestwin-Musiałek (who, in the new political situation, tried to continue his pan-Slavic activities from the interwar period)⁷⁰The authorities skillfully used organizations with an established historical record, such as the Polish Teachers' Union, for propaganda purposes. The slogans of Slavic solidarity and initiatives taken by the so-called Slavic College of the ZNP were a copy of the program implemented by the KSwP; the entire organization was sought to be used to infiltrate the teaching community and involve it in implementing government programs.⁷¹The Slavic Committee in Poland finally took an active part in organizing and participating in the first post-war Slavic Congress, which took place in December 1946 in Belgrade, the capital of Yugoslavia, and its representatives entered into the leadership of the newly formed Pan-Slavic Committee, replacing the former PC.⁷².

The thriving Polish Slavic propaganda that flourished between 1944 and 1947 underwent a sudden collapse at the turn of the 1940s and 1950s due to international events over which the authorities of post-war Poland had little or no control (including the escalating Cold War conflict, conflicts within Slavic nations and their increasing Stalinization, as well as changes in Stalin's internal policy and his approach to satellite countries - the so-called "Zhdanovshchina"). The Slavic movement, which overemphasized national elements, became unnecessary and was henceforth decisively suppressed against the backdrop of Stalin's return to the traditional Bolshevik propaganda of proletarian internationalism.

In sum, it is worth noting that the official propaganda of "Slavic solidarity" greatly diverged from the actual political situation in inter-Slavic relations. Immediately after the end of World War II, there were, in fact, embers of sharp territorial and nationality conflicts between individual Slavic nations. The Czechoslovakia, with the support of the Kremlin, committed an obvious aggression against Poland and persecuted the Polish population living in its territory by annexing border areas with a compact Polish-speaking majority. In the western regions of the Soviet Ukraine, there were fights with Ukrainian nationalists seeking to build an independent Ukraine. These were accompanied by persecutions of the Slavic civilian population of Ukraine. Parallelly, the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army developed a wide-scale action on the southwestern outskirts of the Polish state, as well as on the borderlands of eastern Slovakia. The political program of the nationalists and the forms of its implementation posed a direct threat to the territorial integrity of Poland (already significantly reduced after the loss of the Kresy). The actions of Ukrainian nationalists, which continued the policy of genocide - the extermination of the Polish population (initiated during World War II with the consent of their non-Slavic allies at the time - Nazi Germany), had to be met with a decisive reaction from the Polish authorities. The result was the resettlement of the Ukrainian and Lemko populations as part of the "Wisła Operation". This action was certainly detrimental to part of the Ukrainian population that did not support the activities of the nationalists, but in the then situation it became a sad necessity. These actions on both sides did not serve to strengthen the "Slavic solidarity" or reconciliation between the Slavic Polish and Ukrainian nations. Forced resettlements also affected a significant part of the Polish population of the western regions of Soviet Ukraine and Belarus and Lithuania. As part of the so-called repatriation, the nationality relations were permanently changed there (in Lithuania, to the detriment of the Slavic element). How illusory the unity of the South Slavs within the Yugoslav federation was (which, through contemporary propaganda, was held up as a model of Slavic solidarity), how deep, even pathological contradictions, conflicts, and hatreds had arisen between the nations that composed it, and how meticulously this reality, which contradicted the official ideology, was concealed - only became apparent with the disintegration of Yugoslavia after the fall of communism. Deep cracks in the foundation of the propagandistic "Slavic unity" also became evident in Bulgarian-Macedonian relations. Here, even the creators of the KV in Moscow, Bulgarian communists S. Blagoeva and V. Kolyarov, did not want to give up the great-Bulgarian aspirations (where Macedonia would be treated as part of Bulgaria). The fact that the propagandistically amplified "Slavic unity" was merely a myth was confirmed by the harassment of the Sorbs and their independence aspirations by the Soviet Union - as I have already mentioned⁷³.

The above facts only confirm the thesis that "Slavic solidarity" within the "new Slavic movement" was to a large extent a hollow slogan and in practical politics served as a convenient tool for implementing the interests of the Kremlin in relations with individual Slavic nations. Ultimately, it was Moscow that played a decisive role in extinguishing intra-Slavic conflicts, using them to its advantage and settling them according to the old maxim "divide and rule". The Polish-Czech conflict best illustrated this, where Stalin (guided by the belief that it was not worth overly strengthening an already quite large in terms of territory and population, but perhaps doubtful ally - which was a result of historical circumstances in Polish-Russian relations) led to outcomes favorable to Czechoslovakia.

Thus, this "Slavic solidarity" must be treated in the categories of a myth, which, however, seemed to be a real political reality for part of the contemporary political and socio-cultural elites.

Studies in the History of Russia and Central-Eastern Europe XL (PL ISSN 1230-5057)