In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

7 ||| Democratic Thought and Action among the Polish Political Émigrés, 1939–89 Rafał Habielski The formation of the Polish government-in-exile in Paris in September 1939 began a political process that reached fruition only after the collapse of communism in Poland in the 1990–91. For a half century, the president, government, political parties, and cultural institutions of the governmentin -exile held to the deep conviction that it was necessary to bear witness to Poland’s bondage. After the German occupation of nearly five years, the nation found itself in the sphere of Soviet influence, becoming, in spite of the outward trappings of sovereignty, a dependent state subjected to an ideology totally alien to Polish tradition. The year 1945 marked the beginning of a wave of émigrés determined to survive and continue their political activities. A large majority of the Poles who found themselves in the West in 1945 concluded that, although the original cause for emigration in 1939 had ended with the defeat of Germany, Poland had still not recovered its sovereignty. Instead, it had emerged from the war as a dependency of its eastern neighbor, and, moreover, the only Allied nation to see its territory radically decreased. The organizing principle behind the activity and ideology of the Polish emigration during and after the war was simple: to establish a democratic Poland, secure from external threat. Democracy was also an important element in Poland’s foreign relations, for several reasons. One of the most important of these was the political reality of prewar Poland. Józef Piłsudski’s assumption of power in the coup d’état of May 1926 unequivocally defined the Polish political system until the outbreak of World War II. Regardless of how hard Piłsudski and his supporters tried to create the appearance of democracy, opponents of the regime viewed it as wielding dictatorial power. The Piłsudskiites attempted to silence the protests of the opposition through Polish Political Émigrés, 1939–89 | 191 often heavy-handed measures. In reaction, opponents of Piłsudski’s Sanacja regime used the defeat of September 1939 to remove them from power. In accordance with a stipulation in the 1935 constitution, President Ignacy Mościcki, interned in Romania after the September catastrophe, resigned from the presidency and appointed General Bolesław Wieniawa Długoszowski, a devotee of Piłsudski and the Polish ambassador to Rome, as his successor. Protests from the French government, coupled with an aversion to Długoszowski by the opponents of the Sanacja regime, who were then congregating in France, quickly led to Długoszowski’s replacement as president by Władysław Raczkiewicz, who was sworn into office in Paris on September 30. General Władysław Sikorski, who had been removed from the army after the 1926 coup, was appointed prime minister. Near the end of 1939, the émigrés created a National Council, a quasi-parliament-in-exile. The Council included representatives of the major political parties that constituted the core of the government—the Polska Partia Socjalistyczna (Polish Socialist Party), the Stronnictwo Ludowe (Peasant Party), and the Stronnictwo Narodowe (National Party). Ignacy Jan Paderewski, the famous composer, was elected its president. The moment Sikorski gained effective influence over government policy, he broke with prewar practices. One of his first acts was to induce Raczkiewicz to accept prior consultation with the prime minister before executing some of his presidential prerogatives under the constitution of 1935. This so-called Paris Agreement of November 30, 1939, had tremendous significance for Sikorski, as it limited the scope of presidential power and at the same time answered objections concerning the undemocratic nature by which the Polish government-in-exile was established. The émigrés never seriously considered a complete renunciation of the 1935 constitution, which they saw as the legal basis by which the president and the government-in-exile represented Poland in the international arena and supervised the underground military and political activities in occupied Poland. Burdened by the stigma of an undemocratic constitution that diminished the importance of legislative power in favor of executive authority, Sikorski’s cabinet opted unequivocally in favor of a general restructuring of Poland’s postwar political life. The best proof of this choice was the declaration the government addressed to the people of Poland on December 18, 1939, which pledged that Poland would be a “state that would safeguard cultural and Christian values.” Poland, the declaration said, would be a democratic state, guaranteeing citizen freedoms and having...

Share