Szczecin, Gdańsk and Królewiec (Königsberg) in the 19th century were the most important Prussian ports on the Baltic Sea. However, due to the general trends of the global economy, their role as trade centers has been marginalised. Under the influence of top-down modernization tendencies (agrarian reforms, liberalization of the economy, democratization of political processes, stability of the administrative system) they became modern economic, political and cultural centres. They confirmed their position as regional centres, but were outclassed by other centers in Germany and Europe.
This work is a synthetic presentation of authoritarian and pro-fascist tendencies appearing in the Polish political thought between 1921 and 1935, tendencies resulting from the crisis of a liberal parliamentary democracy getting stronger (not only in Poland) in the interwar period. After regaining independence, the realities of parliamentarism did not overlap with hopes and expectations harboured so far that is why disappointment with democracy started to germinate in different environments. In the first half of the 1920s the slogans of a withdrawal from democracy remained rare and tentative, and, in general, constrained to postulates of a temporary facilitation of the institution and democratic mechanisms. The 1926 was the breakthrough. The awareness of the democracy crisis has become common. Despite this, authoritarianism initially seemed a temporary phenomenon. In the 1930s, Great Economic Crisis deepened disappointment with democracy making what was initially an exception to the rule a rule. The harbinger of the new epoch was the birth of the National Radicalism. The first chapter is devoted to terminological issues, and explains the notions of demoliberalism, authoritarianism and totalitarianism used in this work. The second chapter describes the bases from which authoritarian tendencies were born in the interwar period, namely criticism of democracy to be found in the Polish political thought of the 19. century. Next chapters present antidemoliberal conceptions of fascists in the 1920s, conservatives, national democrats, Christian democrats, Piłsudski's camp, national-workers movement, agrarian movement and Marxist groups, as well as esoteric circles, Pan-Slavists, eugenic activists, technocrats, war veterans, and, finally, National Radicals from the beginning of the 1930s. Both system solutions proposed in their political thought and their ideological justification were examined. An alternative to a parliamentary democracy took on different forms. One can see here a variety of propositions: from insignificant corrections of the democratic system to its total negation. "Old" national democrats, some conservatives, Christian democrats, agrarian populists, and initially Piłsudskites were limited to the reform of parliamentarism with maintaining its fundaments. Authoritarianism was represented by "young" national democrats of the Obóz Wielkiej Polski (the Greater Poland Camp), and a majority of conservatives. After 1926 it was a direction in which the reform moved. Totalitarianism did not have many followers. Reform proposals showed far-reaching similarity: reinforcement and independence of the executive, reorganization and restriction of the role of the Parliament, and, finally, corporatist system based on organized social groups were postulated. What was different, on the other hand, was the justification of these projects. The national democrats wanted to protect the interest of the ethnic Polish nation. Piłsudskites and conservatives accentuated the necessity to provide the Polish state with power (and, thus, the possibility of expansion). The latter, with Christian democrats, motivated their postulates with a defense of a traditional social and moral order. According to the left-wing activists, strong authority was also to be a tool of nation modernization and conducting social reforms. The most peculiar explanation was given by esoteric groups, according to whom the change of the political system was to serve the fulfillment of moral and metaphysical aims.
Western Galician Socialists and Their Attitude Towards the Peasant Movement and Its Leaders in the Years 1892–1897The Social-Democratic Party of Galicia (since 1899 – the Polish Social-Democratic Party) began its animated activity on the Galician political arena in January 1892. Initially, the Socialists devoted their entire energy to the creation of worker organizations in towns. Yet, they realized that the predominant part of the population of Galicia was made up of peasants. It was with a view of this part of the population that in the years 1894–1895, the party began to create its agrarian program; the latter was to make it possible to conduct agitation activity in villages. Yet, these attempts had failed.In 1896, the Austrian Parliament voted in a reform of the election law. A fifth electoral group was created whereby for the first time in Austria's history, workers obtained the right to vote. The specific character of class elections (vast election numbers in the fifth electoral group, the right of the privileged classes to vote in the fifth electoral group) and a relatively small number of workers n Galician towns, forced the Socialists to look for potential allies among the leaders of peasant parties.An agreement was signed with Rev. Stanisław Stojałowski who having been persecuted by both the state and church authorities, was forced many a time to take advantage of the assistance offered by the Social-Democratic Party of Galicia. A decisively hostile attitude had been adopted by the Socialists towards the People's Party which did not agree to "cede" the fifth electoral group to the workers.The alliance signed between the Social-Democratic Party of Galicia and Rev. Stojałowski survived until November 1897 when the supporters of Rev. Stojałowski decided to support the government of Kazimierz Badeni. From that moment onwards, a change had occurred in the mutual relations between the two sides and Rev. Stanisław Stojałowski became one of the most hated political opponents to the Socialists.
The first part of the article deals with questions concerning the oncoming enlargement of the European Union by former eastern-bloc countries such as Poland, Hungary, the Czech and Slovakian Republics, Romania, Bulgaria as well as Slovenia and the three Baltic states. It focuses upon the "europe-Treaties" which the European Union has concluded or is going to conclude the countries obove. The question being raised is whether these treaties can be regarded as sufficient preparation for future membership in the European Union. The treaties' specific deficiencies, such as the existence of a safeguard-clause, as well as the exclusion of a unitary competition right and of the agrarian market are mentioned. The enormous differences between the GDP per capita of the most advances Vysehrad-countries and least developed members of the European Union, as well as the non-compatible structure of these countries' national economies are expected to cause extraordinary problems of adjustment. Furthermore the question is raised if the option of further integration without membership would not be a viable alternative for the oncoming 8 to 10 years. The second part of the article deals with the future perspective of an enlarged Union. First the specific three-structure of the Union is described; the Union being characterized as a "compound" of supranational and intergovernmental elements. Questions concerning the oncoming reforms of the institutions are raised. Furthermore, the article deals with the aspect of a guiding principle for future political development of the Union. The Author concludes that the idea of a European State cannot be regarded as a realistic perspective for the oncoming decades. The objective of a general supranationalisation in the field of European cooperation would inevitably lead to a fundamental conflict with the principles of democracy; this being due to the lack of a unitary European nation as the sovereign and the subject of democracy. A mixed structural "compound" not unlike the present three-pillared structure is therefore the only realistic alternative in the foreseeable furure. Moreover the entire process of cooperation demands a stronger diversification in that not all members have to participate in all fields of integration at the same time. ; Digitalizacja i deponowanie archiwalnych zeszytów RPEiS sfinansowane przez MNiSW w ramach realizacji umowy nr 541/P-DUN/2016
