Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania

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Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania
Socjaldemokracja Królestwa Polskiego i Litwy
Founded1893 (SDKP), 1899 (SDKPiL)
Dissolved1918
Merged intoCommunist Party of Poland
Membership40,000 (1906)
IdeologySocialism
Marxism
Political positionFar-left
International affiliationSecond International

The Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania (

Communist Workers Party of Poland. Its most famous member was Rosa Luxemburg
.

Leading members

The leading cadre of the SDKPiL were a famous group, many of whom would play a role in the

Bronislaw Wesolowski, Kazimierz Cichowski and Jakob Fürstenberg
. Internationalists, many of them would play leading roles in Germany as well as in Russia.

History

1893: Formation

The party was founded in 1893 based on an

International Socialist Congress of August 1893 when the All-Polish delegation, led by Ignacy Daszyński of Galicia opposed seating Marchlewski and Rosa Luxemburg now making her first appearance at an international gathering. Differences were to deepen at the next International Socialist Congress in 1896 where Luxemburg was opposed by the future dictator of Poland, Józef Piłsudski
, representing the PPS.

1899: Merger with the Union of Workers in Lithuania

Conceived as the geographical representative party of the workers, rather than national, the SDKP was to fuse with the Union of Workers in Lithuania in 1899 as a result of the work carried out by

Feliks Dzierżyński, future Bolshevik head of the Cheka. The SDKP becoming the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania. The young party enjoyed a period of growth impelled by the organisational efforts of Dzierżyński in Warsaw
before he was arrested again.

1903:The split between Bolsheviks and Mensheviks

Consistent with its self-conception as a geographic unit of an All-Russian Social Democratic party, the SDKPiL attended the

Right of Nations to Self Determination from the party's program. This was the beginning of the long dispute between the Polish and Russian Social Democrats on this question. Only a little while later theoretical differences would also develop in regard to the Bolshevik slogan of "the Democratic Dictatorship of the Proletariat and the Peasantry" which the Polish revolutionaries rejected.[2]

1905: War and Revolution

The

the Bund and the left wing of the PPS
. Luxemburg returned from exile and the Mass Strike was placed at the centre of the organisation's revolutionary theory. Despite this emphasis on the actions of the masses the party disposed of fighting squads which defended the workers movement from the Tsarist authorities. By 1906 the party had 40,000 members. 70% were Polish, 25% German and 5% were Jewish.[3]

Downturn and split

The period after the revolution was one of retreat for the left and the SDKPiL was to split into two factions as a result. Always closely connected to the RSDLP the Polish party's problems were intricately interwoven with those of the Russian Party. Attending the

Warski were elected to the united Central Committee where they assumed a position of support in respect of the Bolshevik faction. In the following years however the All-Russia party almost ceased to exist as a unified body and the SDKPiL itself distanced itself from all the Russian factions while seeking to promote unity of the various factions. This perspective ensured that Leon Trotsky was to be a frequent contributor to the theoretical publication of the SDKPiL the Social Democratic Review
. The SDKPiL itself split, in 1911, during the downturn in class struggle of these years with the Warsaw Committee leading a breakaway from the Central Committee dominated by Jogiches.

World War I: New unity in opposition to war

Despite divisions in its ranks the entire party adopted an internationalist position with the onset of World War I in 1914. The Warsaw Committee of the SDKPiL called a conference of all revolutionary factions for August 2 at which both the Warsaw Committee and Central Committee were joined by the PPS Lewica (Left) and the Bund. The conference issued an unequivocal denunciation of imperialist war and called for the workers to take state power. Despite this attempts to coordinate the different parties came to nothing. But as the war continued both social democratic factions joined the Zimmerwald movement with the Warsaw Committee becoming particularly close to the Bolsheviks. The growing clarification of right and left internationally would enable the two factions of the party to reunify at a congress held on November 4, 1916, a new Central Committee was elected and the party pledged support to the Zimmerwald movement.

End of the party

The

Communist Workers Party of Poland.[4]

See also

References

  1. ^ Roman Dmowski, Polish politics and the rebuilding of the state. A foreword to the present edition and a commentary was provided by Tomasz Wituch, vol. I, Warsaw 1988, p. 99.
  2. ^ W.I Lenin. Lenin on Poland and the Polish workers' movement , Warsaw 1954.
  3. ^ Robert Blobaum: Feliks Dzierzynsky and the SDKPiL: A study of the origins of Polish Communism, page 148
  4. ^ "Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania. (Russian)".
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