Anarchism in Poland

From Anarchopedia

The anarchist movement in Poland developed at the end of the 19th century under the influence of anarchist ideas from Western Europe and Russia. However, these ideas were not uniform.^[1]

The first significant anarchistic group before the formation of Second Polish Republic originated in 1903 in Białystok. Many Jewish people were involved in this group. In the following years some similar centres were established in Nieznow, Warsaw, Łódź, Siedlce, Częstochowa, Kielce and some other towns. The level of despotism of the tsar's authority were high. Many young anarchist were executed without trial and firing on demonstrating workers were common. This led these groups to be engaged in terrorism such as assassinating police officers or owners of large factories besides active propaganda. Many also robbed banks to gain funds. Meanwhile, anarchists in Poland began to be influenced by anarcho-syndicalism. The followers of anarcho-syndicalism rejected terrorism and organised revolutionary trade-unions and propaganda activity. The most significant Polish theorists of anarchism and anarcho-syndicalism were Edward Abramowski, Waclaw Machajski, Zielinski and Augustyn Wroblewski.