Stanisław Głąbiński was 1 of the most influential figures in the Polish political and academic life of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Born on February 25, 1862, in Skolem, Carpathians, on the lands of the Austrian partition, he grew up in a household with strong patriotic traditions.
His father, Jan Głąbiński, came from Nowy Targ and had a part in 1 of the national uprisings — according to various sources in Kraków (1846) or January (1863). He worked as a taxation authoritative in respective Galicia towns and then as a councillor and city asessor in Sambor. The Głąbiński household represented a typical, though ambitious layer of Galician authoritative intelligence, in which patriotism, Catholic religion and work ethos were firmly rooted.
Young Stanislaw studied at the C.K. Secondary School in Sambor and then began law studies at the University of Lviv. Already at the student phase he revealed his publicistic and analytical talent – he published his first work “Polish people in Silesia” in 1882. He graduated in 1885 and defended his doctorate 2 years later. He received further education in Berlin and Vienna, specializing in economics and treasury. In 1892, he obtained the title of extraordinary professor, and 3 years later — average professor. From 1899 to 1900 he was dean of the Faculty of Law, and in the academic year 1908 to 1909 rector of the University of Lviv.
As a scientist and educator Głąbiński made a immense contribution to the improvement of Polish economical thought. He represented the alleged historical school in economics, calling for the economy to be analysed in a national and social context, not just mathematical and theoretical. In his view, the national interest was overriding the interest of the entity. He advocated average state interventionism, support for his own production, protection of the labour marketplace and migration policy to defend Polish economical identity. He was besides the author of crucial works specified as “Treaty Science”, “National Economics”, “Social Economics Lecture” and “History of Economics”.
In the academic world, Głąbiński enjoyed authority, but was besides a polarizing figure. In 1932, he was forced to quit — possibly for political reasons. Sanitation authorities were reluctant to see his open support for the national camp and criticism of Piłsudski's politics. Although he was a associate of many prestigious technological societies, specified as the technological Society in Lviv or the Academy of Social Sciences in Philadelphia, his views increasingly became subject to attacks of leftist and liberal environments.
In parallel with his academic career, he developed public and social activities. He was editor of the National Gazette, co-founder of the Commercial-Geographic Society, the National Industrial Union and the Association of Academic Schools for Women. He supported the improvement of agriculture, cooperatives, education and entrepreneurship, as well as worked to educate women and improve the social situation of the village.
He has been politically active with the National-Democratic Party, with time embracing its leadership in Galicia. From 1902 to 1918 he was a associate of the Austrian State Council, and in parallel besides a associate of the National Parliament of Galicia. In 1911, he took up the position of Minister of Railways in the Austrian Government, where he pushed for reforms aimed at Polishing the railways in Galicia and greater financial autonomy for the region. Although his word of office was short, he gained the reputation of a competent but uncompromising man, which caused opposition not only to conservatives but besides to liberal Austrians.
During planet War I, he participated in the creation of the Central and then the Chief National Committee. He advocated cooperation with Austro-Hungarian, which brought him closer to the concept of trialist monarchy: Austro-Hungarian-Polish. However, differences in approach to loyalty to the Habsburgs and the oath made by the Polish Legions made Głąbiński rapidly into conflict with another national factions. In time, he withdrew from the NKN, not agreeing to a besides convenient approach towards the Austrians.
After regaining independency in 1918, Głąbiński played an crucial function in the process of creating structures of the Polish state. He entered the Provisional Committee of Government in Lviv, was a associate of the Legislative Parliament, where he participated in the work on the Constitution, as well as 1 of the initiators of the People's and National Union (ZLN), later converted into the National Party. He was president of the ZLN ultimate Council – i.e. the ultimate political body of the party, liable for the strategical course of the group; the president of the parliamentary club of ZLN in the Sejm – was liable for organization discipline and seismic tactics, especially from 1919 to 1927; he actively co-founded the party's ideological line, peculiarly in economical and constitutional matters (he was among others the author of the draft constitution tabled in 1919).
In 1923, he took the position of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of spiritual religion and Public Enlightenment in Wincenti Witos' Second Government. He was 1 of the signatories to the Lanckoon Pact, which assumed the construction of a “Polish parliamentary majority”. However, disputes with the coalitions and the deficiency of unanimity in the national camp led to his resignation from office in the same year.
After the May overturn in 1926, Głąbiński was a strong opponent of the sanitation. erstwhile the MPs of the ZLN issued his candidacy for president in May that year, he withdrew it for the more compromise Adolf Bniński. In subsequent years, he sat in the legislature of Poland, chaired the legislature National organization club, and supervised its structures in Małopolska. In 1937, however, he resigned as a organization in protest against anti-Semitic appearances of national youth. He was a man of rule — though he had conservative views, he did not tolerate street violence.
In the late 1930s and 1940s, he focused on writing. In 1939 he published political memories, which are not only a individual relationship, but besides a diagnosis of the political situation of the Second Polish Republic. He besides worked on an economics textbook he had not completed. He suffered from many diseases — heart disease, digestive problems, hernia — but he did not lose his spirit and religion in the future of Poland.
After the outbreak of planet War II, Głąbiński tried to flee to Romania, but after an unsuccessful effort to cross the border he returned to Lviv. There he was arrested by the NKVD in November 1939. After a series of brutal interrogations, being in jail "Brygidki" and later in Moscow's Łubiance, he was sentenced to 8 years in prison in June 1941 for alleged anti-Soviet activity and an effort to illegally cross the border. He died on 14 August 1941 in a prison in Kharkiv. His body was most likely buried in a mass grave on a later destroyed judaic cemetery. His grave has not yet been found.
In 1992, the Russian ultimate Court overturned his conviction and concluded that the charges against him were unfounded. The symbolic plaque devoted to his memory is located in the Powązkowski Cemetery in Warsaw.
Stanisław Głąbiński was a politician profoundly believing in the value of parliamentary institutions, the importance of law and authority of science. He valued compromise, work and loyalty to principles. Although nationalistic, he did not usage them as a tool of propaganda. His individual life was dominated by peace, reflection and perseverance. He was ambitious, but not vain. Honest, though not naive. He firmly believed that national ideas could be combined with democracy, economical improvement with social ethics, and the state's right with human decency.
In his legacy he left not only technological and political publications, but besides a résumé, which is simply a evidence to an era of large change. Stanisław Głąbiński is simply a character that does not give in to explicit assessments, but leads to a deep reflection on the past of Poland, its elites, failures and aspirations. At a time erstwhile Polish statehood was just forming, he tried to form it based on understanding, work and public service. This attitude came to pay the highest price.
Andrzej Lamecki
