During the stormy period of the Second Republic, marked by the conflict for power, ideological divisions and social tensions were a permanent component of political life. Against the background of sanctimonious centralization and dominance of the Pilsudians, a extremist national trend emerged, desiring the renewal of the state not so much through administrative reforms, but through a profound spiritual and social change of the nation.
One of the most crucial manifestations of this thought was the National extremist Camp (ONR) – an environment that not only contested the position quo, but besides sought to make a fresh national elite.
After the illegalization of ONR in June 1934, its activists did not cease their activities but went into conspiracy action. Thus the Polish Organization (OP) was born – a secret structure based on a multi-step hierarchy and inspired by a religious-revolutionary model. Its existence was an example of a consistent and long-term strategical reasoning of a national-radical environment, which, despite repression, sought to form future ideological staff for an independent Polish state.
I. The origin of the OP and its thought concept
The uprising of the Polish Organisation (OP) in April 1934 was a direct consequence to the repression directed at the National-Radical Camp after its delegalization by the sanctioning authorities. The ban on formal activity did not end the perfect activity of ONR members, but became an impulse to make secret structures, more disciplined and resistant to penetration by state services. However, the OP was not just a refuge for activists – it was a task of a deep formative nature, aimed at transforming political elites into a nationalist spirit.
The perfect bases of the OP were based on respective pillars. Firstly, the central place was occupied by integral nationalism, in the sense of Roman Dmowski, but supplemented by revolutionary and mystical postulates – the influence of both Catholic ethical tradition and spiritual patterns was visible here. Secondly, in the OP programme, the thought of a "national revolution" was present, assuming a complete renewal of political, social and cultural life – not through cosmetic changes, but through a profound spiritual transformation of the nation. As Jan Mosdorf wrote, 1 of the OP ideologists,
"The nation must last its own methane—the transformation of hearts and minds—to be ready for independence, which will not only be a flag on masts."
In this sense, the OP was an elite task aimed at those who wanted not only to act politically but besides to form themselves in the spirit of service to the nation. The acceptance of the organization active an interior change and a commitment to fight for a fair, Catholic and national Poland. specified an outlined ideological mission clearly distinguished OPs from another conspiracy groups – its members not only hid from power, but consistently built structures of thought and action to last the test of time.
II. interior structure of OP – hierarchy and functions
One of the most characteristic elements of the Polish Organization was its extended and hermetic interior structure, clearly inspired by the patterns of military-religious orders and secret revolutionary organizations. The intent of specified an organizational model was not only to hinder infiltration by state services, but above all to make an educational-ideo strategy in which each associate went through successive levels of introduction and spiritual improvement.
The structure of the OP consisted of 4 basic levels:
- Grade ‘S’ — Section: this was the lowest organisational level to which fresh members were admitted. He served as an initiation function, where loyalty, commitment and teamwork were tested. Many sections functioned as self-educational groups, where national, Catholic literature was studied and the current political situation was analysed.
- Grade C — Black: This name referred to hetman Stefan Czarniecki – a symbol of valor and uncompromising conflict for independence. Members of this level have already undertaken circumstantial operational and organisational activities, including contact with another cells, recruitment, creation of external structures.
- Grade ‘Z’ — National Order: the most advanced phase ideally, including a narrow group of activists who were full committed to the national cause. At this level, strategical planning and the construction of influence structures in society (e.g. in legal, teaching, labour) took place.
- Grade A — Political Committee: the highest three-man OP power level. The membership of the Political Committee was never full revealed, which was to defend the organization from deconspiration. It was this level that marked the main ideological, political and personnel directions of the full structure.
The coordination between the levels was carried out by the Executive Committee, chaired by Władysław Martini, Stanisław Nowicki and Tadeusz Salski. The executive authority remained in contact with the members of the Political Committee, which nevertheless retained any autonomy of the decision. Thanks to this model, the OP has retained large ideological cohesion, despite hard conditions of operation.
It is worth noting that the full structure was of an elite and educational character. The promotion inside the OP did not depend solely on operational activity, but besides on the moral level, intellectual capacity and readiness to sacrifice for the national community. The organization assumed that only through permanent formation of moral elites is it possible to effectively rebuild the state.
III. Major OP activists and their impact on the ideological direction
The Polish organization was a movement whose strength lay in the staff – people with deep conviction in the ideas preached, courage in action and education. It was thanks to them that the OP did not limit itself to passive opposition to sanitation, but became laboratory of national ideaswhich were to be utilized in future sovereign Poland. Below we present selected leaders and their impact on the improvement of the organization.
Tadeusz Gloziński – 1 of OP ideologists, author of many doctrinal texts and lecturer. He felt that Poland's future depended on rebuilding the “national spirit” alternatively than changing the strategy of power. He emphasized the function of Catholicism as the foundation of national identity.
Jan Mosdorf – philosopher and publicist, co-writer of the ONR program and 1 of the most crucial national-radical thinkers. He was the 1 who formulated the thought of a "national revolution", and besides promoted the model of an "elity of service" – intellectuals and organizers, devoted to the nation as monks of ideas.
Wojciech Kozłowski – co-founder of conspiracy structures, organizer of youth circles. Considered to be 1 of the creators of the educational program OP for youth.
Władysław Marcinkowski – an activist with a strong organisational fabric, who cared about structural cohesion of OPs. He was liable for cooperation with professional and social organisations.
Henry Rossmann – a lawyer, active in law enforcement, author of law improvement projects. His imagination is simply a Poland of social justice based on Christian values.
At a later phase of the war and conspiracy, the leadership of the OP besides took over Wacław Brodowski, Stefan Kasznica, Kazimierz Romer and Bolesław Sobociński, who continued their activities in the spirit of perfect radicalism combined with social responsibility. Kashnica – the last commandant of the National Armed Forces – became a tragic symbol of integrity, murdered by communist authorities in 1948.
OP leaders created a unique mix of idealism, patriotism and organizational pragmatism. Thanks to their work, the organization managed to last the most hard years of repression and war without losing its identity.
IV. OP activities 1934–1939
The years 1934–1939 marked a period of consolidation of structures, investigating of the adopted conspiracy strategy and building of the ideological and personnel base. Although operating under strict illegality limited the scale of public action, the OP managed to make an extended network of field, environmental and professional cells which played an crucial function in educating generations of national activists and in sustaining spiritual opposition to sanitation ideology.
1. Educational and formation activities
The OP placed peculiar emphasis on the work at the base – self-education, ideological and spiritual formation, the past of the nation, Roman law and Catholic social science. In many sections systematic lectures and training were introduced, led by more experienced activists – including Tadeusz Gluziński or Henryk Rossmann. Participation in these courses not only deepened the cognition of members, but besides built a sense of community and mission.
The OP activists sought to educate themselves and others in the spirit of an “integrity man” – a Pole, a Catholic and a citizen, conscious not only of their social role, but besides of their spiritual work for the destiny of the nation. This national pedagogy distinguished OP from purely political groups – the organization was besides a educational community.
2. improvement of professional and social environments
During this period, the OP focused on infiltration and creation of impact structures in professional and social environments. many external organisations were created, formally unrelated to the OPs, but ideologically loyal to its programme:
- ‘The crew’ – a working organization that aimed to form a class working in the national spirit as an alternate to the left and socialist trade unions.
- Association of Polish Advocates – Rossmann and Marcinkowski's initiative to bring together dedicated lawyers and defend repressed activists.
- Union for the Restoration of the Law – the legal and administrative environment, promoting improvement of the legal strategy in the spirit of social justice and Christian values.
- Youth of large Poland (MWP) – a youth organization of educational and patriotic character, which has become a forge of national staff, derived from intelligence, students and students.
Each of these structures performed not only organizational functions, but was besides an instrument for influencing wider social groups – workers, students, intelligence and women. In this way, the OP implemented its long-term strategy of building a national social elite that could operate even without access to the mass media or state structures.
3. Legal and illegal forms of activity
Although OP activities as specified were completely illegal, any of its members besides functioned in legal space, especially through participation in national and Catholic press editorials. Public opinion has been attempted through ideas, historical essays and programme texts published in journals specified as ‘A consecutive line’ is "National Thought". At the same time, there were interior organizational newsletters that provided instructions, self-educational materials, and political analyses.
Illegal activities besides included contacts with another opposition groups, attempts to make local coalitions and preparatory actions for possible political changes – specified as coup or social mobilization. Although the OP was not a paramilitary organisation, members were prepared for possible operational activities.
Against the background of the tomized political scene of the late 1930s, the OP represented a model of a quiet, disciplined but ideologically expressive organization. Her activities were not spectacular – there were no marches, rallies and demonstrations – but in the long word her impact proved to be lasting. The OP raised staff, which were ready to decision to a deep war conspiracy in 1939.
V. OP in conspiracy during planet War II (1939–1945)
The fall of the Polish state in September 1939 created a completely fresh political reality – both for legal organizations and for groups operating so far in the underground. In the case of the Polish Organization, the war did not mean to stop, but to rapidly transform it into structures of deep conspiracy. OP activists, brought up in a spirit of self-discipline, eliteism and readiness to sacrifice, were better prepared for business conditions than many political formations operating before the war.
In October 1939 the process of rebuilding the Polish Organization began. Many members of earlier sectarian and spiritual structures immediately began to make fresh local links. Due to the arrest of any of the erstwhile leaders, it was essential to form a fresh Executive Committee, headed by Stanisław Nowicki and Tadeusz Salski. The political committee of the OP (Level A) led by people with large political and conspiracy experience, including Wacław Brodowski, Stefan Kasznica, Kazimierz Romer and Bolesław Sobociński, continued to operate.
The current hierarchical structure of the OP was preserved, which – paradoxically – proved to be very well adapted to the business realities. Hermetism, discretion, division of competences and strict promotion principles prevented deconspiration and created an environment of ideological opposition with advanced intellectual resilience.
1. External organisations subject to OP
One of the main directions of the OP during the business was to build and coordinate the alleged external organisations – social, professional and military structures, formally independent, but ideologically and humanly subordinate to the Polish Organisation. Among them are:
- Military Organization of the Lizard Union (OW ZJ) – conspiratorial military formation built on the basis of OP staff, which later co-created National Armed Forces (NSZ). Its goal was not only to prepare armed opposition against Germany, but besides against possible russian occupation. She was distinguished by strong discipline and ideological loyalty.
- Union of People’s Workers (‘Zydel’) – an organisation combining peasant and agricultural activists with national orientation. It was a consequence to the dominance of the People's organization and PPS in agrarian areas.
- ‘The crew’ – continuation of the pre-war working organization, whose task was to advance national-radical thought among the working class. She organised social assistance, training and care for members' families.
- Union of Polish Advocates and Union of the Restoration of the Law – legal organizations that continued the mission of protecting the repressed, creating underground legal aid systems and preparing draft laws for future independent Poland.
- Faith and Will – women's OP organization, bringing together activists with large social and spiritual influence. She was a helper for the families imprisoned, for the collection of materials, and for educational activities.
- Young people of large Poland – youth structure, serving as a staff facility for OPs. She organized secret sets, ideological seminars and preparation for conspiracy work.
Thanks to these OP organizations, it built a quasi-underground state of a national nature, operating in parallel with the structures of the Polish Underground State, but maintaining perfect independence.
2. PO political participation: Provisional National Political Council
In 1942–1944, representatives of the OP (as representatives of ONR) were part of the Bureau of the Provisional National Political Council (TNRP) – a political body set up by national communities to be an alternate to the dominant position of the London government and the ZWZ-AK. This participation shows that the OP was not just an organisational base, but a real political entity, formulating an alternate imagination of the future Poland.
In the programming papers of the OPs from this period the slogans were: nationalisation of strategical sectors of the economy, administrative decentralisation, restoration of ethical foundations of statehood, defence of the independency of the Church and Catholic education. Although these proposals were frequently contested by another groups, they were an expression of a consistent national-Catholic thought, seeking a 3rd way between liberalism and communism.
VI. Breakdown and end of OP activities after the war (1945–1947)
The end of planet War II and the entry of the Red Army into Polish lands meant a dramatic change in political realities in which the Polish Organization has functioned so far. On the 1 hand, the German business was replaced by a fresh form of enslavement – a communist strategy imposed with the support of Moscow, and on the another hand the independency environments, which fought Nazism for six years, were in a situation of almost complete delegalization and repression.
For OPs whose structures survived the most hard years of German occupation, the period 1945–1947 proved to be a time of systematic demolition and destruction. Communist safety (UB) treated national activists – especially those related to ONR and OP – as “reactionists”, “fascists” and “enemies of the people”. Arrests, brutal investigations, demonstration trials and death sentences have affected many of them.
In 1945–46, a large part of the OP leadership, including those from the last Executive Committee, as well as many Lizard Union commanders and external organisations, was detained. Repressions were effective not only due to brutality, but besides due to the fact that for the first time the OP faced an opponent with unlimited means of surveillance and force that did not number for any moral or legal code.
The most dramatic symbol of the end of the OP and the full national-radical stream was the death of Stefan Kashnica, the last Chief of the NSZ and a associate of the Political Committee of the OP. Arrested in 1946, tortured and sentenced to death, he was murdered by communist authorities in 1948 in a Mokotov prison. His character remains a symbol of faithfulness to ideas and integrity to systemic terror.
1. Recovery and emigration attempts
Among activists who managed to avoid arrests, any tried to proceed in anti-communist conspiracy – frequently within the NSZ or another independency organizations. However, operating conditions were increasingly hard and the level of repression was devastating. any of the OP's environment has migrated, primarily to large Britain and France. There, although to a limited extent, publicist and ideological activity continued.
There were writings, newsletters and memoirs in which they tried to preserve the memory of the activities of the OP and ONR, and to interpret these activities as part of a larger independency tradition – alongside the Pilsudians, endeks and socialists.
2. OP's thought heritage after 1947
Once the OP structures were broken, her legacy did not disappear. Although for decades the PRL was officially banned and the names of its leaders erased from textbooks, in any environments – especially household and parishes – the memory of "Other Cursed Soldiers" was kept.
After 1989, interest in OP ideas began gradually returning. Activists associated with national movement began to mention to the models of the Polish Organization as a model of ideological, formation and conspiracy work. any contemporary youth movements show inspiration for the “man of national service” expression formulated by the OP environment.
In this sense, despite the demolition of organizational structures, the OP survived as an idea, a pattern of reasoning about the nation as an ethical community, and politics as a service – not a conflict for influence.
Andrzej Lamecki
