Wiarus Polski. A Polish newspaper from the Ruhr area

The “Wiarus Polski” as part of a political movement
 

The “Wiarus Polski”, as an effective and influential organiser of national Polish life in the Ruhr area in the late 19th and early 20th century, has already been the subject of academic research on various occasions.[1] It was not, however, made clear that the newspaper was part of a political concept arising from the Ruch Ludowy (people’s movement) milieu and what form this took. But it is essential to bear this milieu in mind when reading “Wiarus Polski”.

Ruch Ludowy arose in the second half of the 19th century as part of a new nationalist orientation among Poles in all three partition regions. Following the failed uprisings to re-establish a Polish state, this movement stressed the need to establish Polish economic, social, and educational organisations in order to develop a Polish infrastructure and national consciousness among the Polish-speaking population. Catholicism was an indispensable part of this. There was an awareness that only a relatively small proportion of Polish-speaking Catholics saw themselves as Poles in a national sense and were ready to act to bring about an independent Polish state. For this reason, it was necessary to convince above all the rural population and dependent employees in cities of the value of Polish national identity. Moreover, Ruch Ludowy, which was part of this evolving new orientation, rejected the traditional estates-based society. It called for equal rights for those groups that had to date been at the political margins, and for these people to have the same opportunities for development as had thus far been the case for the ruling classes. They would have to organise independently in order to effectively represent their interests. This position stood in contrast to the National Democrats, who had traditionally been aligned with the national elites, which included parts of the Catholic Church hierarchy, as well as the increasingly emergent Christian Democrats. 

 

From a religious Polish newspaper under Father Liss …
 

The “Wiarus Polski” was originally launched in 1890 by Father Liss from West Prussia, who was pastor for the Polish-speaking Catholics in the emerging Ruhr area. He wanted this Polish-language newspaper to offer religious support as well as social orientation to the people who did not feel at home in this new environment. To achieve this, Liss said in autumn 1892, it was necessary to give the people in the Ruhr area “a political newspaper – with some religion added on top. Otherwise a religious newspaper would not prevail.”[2] This statement, as well as the choice of name for the paper, emphasises the character that distinguished the “Wiarus Polski” from the start: On the one hand, it was a newspaper for the Polish-speaking Catholic workers, and it aimed to safeguard them against both religious and moral neglect as well as from the growing strength of the Social Democrats; on the other hand, it was conceived from the beginning as a newspaper focused on daily events in society. In addition, however, as the name clearly indicates, it was also the expression of a national “task”, which consisted of the revival of Poland. “Wiarus, which can be roughly translated as ‘long-serving, brave soldier, veteran, old warrior’, symbolises the paradigm of the Polish fighter which arose during Polish Romanticism, and who, following the partition of Poland (1772–1795), primarily in exile, fought tirelessly on numerous battlefields and as a warrior in various national armies for the rebirth of Poland.”[3]

The “Wiarus Polski” was aimed at the growing number of Polish-speaking Catholics that had come from various regions and places in East Prussia to work in the emerging Ruhr area. The vast majority identified with the places they had come from, such as Warmia, Upper Silesia, and Poznań, and felt quite alien in their new environment. The more self-confident among them therefore established, usually with support from local German priests, Polish-Catholic workers’ associations, which fulfilled similar social and cultural functions to the regional associations of the German immigrants. However, beyond the Polish language and Catholic faith, no comprehensive cultural-ethnic let alone national consciousness united the people from the various regions. If the aim was to transform the existing regional consciousness, which was comparable to that of German-speaking immigrants from areas such as Hesse, Saarland, Bavaria or Paderborn, into a sense of national consciousness, then it had to be superseded and replaced by the paradigm “I am Catholic and Polish!”.

Father Liss sought to overcome regionalism by maintaining and strengthening Catholicism and the Polish language as uniting characteristics among these people. This aim was expressed by the slogan “Pray and work!” (Módl się i pracuj!), which appeared under the name of the newspaper. Developing a national consciousness was initially of secondary importance, but was promoted by emphasising Polish national heroes and holidays, organising festive events in their honour, and by printing Polish literature. However, it was not yet a political slogan. This was made clear by the statement in the first edition of “Wiarus Polski” that a Pole in the West may only vote for the German “Centre Party” (Zentrum), as this would mean a vote for a Catholic party.[4] Nominating Polish candidates in order to develop the sense of nationhood, as happened after the turn of the century, was not yet up for debate. 

 

… to a Polish national newspaper supporting democratic society under Brejski
 

After Jan Brejski took control of the newspaper as publisher and editor-in-chief in 1893, the development and fostering of a Polish national consciousness became increasingly central to the journalistic and organisational work of the “Wiarus Polski”. However, Catholicism remained a core aspect. The shift in emphasis can be seen in the slogan that appeared under the newspaper title: After a good ten years, “Pray and work!” was replaced by “In God’s name for Faith and Fatherland!” (W imię Boże za Wiarę i Ojczyznę!) at the start of the 20th century. While Father Liss was a Catholic pastor with a sense of himself as a Polish national, Brejski was primarily a politician emphasising Polish nationhood and for whom Catholicism was a necessary part of this identity.

Brejski pursued a carefully thought out political agenda in his work. His vision was expressed in detail in an address to the people in his voting district in West Prussia on 24 May 1903. Brejski stressed that he was a Pole and Catholic and described himself as “obywatel ludowiec”, meaning a supporter of the Ruch Ludowy. In other words, he saw himself as a politician who represented the “little people”. Specifically, he mentioned labourers, craftspeople, owners of small businesses, as well as agricultural workers in rural areas. The address called for various sociopolitical features that broadly corresponded to those for a parliamentary, democratically structured society as represented by liberal civic organisations and social democracy: Equal rights for all social classes, faiths and nationalities, broad freedom of the press, separation of powers including independent jurisdiction, general and equal elections for all state parliaments. Lacking, however, was a call for voting rights for women. Full freedom of organisation for all parts of the population, including for the lower social classes, as well as a free education system up to and including university was also called for. Brejski expressly rejected all forms of class rule and called for solidarity in society very much in line with Catholic social teaching, i.e. all classes, including the wealthy, have their place in society and must jointly organise this society on the basis of equal rights.

The appeal was published in “Wiarus Polski” on 23 February 1918 under the heading “Our Programme” (Nasz Program) with the clear statement that it was and would continue to represent the editorial foundation of “Wiarus Polski”. The aim of the national Polish work of the Ludowcy in relation to the “Wiarus Polski” was, accordingly, “to give Polish workers abroad the means to effectively defend their material needs, without harming national or religious and moral interests. We [the “Wiarus Polski”] consider organisations whose foundation is healthy education and the all-round enlightenment and independence of all compatriots to be one of the most effective means of achieving this goal. (…) That remains our endeavour to this day” (translated by the author). 

 

Unintentional support
 

The “Wiarus Polski” received unintentional help in its endeavour to establish such organisations and develop a sense of Polish nationhood thanks to the ruthless Germanisation policies of the German Reich, which were largely backed by German conservative organisations and both German Christian churches. This was especially apparent in the increasing suppression of the Polish language in public spaces, which cultivated a sense of national identity even among Poles who had previously not identified as such. Anyone who wished to retain a core part of their cultural identity stood in direct opposition to the state and its supporting institutions. People were effectively compelled to be Polish.[5] 

However, the merely sporadic acceptance of Polish-speaking workers by the major German trade unions, and the Christian Trade Union (Christlicher Gewerkverein), which was affiliated with the Catholic Centre Party, as well as the miners’ trade union Alter Verband, which had social democratic leanings, was also seen as an affront by many. It was not possible, for example, to publish regular Polish-language trade union newspapers that provided information about company-related as well as other issues from the world of work. Similarly, Polish-speaking representatives in miners’ associations and company committees, as was repeatedly called for from the late 19th century, received at best half-hearted support. This disregard for cultural identity due to indecisiveness, often mixed with national resentment, also led to more support for the national work of the “Wiarus Polski”. The newspaper’s own pages, as well as the regular supplement “Voice of the Steelworkers and Miners” (Głos Górników i Hutników), met Polish workers’ needs for information about the Ruhr region and their work-related issues, their regions of origin, and also transregional events and new proposals for legislation. The “Wiarus Polski” used various linguistic means to promote the shift towards Polish national identity. When the editorial team reported on the readers’ regions of origin, they did so under the heading “News from home” (Z stron ojczystych), while reports from the Ruhr area were headed “abroad” (na obczyźnie). In this way, the newspaper emphasised distance to the current place of residence and made it clear that the readers’ homeland was not the German Reich, but rather the Polish territories that had been assimilated by Prussia. 

 

The organisation of workers as national policy
 

The national Polish programme that Brejski set out for his voting district in 1903 corresponded to the organised workers’ policies envisioned by the “Wiarus Polski” in the Ruhr area, which saw the founding of an independent national Polish workers’ organisation as a key task. However, the noteworthy organisation of Polish-speaking workers into unions within the German trade unions at the turn of the century[6] posed a threat to this goal. It showed that linguistic and cultural differences were not necessarily an insurmountable hurdle, as joint action in disputes with employers united workers, irrespective of their origins. Therefore, if a National Polish workers’ organisation was to be successfully established, it would be necessary to give due consideration not just to cultural discrimination, but also to the class consciousness that had developed during disputes at people’s places of employment. It was thus logical that this national Polish organisation took the form of a trade union. 

The ongoing reporting of the “Wiarus Polski” and the “Voice of the Steelworkers and Miners”, as well as discussions at public meetings, paved the way for the founding of an independent workers’ organisation. On this basis, the “Wiarus Polski” together with workers from various companies initiated the establishment of the “Polish Professional Union” (Zjednoczenie Zawodowe Polskie – ZZP) in 1902. This was a union with a national Polish emphasis, though with similar sociopolitical ideas about employment and society to those represented by the Alter Verband union. The ZZP rejected – like the “Wiarus Polski”, as distinct from social democrats – all forms of class rule, while explicitly drawing on Catholic social teaching as part of its vision for a solidarity-based society. It did however emphasise, very much like the Ruch Ludowy, the need for workers to form independent organisations if they wanted to enforce their just interests within society. With this focus, but also with the systematic training of Polish workers for participation in company and cross-company representative bodies, as well as via active participation in the 1905 miners’ strike, the ZPP attracted not only a large number of workers hitherto without union affiliation, but also won the trust of a significant proportion of Catholic Polish-speaking workers in the two major German unions and facilitated their switch to the ZPP. 

The founding of the ZPP was met by resistance not only within German society, but was also viewed sceptically by Polish nationalists due to the ZZP’s ideological leanings. A class-specific organisation that saw itself not only as part of the Polish nation, but also as an organisation that would fight to promote its interests within this nation, was a step too far in the eyes of the National Democrats in particular, who were influential “in the homeland”. The indivisibility of the Polish people was emphasised. The ZZP was accused of being permeated by socialist principles, for which the “Wiarus Polski” was held at least partly responsible as its initiator and publicity organ. Christian democrat organisations voiced similar criticism. Even if these organisations were not fundamentally opposed to organised interest groups such as trade unions, they saw such organisations as having a representative rather than a combative role within the nation. The “Wiarus Polski” defended the ZZP against accusations made by national democrat and Christian democrat organisations that the ZZP was calling for class war and, in turn, accused these organisations of wanting to resurrect the old Poland of nobles and clerics and/or of aligning themselves with exploitative large-scale capitalists.

With the founding and successful development of the ZZP to become, within just a few years, the largest Polish sociopolitical organisation in terms of members and the most powerful in the Ruhr area, the “Wiarus Polski” achieved one of its main goals. The most populous group in society, namely the working class, had formed an independent organisation based on national Polish identity, which represented the interests of this underprivileged group and valued the “healthy education and all-round enlightenment and independence of all compatriots”. As was apparent in the years before World War One, and even more so during the revolutionary years of 1918/19 in Germany, this organisation was not willing to submit to political instructions “from the homeland” that were influenced by the National Democrats and Christian Democrats. 

However, the “Wiarus Polski” was unable to repeat this dominance of its political vision in the other national Polish associations “abroad”. It had, admittedly, helped to ensure that thanks to the nationalist work of the associations, institutions, and individuals gathered there, tens of thousands of Polish-speaking Catholics developed a national consciousness and now saw themselves as Poles. However, it had not succeeded in making independence and political self-determination with respect to “the homeland” central to the organisations that had arisen in the Ruhr area. The disputes between the “Wiarus Polski” and the national democrat and Christian democrat organisations focused primarily on the election committees, first created in 1897 and grouped in the “Main Election Committee Abroad”, which was officially subordinate to the Central Election Committee with its headquarters in Poznań, as well as the cross-regional associations of Polish-Catholic workers’ unions and Polish cultural organisations, including choirs, youth and women’s organisations, the sport associations of the “Sokół”, and national libraries. Also important in this regard was the “Executive Committee” (Komitet Wykonawczy), founded in 1913 as political representative of all Poles as well as their organisations “abroad”.

 

Various groups emerge
 

While the “Wiarus Polski” was relatively dominant in the early 20th century, its position weakened over the years. This is reflected in the founding of the newspaper “Narodowiec” (“The Nationalist”), oriented towards Christian democrat values, in 1909. This paper achieved similar circulation figures of 12,000 per day in the Ruhr area up to the outbreak of World War One. This emphasises the fact that among those who had developed a sense of Polish national identity within the Ruhr area, there was a growing group of more conservative Christian Poles who regarded the political views of the “Wiarus Polski” with either scepticism or outright aversion. This aversion intensified the more the ZZP cooperated with the Alter Verband on sociopolitical matters, whether in-company or inter-company. The “Wiarus Polski” was also held partly responsible for this. This cooperation was seen as responsible for the ideological orientation of a growing number of Polish workers both within and outside the ZZP towards social democrat positions, as was reflected in the rising number of Polish SPD voters in both federal and regional elections.[7] Before World War One, the coordination of wage demands with the Alter Verband and the small liberal Hirsch Dunckersche trade union, a process that began in 1910, [8] was the clearest expression of this cooperation, which ended in the ultimately unsuccessful strike of 1912.

Voting patterns in parliamentary elections before World War One highlighted a growing self-confidence vis-à-vis national Polish organisations among another section of the population. In the initial ballot, votes went to the Polish candidate, as requested by national Polish organisations including the “Wiarus Polski”, thus emphasising an individual cultural identity with respect to the German state. However, in the run-off elections from 1907 onwards, an ever-growing number of these voters, irrespective of the wishes of the national Polish organisations or indeed in direct defiance of their instructions, voted for the SPD. This development posed major problems for the “Wiarus Polski”, as its readers also voted in this way. Yes, it wanted “its Poles” to be self-confident and independent, but this was supposed to be based on the anti-social-democrat ideology of the Ruch Ludowy. The “Wiarus Polski” therefore tried to use the defeat in the strike of 1912 to go on the offensive in deepening the national division between the German and Polish parts of society. Using particularly aggressive language, the newspaper accused the Alter Verband trade union of having abused Polish workers by letting them lead the strike while German workers remained in the background. The culmination of this “national offensive” was the publication of the “Ten Commandments for Poles”, which prohibited all cooperation with Germans outside the workplace and “combined a religious form with nationalist content in a way that bordered on the grotesque and in a seemingly blasphemous manner”.[9] It was published in the “Wiarus Polski” on 12 June 1913.

 

The revolution in Germany and the “Wiarus Polski”
 

With the outbreak of World War One, the differences among national Polish organisations were put aside and, as German citizens and just like the Social Democrats in the opposition, they agreed on a truce, as demanded by the German Emperor as a sign of loyalty. The ZZP teamed up with the German unions to jointly represent workers’ interests. This partnership became more important after 1916 and continued to function into the 1920s.

The relationship to the German state began to change at the latest in January 1918, following US President Wilson’s statement that an independent Poland with access to the sea must be one outcome of the peace treaty. The political work in the German Reich now focused primarily on returning to the future Poland as the future home of the Polish population “abroad”. One expression of this reorientation was the October 1918 statement from Polish organisations and editorial offices on the territory of the emerging Poland, which was referred to at the start of this article and also signed by the “Wiarus Polski”. 

The “Wiarus Polski” maintained this focus on the return to Poland even after fundamental changes in the state structure of the German Reich following the 1918 November Revolution. The abolishment of the monarchic corporate state and introduction of parliamentary democracy very much matched its vision of a state structure. It also broadened the scope for action for Polish organisations. For this reason, the “Wiarus Polski” welcomed the revolution. It did not, however, change its conviction that people naturally separate into nations that seek to organise their own state. It therefore warned against taking sides with regard to any particular democratic or revolutionary faction in the German Reich and advised readers to stay away from meetings and demonstrations. It is not the task of Poles to think about the organisation of the new German state, it argued; the Germans should work it out themselves. Poles need only become involved if the newly achieved basic democratic structures are at risk. Everything else is a matter for the Germans; the Poles are merely visitors, their homeland is Poland. The “Wiarus Polski” thus called on Poles to unite in Polish organisations as a national duty. However, it continued to support the ZZP’s cooperation in the trade union association as joint representative of workers’ interests, as it directly benefited the living conditions of Poles. For example, on 25 October 1918, the newspaper published the ZZP’s October 1918 statement on the successful negotiations of the trade unions with the colliery owners of Westphalia and the Lower Rhine. The statement welcomed the employers’ acceptance of the unions as a negotiating partner as a breakthrough in terms of workers’ rights.

The “Wiarus Polski” believed that Poles living in Germany were obligated to be loyal to the German state for as long as they remained in the country. The newspaper’s and the ZZP’s support for the strikes against the Kapp Putsch in March 1920 as well as for the strikes against the occupation of the Ruhr by the French and Belgian armies from 1923 to 1925 was consistent with this stance. However, loyalty ended when it resulted in conflict with the territorial interests of the new Poland. With respect to the plebiscites in Silesia and East Prussia concerning the Treaty of Versailles, for example, the “Wiarus Polski” unequivocally supported voting in favour of Poland. As a result, the newspaper was banned from appearing in Silesia for 14 days in March 1920. 

 

The new Poland
 

There were various ideas among Poles about what sociopolitical structure the new Poland should have. By publishing Brejski’s appeal in February 1918 under the heading “Our Programme”, the “Wiarus Polski” had made its position public, and it developed this position further in the following months. It called for a parliamentary democracy and warned against a revival of a state based on clerical power and estates. It also insisted that workers’ rights in the new Poland must not fall below the level achieved in the German Reich before and during the revolution. If that were to happen, a large proportion of the Polish population would refuse to return to the new Poland. With its critical reporting on the political and legal situation in Poland as well as on its economic circumstances, the “Wiarus Polski” repeatedly warned its readers against a premature return. Even if returning was a patriotic obligation, it should be carefully considered and only take place in agreement with the Polish state. 

The “Wiarus Polski” accused the National Democrats and the Christian Democrats of having neglected the rural population in the past, above all “in the homeland”. These parties were thus seen as responsible for the lack of national consciousness among these compatriots and the reason for strong German influence there. The newspaper therefore supported and promoted the ZZP’s activities to create the “Department of Agricultural and Rural Workers in the ZZP” (Oddział robotników Rolnych ZZP). This new department was particularly successful in Poznań and West Prussia, as shown by the election of the “National Workers’ Party” (Narodowe Stronnictwo Robotników – NSR) in the regional elections in the province of Poznań in 1919 and in West Prussia in 1920.

Despite its cooperation with the German trade unions, the ZZP, like the “Wiarus Polski”, also emphasised returning to Poland and insisted on maintaining the workers’ rights that had been achieved in Germany. For this reason, in Wanne-Eickel on 18 October 1917, and with support from the “Wiarus Polski”, it launched its own party under the name “National Workers’ Party”, with headquarters in Poznań. The party aimed to reach out to patriotic Poles throughout the German Reich and represent their voice in Poland. When, in August 1919, the NSR attained independent status “abroad” following the founding of Poland, the “Wiarus Polski” became its official organ. The following was now clearly legible in its masthead: “Wiarus Polski, organ of the Polish National Workers’ Party” (Organ “Narodowego Stronnictwa Robotników”). By organising a Polish political party and shifting the focus to a return to Poland, the aim was to stop the influence of revolutionary forces from increasing class consciousness at the cost of national consciousness among Poles in Germany. In order to prepare them to return to Poland and to strengthen their national consciousness in revolutionary Germany, the NSR, ZZP and “Wiarus Polski” emphasised the importance of intellectual education. For this reason, they supplemented the education structure that had already developed since 1916, and which in “Bochum and other regions in Westphalia and the Lower Rhine (organised) lower- and higher-level courses” by founding a Polish-language “people’s university” (Uniwersytet Ludowy) “in order to systematically (develop) knowledge of Polish grammar, writing, history, geography, literature (…)”[10]. According to a report in the “Wiarus Polski”, the executive board of the NSR announced, on the occasion of the university’s opening in Bochum on 16 August 1919, that the “academic lectures” offered by the university teaching staff had been met with even greater interest than expected, with over 2,000 participants. 

 

Between national duty and revolutionary upheaval
 

Through its reporting, and with support from the ZZP, NSR and national Polish education institutions, as well as via journalistic refutations of the National Democrat and Christian Democrat attacks on the “Bolshevised Westphalians”, the “Wiarus Polski” sought to fulfil its self-appointed task of a properly organised return to Poland together with the greatest possible number of Polish-speaking Catholics. However, the circumstances were difficult. 

The increasing social radicalisation of Poles, including those associated with the “Wiarus Polski”, the NSR and the ZZP, was already apparent before the outbreak of the November Revolution in 1918. In order to maintain the support of these people for the national project, the “Wiarus Polski” had to adapt its rhetoric. For example, as early as February 1918, in the previously mentioned “Our Programme” article, it referred to “class interests” (interesy klasowe) and “class consciousness” (klasowość). At the same time, it emphasised the national objectives of the NSR’s programme in discussions over the following months in order to prevent an excessively radical position from taking hold. However, the radicalisation of Polish workers clearly continued as time passed. If it was not to lose its connection to these workers, the “Wiarus Polski” felt compelled to open the discussion further, including to the point of entertaining socialist positions. This could be clearly seen in the programmatic article “The Polish people” (“Polska ludowa”) of 9 October 1918, which stated: “We do not know whether the well-being of the people (…) in five, ten or fifteen years won’t necessitate a socialisation of all workplaces and indeed of the land” (translated by the author). The “Wiarus Polski” sought to counteract the risk that such ideas might lead to socialism based on class war replacing a solidarity-based society founded on the idea of nationhood by further emphasising its nationalist position, but also by increasingly using antisemitic aspects to discredit socialism. For example, it repeatedly claimed that many leaders of the Russian, German and also Polish socialists and Bolshevists were Jews and rejected all cooperation between the Polish population and “non-Polish organisations”.

There were political efforts in the new Poland, pushed by conservative forces, to prevent what they saw as the “Bolshevised Westphalians” from returning to Poland. Furthermore, in its early years, the new Polish state was not in a position to accept more than several tens of thousands of people “from abroad”. The revolution had a major influence in the German Republic, with national consciousness often retreating to make way for socialist ideals. As various articles and reports in the “Wiarus Polski” from autumn 1918 make clear, a considerable proportion of Polish men and women actively participated in demonstrations and meetings organised by the far left. National Polish organisations were no longer able to unite the Polish population as they had once done. The “Wiarus Polski” thus repeatedly warned its readers not to let themselves be abused by the German revolutionaries and claimed that all Poles were duty-bound to unite in national organisations and avoid German ones. Failure to do so would amount to betrayal of one’s nation. It thus condemned the behaviour of Polish miners in workers’ chamber elections in June 1919, in which a majority voted Social Democrat despite Polish candidates on the ballot.

Although the “Wiarus Polski” lost some of its ability to unite the Polish-speaking community, it remained important as a source of Polish-language information about political and economic developments in Poland, the repatriation possibilities associated with these developments, and thus also the reporting on and analysis of Polish life in Germany. For example, its reports on everyday discrimination at the hands of German authorities and churches, which diminished only slightly even after the revolution, as well as the violent disruption of Polish gatherings by German nationalist organisations, fed doubts about the prospect of a peaceful future in Germany. The 1920/21 votes in East Prussia and Silesia on demarcation exacerbated national tensions, which in this instance were also fostered by nationalist factions among the German Social Democrats. Only a few civil democrat groups and persons as well as syndicalists and communists opposed the growing nationalist fervour. In the eyes of the Polish population, the repeated claim of the “Wiarus Polski” that German and Poles could never be brothers seemed to have been proved right. They had the feeling that they were unwanted in Germany, despite repeated demonstrations of loyalty to the German state. This ultimately led to many Poles emigrating from Germany, not only to Poland, but also to France and Belgium, including many of those who had been actively involved in establishing the new democratic state structure in Germany. One by one, the national Polish organisations disbanded, while the “Wiarus Polski” also lost its base and in 1923 moved to France, where it continued to appear, with interruptions, until 1961.

 

Wulf Schade, November 2018