Ignacy Hugo MATUSZEWSKI (1891-1946)
Politician and
political journalist. B. Sep. 1, 1891, Warsaw, the son of an academic.
Studied philosophy at the Jagiellonian University (UJ), architecture
in Milan, law in Dorpat, agriculture in Warsaw. During World War
I he served in the Russian army, got involved with J. Pi³sudski's
camp, helped organize Polish Corps in Russia and was active in them.
From 1918 member of the Polish Military Organization (Polska Organizacja
Wojskowa, POW). From Nov. 1918 deputy head, and from Aug. 1920 head
(till 1923) of the 2nd Department of General Staff. He
took part in the negotiations with the Bolsheviks in Riga as a military
expert. 1924-26 military attaché in Rome; 1928-29 Polish envoy in
Budapest; 1929-31 minister of finance in a number of consecutive
cabinets; 1932-36 editor-in-chief of the governmental Gazeta
Polska and Polityka Narodów.
One of the most distinguished political journalists and geopoliticians
of the inter-war period. After the Sep. 1939 campaign, he settled
in New York, where he became active as a journalist, chiefly in
Nowy Œwiat and Dziennik
Polski. Co-founder of the Józef Pi³sudski Institute in
New York and the National Committee of Polish Americans (Komitet
Narodowy Amerykanów Polskiego Pochodzenia). D. Aug. 7, 1964, New
York. His writings were collected in Próby
syntez ("Attempts at Syntheses", 1937), and Wybór
pism ("Selected Writings", 1952).
The selected fragments
are from "Polish" Communism
(1946) published in: "Selected Writings", New York-London 1952 (1st
ed. in Dziennik Polski in
Detroit, June 3rd, 1946).
"Polish"
Communism
There are two kinds of communism: the Russian one and that practiced by
the rest of the world.
A short article is not the place for discussing the evolution that has
led to the transformation of Russian communism into imperialism
and of communism in other countries into agencies of a foreign state.
But this is what has happened: communism outside Russia has lost
the nature of an idealistic political movement and everywhere has
become and organization devoted to spying and subversion, working
for the Soviet State. Russian communism in turn has lost the nature
of an international movement and has become a doctrine of Russian
neo-imperialism. The Comintern is composed of the master and his
slaves. [...]
Polish communism seems to be more a pathological symptom than a social
phenomenon. It is as if Polish patriotism, for so many years turned
into something sublime, produced a feeble but passionate reaction;
as if the excess of love for Poland has nurtured hatred towards
Poland in sick souls; as if the Polish principle of sacrifice for
the fatherland found its equivalent in a rebellion of those fearful
of this principle, a rebellion in the name of sacrificing the fatherland.
"Polish" communism seems to fall almost entirely within the realm
of psychiatry.
We must take note of this fact. For the Polish resistance against dependence
is being crushed by means of a doctrine which says that "co-operation"
with Russia externally and with the communists internally is a necessity.
Miko³ajczyk is a symbol of this doctrine. In the name of "co-operation"
with the Russians he signed the act of dismemberment of Poland;
in the name of "co-operation" with the communists he tore up the
constitution and agreed to outlaw everyone in Poland beside himself
and his cronies.
"Polish" communism has never been Polish, but always anti-Polish. Russian
communism was anti-Tsarist, antidemocratic, but was never anti-Russian.
Russian communism, in spite of all its "Marxisms", has resounded
with echoes of Philoslavism. Tendencies of "revolutionary imperialism"
were so strongly marked that Lenin thought it advisable to suppress
them in his own circle, especially before the revolution. Russian
communists wanted to take over the Russian State, but they did not
intend to destroy it; they wanted to turn it into an instrument
for fulfilling their designs, but never to destroy it.
However, when "Polish" communists, long before World War I, started to
work under the name of the "Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland
and Lithuania", they were already fighting against the Polish State,
then non-existent. They cried out loudly that the Polish nation
is incapable and unworthy of independent existence. They hated the
very possibility of a resurrected independent Poland. Rosa Luxemburg
had a dispute with Lenin before World War I, arguing, as a "Pole",
that Polish aspirations for independence were "reactionary". It
is no coincidence that in 1905 the Social Democrats frothed at the
mouth when they saw the Polish flag and cried "down with the white
goose", although it was a symbol not of oppression, but of insurrection.
No wonder that today they hate not only Pi³sudski, but also
Jagie³³o and Boles³aw the Brave. [...]
The German Communist Party never renounced the idea of German statehood:
it was opposed to the Versailles Treaty, to "unilateral" disarmament.
A disguised superiority complex towards Russia seems to be deeply
entrenched in the mindset of German communists. "Polish" communists
exhibit an inferiority complex.
Such was the process of natural selection in this party. After 1918 every
one of them who did not hate Poland enough or who awoke from this
hatred was killed. This was why Heldman, D¹bal, Wojewódzki,
and others were shot.
An opposite process took place within the Russian Communist Party. The
party executed those who put the interests of the international
proletariat above those of the Soviet Empire. The fate of Trotsky
is a symbol of that. The master became more and more masterly, the
slave more and more slavish.
Today Russian dignitaries consider "Polish" communists who hate their own
country to be psychopaths, who can be entrusted with the task of
destruction, but who cannot be treated as equals.
Communist rule in Poland is much more dangerous than in any other country.
The power that is in the hands of "Polish" communists is not only
the power of obedient foreign
agents, but is also the power of psychopaths, ready to destroy
not only when commanded to do so, but of their own desire as well.
They are ready to demolish not only the present, but also the entire
past. They would do this not only in order to score a political
victory, but also to find a release for their pathological passion.
Collaboration with communism is
a mistake throughout the world. In Poland collaboration with the
communists is more than a mistake - it is insanity.