MARSHAL JOZEF PILSUDSKI
The victor over the Soviet Red Army in the Battle of Warsaw, Marshal Pilsudski dominated Poland’s military and political path
Marshal Jozef Pilsudski once said of his socialist political leanings that he had “taken the Red streetcar as far as the stop called Independence and gotten off.” Pilsudski was a socialist, but he was much more a Polish nationalist. Revered today as the father of the Polish Second Republic and the architect of the greatest victory in his country’s military history, he was no stranger to privation; familiar with hardship, a fearless foe of the implacable Russian enemy, and a leader whose cult of personality yet survives.
Pilsudski, who rose to lead independent Poland in 1920 and sought to expand its territory during the war with the Soviets, had always believed that Russia was his country’s greatest enemy. Born on 5 December 1867 near the village of Zalavas, then part of the Russian Empire, he was the child of an aristocratic but impoverished family. Pilsudski learned Polish history from his mother and at an early age learned to despise repressive Russian rule, while his revolutionary tendencies developed.
While studying medicine at Kharkov University in 1885, Jozef became involved in revolutionary activities. A year later, he was barred from another university due to his reputation as an agitator. Implicated with his older brother, Bronislaw, in a socialist plot to assassinate Czar Alexander III, Jozef was arrested and sentenced to five years’ exile in Siberia. He was involved in a number of violent prisoner protests, losing teeth on at least two occasions.
Pilsudski’s revolutionary fervour only increased during exile. Upon his release he joined the Polish Socialist Party, or PPS, and began publishing the underground newspaper, The Worker. He married fellow socialist Maria Juszkiewiczowa in 1899, and published the newspaper until his arrest and imprisonment in 1900. Convincing his captors that he was mentally ill, Pilsudski was transferred to a mental hospital in St Petersburg. He later escaped and made his way to London.
During the Russian Revolution of 1905, Pilsudski called on labourers to strike and attempted to incite rebellion. He became a divisive figure among socialists, and the PPS split over his prioritisation of Polish independence. Pilsudski was undeterred. Believing that armed revolution was the catalyst for independence, he began financing his own army with the proceeds of bank robberies.
With the outbreak of World War I, Pilsudski organised three infantry brigades in the Polish Legion, joining Germany and Austria-hungary against the hated Russians. In 1916, after his wartime partners proclaimed the Kingdom of Poland, a semi-autonomous nation, Pilsudski refused to declare an oath of allegiance to Germany and Austria-hungary, and was imprisoned in Magdeburg for two years. Released in November 1918, he returned to Warsaw a hero. The governing regency council appointed him commander-in-chief of the Polish armed forces and head of state.
Pilsudski saw the nation’s army as the instrument of his personal will, and embarked on the war with Soviet Russia that brought first acclaim, then catastrophe, and finally triumph following the decisive Battle of Warsaw. During the post-war transition of power, he declined to run for the office of president, believing Poland’s newly adopted constitution would restrict his power. However, he returned to prominence following the assassination of his friend, Gabriel Narutowicz, who served as the first president of Poland for only five days before he was shot on 16 December 1922.
Pilsudski and wartime comrade Wladislaw Sikorski quelled political unrest in the country, serving respectively as chief of the general staff and minister of military affairs during a state of emergency. With the election of a new president and amid the growing influence of political opponents in government, Pilsudski resigned in May 1923.
His retirement was short-lived. The Polish economy was in turmoil, and several governments had failed to act decisively.
Finally, in 1926, Pilsudski emerged again on the political scene, propelled to prominence via coup d’etat. He refused the office of president of the republic, citing a lack of real authority. Subsequently, he accepted the post of minister of military affairs, making him a de facto dictator. Critics have viewed his tenure as rather inefficient, particularly as he gave little attention to domestic policy and chose to concentrate on military and foreign affairs. He was also feared, sometimes silencing political opponents with lengthy prison terms.
Despite the observations of detractors and his sometimes heavy-handed rule, Pilsudski held the fractious Second Polish Republic together prior to World War II. However, by the mid-1930s his health had begun to decline rapidly, and he died of liver cancer at the age of 67 on 12 May 1935. Dark days of conflict, Nazi occupation and domination by the Soviet Union lay ahead for his beloved country.
“BELIEVING THAT ARMED REVOLUTION WAS THE CATALYST FOR INDEPENDENCE, HE BEGAN FINANCING HIS OWN ARMY WITH THE PROCEEDS OF BANK ROBBERIES”