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National Democracy (Polish: Narodowa Demokracja, also known from its abbreviation ND as "Endecja") was a Polish right-wing nationalist political movement active from the latter 19th century to the end of the Second Polish Republic in 1939. A founder and principal ideologue was Roman Dmowski. Other ideological fathers of the movement were Zygmunt Balicki and Jan Ludwik Popławski.[1]
The National Democracy's main stronghold was Greater Poland (western Poland), where much of the movement's early impetus derived from efforts to counter Imperial Germany's policy of Germanizing its Polish territorial holdings. Subsequently a focus of National Democracy interest was countering Polish-Jewish economic competition with Catholic Poles. Party supporters were mostly ethnic-Polish intelligentsia, bourgeoisie, middle class and youth.
During the interbellum Second Republic, National Democracy was a strong advocate for Polonization of the country's German minority and of the non-Polish (chiefly Ukrainian and Belarusian) populations of Poland's eastern Kresy.
With the end of World War II, the National Democracy movement effectively ceased to exist.
The origins of the ND can be traced to the 1864 failure of the January 1863 Uprising and to the era of Polish Positivism. After that Uprising – the last in a series of 19th-century Polish uprisings – had been bloodily crushed by Poland's partitioners, the new generation of Polish patriots and politicians concluded that Poland's independence would not be won on the battlefield but through education and culture.
In 1886 the secret Polish League (Liga Polska) was founded, in 1893 renamed National League (Liga Narodowa). From 1895 the League published a newspaper, Przegląd Wszechpolski (The All-Polish Review), and from 1897 it had an official political party, the National-Democratic Party (Stronnictwo Narodowo-Demokratyczne). Unlike the Polish Socialist Party (PPS), the ND advocated peaceful negotiations. Influenced by Roman Dmowski's radical nationalist and social-Darwinist ideas, National Democrats turned against other nationalities within the Polish lands, most notably the Jews; anti-Semitism became a key element of ND ideology.[2]
During World War I, while PPS, under the influence of Józef Piłsudski, supported the Central Powers against Russia (the Polish Legions), the ND first allied itself with the Russian Empire (supporting the creation of the Puławy Legion) and later with the Western Powers (supporting the Polish Blue Army in France). At war's end, many ND politicians enjoyed much more influence abroad than in Poland. This allowed them to share power with Piłsudski, who had much more support in the military than they did. Still, due to their support abroad, ND politicians such as Dmowski and Ignacy Paderewski were able to gain backing for some Polish demands at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and in the Treaty of Versailles.
In the newly independent Second Polish Republic, the ND was represented first by the National Populist Union (Związek Ludowo-Narodowy), and from 1928 by the National Party (Stronnictwo Narodowe). A chief characteristic of ND policies was their emphasis on Polonization of minorities: ND politicians such as Dmowski and Stanisław Grabski contributed to the failure of Piłsudski's proposed Międzymorze federation and of the alliance with the Ukrainian leader Symon Petlura, and to the alienation of Poland's ethnic minorities. After Piłsudski's May 1926 Coup d'État, the ND found itself in constant opposition to his Sanation regime. To fight the Sanation movement, the ND created the Camp of Great Poland (Obóz Wielkiej Polski).
Simultaneously the ND emphasized its anti-Semitic program, aimed at excluding Jews from Polish social and economic life and ultimately at pushing them to emigration from Poland.[3] Antisemitic actions and incidents – boycotts, demonstrations, even attacks – organized or inspired by National Democrats occurred during the 1930s. The most notorious actions were taken by a splinter group of radical young former NDs who formed the fascist-inspired National Radical Camp (Obóz Narodowo-Radykalny)[4]
During World War II, the ND became part of a coalition which formed the Polish Government in Exile. It was closely linked with the National Armed Forces (Narodowe Siły Zbrojne), an underground organization which became a part of the Polish resistance movement. ND armed organizations fought not only against Nazi Germany but also against the Soviet Union. Both occupying forces regarded members of the movement as their mortal enemy, and its leaders were killed in mass executions, in concentration camps and in the Katyn massacre. Among those killed are:
After the war, when Poland found itself controlled by Polish communists and the Soviet Union, most remaining NDs either emigrated to the West or continued an ultimately futile struggle against the Soviet occupation. Others joined the new regime – most notably, the ONR-Falanga leader Bolesław Piasecki, who co-organized a regime-controlled Catholic movement.
Since the fall of communism, when Poland became once again a democratically governed country, several political parties have sought to re-establish some ND traditions; their adherents prefer to call themselves the "national movement" (ruch narodowy). Currently the only significant party that declares itself a successor to the ND is the League of Polish Families (Liga Polskich Rodzin) , founded in 2001 by Roman Giertych, grandson of Jędrzej Giertych, pre-war ND politician; it received 8% of the parliamentary vote in 2001, rising to 16% in 2004, then failing to receive the necessary 5% of the vote in 2007 and losing all of its parliamentary seats.