National Radical Camp

National Radical Camp
Leader Aleksander Krejckant
Secretary Patrycjusz Borek
Founded 14 April 1934
1935 (Falanga & ABC)
1993 (revived)
Dissolved 10 July 1934 (banned by a decree of the Polish government)
1939 (Falanga & ABC)
Headquarters Ogrodowa 4/10
42-200 Częstochowa
Ideology Polish nationalism
National radicalism
Anti-communism
Anti-globalization
Antisemitism
Hard Euroscepticism
White nationalism
Political Catholicism
Neo-Fascism
Political position Far-right
National affiliation National Movement
Colours Green, White

The National Radical Camp (Polish: Obóz Narodowo-Radykalny, ONR) is a far-right movement in Poland.[1] It is often described as fascist and neo-Nazi.[2][3] The ONR considers itself an ideological descendant of the antisemitic political movement which existed before World War II, sharing the same name.[4][5] As of 2012 it is registered as a common-interest association.[6]

The current party is a direct descendant of an illegal Polish Third Positionist,[7][8] anti-communist,[9] and nationalist political party formed on 14 April 1934 mostly by the youth radicals who left the National Party of the National Democracy movement.[9]

The Falanga National Radical Camp (Polish: Ruch Narodowo Radykalny-Falanga), RNR-Falanga or ONR-Falanga colloquially, was a minor Polish third position political grouping of the 1930s, as was National Radical Camp ABC (Polish: Obóz Narodowo-Radykalny ABC) or ONR-ABC for short following the split of the original party in 1934. "Falanga" is Polish for "phalanx", "ABC" refers to a newspaper printed by the organisation at the time.

First incarnation (1934)

Inspiration

The party was influenced by the ideas of Italian fascism.[10] It rejected parliamentary democracy and called for the construction of a "national state," based on the principles of hierarchy, one-person leadership, and elimination of national minorities from public life.[11] Some authors do not consider it to be a fascist political movement,[12] while others suggest that its ideology had fascist elements,[13] or even consider it as a 'nazified' movement.[14]

Creation

The party was created on the insistence of former members of the Camp of Great Poland (Obóz Wielkiej Polski),[9] most notably Jan Mosdorf, Tadeusz Gluziński and Henryk Rossman. The organization proclaimed changes in the government based on the nationalist ideology.[9] It supported class solidarity, nationalization of foreign and Jewish-owned companies and introduction of anti-semitic laws.[9] At the same time it supported defense of private property and a centralized state. The party favored aggressive eliminationist action against Poland's minorities.[13] The leading members of ONR-ABC included Henryk Rossman, Tadeusz Gluziński, Stanisław Piasecki, Jan Jodzewicz, Wojciech Zaleski, Tadeusz Todtleben and Jan Korolec. The leading members of ONR-Falanga included Bolesław Piasecki, Wojciech Wasiutyński, Wojciech Kwasieborski and Marian Reutt.

The ONR was popular mostly among the students and other groups of urban youth. ONR openly encouraged anti-Jewish pogroms, and became the main force in the organization of attacks against Jews.[15] It organized fighting squads, attacked Jews and leftist politicians, destroyed Jewish property, and provoked clashes with the police.[11] Because of its involvement in boycott of Jewish-owned stores,[16] as well as numerous attacks on left-wing worker demonstrations,[17] the ONR was outlawed after three months of existence, in July 1934.[9] Several leaders were interned in the Bereza Kartuska Detention Camp, where the organization split into two separate factions: the ONR-Falanga (Ruch Narodowo-Radykalny) led by Bolesław Piasecki, and the ONR-ABC (Obóz Narodowo-Radykalny) formed around the ABC journal and led by Henryk Rossman.[9] Both organizations were officially illegal.[9]

During World War II

During World War II, both organizations created underground resistance organizations: ONR-ABC was transformed into Grupa Szańca (Rampart Group), whose military arm became the Związek Jaszczurczy (Lizard Union),[9] while the ONR-Falanga created the Konfederacja Narodu (Confederation of the Nation). They were not supportive of the mainstream Polish Secret State related to the Polish government in exile.[9] During the Nazis' occupation of Poland, many of the former ONR activists belonged to National Armed Forces resistance groups. After World War II, the forced exile of many ONRs was made permanent by the communist regime, which branded them enemies of the state.

Falanga

Formation and ideology

The RNR-Falanga was formed in the spring of 1935 following a split by members of the National Radical Camp held in Detention Camp Bereza Kartuska. Adopting the name of Oboz Narodowo-Radykalny (National Radical Camp), it soon became known as Falanga after the title of its journal (the rival group would also soon be named after its own journal, thus becoming known as National Radical Camp-ABC).[18]

The Falanga was led by Bolesław Piasecki and advocated a 'Catholic totalitarianism' inspired by Spanish Falangism. However, although clearly derived from Falangism, it has been argued that their Catholicism was even more central than that of the Spanish group[19] and indeed their pronouncement that 'God is the highest form of man' recalled the religious fanaticism of Corneliu Zelea Codreanu.[20] The group is widely considered to have been a fascist movement.[18][21][22] Harshly critical of capitalism and supportive of removing citizenship rights from Poland's Jews[18] it presented itself as the vanguard of the opposition to Józef Piłsudski.[18]

Development

Largely based in university campuses, the Falanga followed a policy of anti-Semitism and although it had few members,[9] from its power bases in schools it attempted to launch attacks on Jewish students and businesses.[23] Left-wing activists were also as part of this violent activity.[18]

The group soon came under scrutiny from the Polish government. Indeed, unlike similar movements in other European countries who regularly held public rallies, the ONR-Falanga held only two such gatherings, in 1934 and 1937, both of which were quickly broken up by the police.[22]

For a time the movement became associated with the Camp of National Unity (Polish: Obóz Zjednoczenia Narodowego, OZN) as Colonel Adam Koc, impressed by the organisation of the ONR-Falanga, placed Piasecki in charge of the OZN youth group. Koc called for the creation of a one-party state and hoped to use the youth movement to ensure this although his pronouncements upset many pro-government moderates. As such, Koc was removed from the leadership of the OZN in 1938 and replaced by General Stanisław Skwarczyński who quickly severed any ties to the RNR-Falanga.[24]

Disappearance

As a Polish nationalist movement the RNR-Falanga opposed the German occupation of Poland after the 1939 invasion, and thus was quickly subsumed by the Konfederacja Narodu, a group within the Polish resistance that retained certain far right views.[18]

However, following the establishment of a communist puppet regime in 1945, Piasecki was allowed to lead the PAX Association (Polish: Stowarzyszenie PAX), a supposedly Catholic organisation that was in fact a front group of the NKVD which aimed to promote the new communist regime to Poland's Catholics whilst turning them away from the Vatican.[25]

ABC

The ONR-ABC was the second splinter group besides Falanga founded by Henryk Rossman.

Modern incarnation (1993)

Ideology

The National Radical Camp describes itself as nationalist,[4] but has also been described as fascist and neo-Nazi.[2][3]

The party flag of the organization was included in the police handbook as an explicitly racist symbol.[11] The Interior Ministry subsequently pulled the book from circulation after a complaint from MP Adam Andruszkiewicz.[11]

Marches

ONR march in Kraków, July 2007

Myślenice rallies

ONR attracted publicity in 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2009 for unauthorized marches during the anniversary of the anti-Jewish riot in Myślenice in 1936.[26][27][28] In 2005 the group had a couple of hundred members.[29]

An illegal rally held on June 30, 2007 resulted in a court case, in which the ONR leader, Wojciech Mazurkiewicz, was acquitted only because the magistrate warning was issued too late, according to the presiding judge.[30] The 2008 rally led by the same ONR leader was taped by police with the intention of sharing the video with the local prosecutors office according to Lesser Poland Police.[26][31]

ONR members at a 2008 rally in Myślenice made a Roman salute before disbanding. When questioned by reporters at the scene, the ONR leader claimed it is different from the Nazi salute.[32]

Independence Day marches

The association has also been known as initiators of marches during the National Independence Day of Poland. One of them (in Warsaw), as a co-initiative of several different nationalist movements in 2010, evolved in 2012 into one of the biggest events during the day, which now attracts a more diverse community.[33] Since 2012 it has been organized by a registered association,[34] which ONR is still part of.[35]

On 11 November 2017, 60,000 people marched in an Independence Day celebration procession co-organized by the ONR in what has been described as "Poland's Charlottesville,[36][37] some chanting "fatherland". People from group "Black Block", which consisted of associations "Niklot" and "Szturmowcy", carried banners that read "White Europe", "Europe Will Be White" and "Clean Blood, Sober mind - sXe".[38][39][40] The slogan of the march was "We want God", which comes from an old Polish song and a phrase quoted by US President Donald Trump during his visit to Poland earlier in the year.[41] There were also others who were chanting "Death to enemies of the homeland" and "Catholic Poland, not secular".[40] American alt-right activist Richard Spencer planned to speak at the march, but in the end did not appear[42] after the Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Witold Waszczykowski said that he 'should not appear publicly' in Poland as he 'defames the Holocaust', with the Ministry announcing in a later statement that Spencer's views were 'in conflict with the legal order of Poland'[43].

See also

References

  1. ↑ Gera, Vanessa (10 November 2017). "Polish far-right march goes global, drawing people from afar". ABC News. Associated Press. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  2. 1 2 "ROP: in the Myślenice the ONR propagated fascism". Wirtualna Polska (in Polish). Polish Press Agency. 23 June 2008. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  3. 1 2 Dryjańska, Anna (7 May 2017). "Between fascism and Nazism. We are analyzing the ONR point-to-point statement with the extreme right-wing researcher". NaTemat.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  4. 1 2 "Who are we?" (in Polish). ONR. Archived from the original on 26 November 2014. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  5. ↑ Elizabeth, De (12 November 2017). "Youth Nationalist March Draws 60,000 to Warsaw". Teen Vogue. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  6. ↑ "Association of the National Radical Camp" (in Polish). National Court Register. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  7. ↑ The left and right wing spectrum does not apply to the idea of Fascism, therefore it's technically incorrect to call fascism Right Wing.
  8. ↑ Third Position
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 (in Polish) Obóz Narodowo-Radykalny WIEM Encyklopedia
  10. ↑ Marszał, Maciej: Włoski faszyzm w polskiej myśli politycznej i prawnej, 1922-1939. Wrocław 2007, p. 32.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Lerski, Jerzy J.; Wróbel, Piotr; Kozicki, Richard J. (1996). Historical Dictionary of Poland, 966-1945. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press. p. 379. ISBN 978-0-313-26007-0.
  12. ↑ Friszke, Andrzej: O kształt niepodległej. Warszawa 1989, p. 298.
  13. 1 2 https://books.google.com/books?id=o4rJ3ZiC8x4C&pg=PA125&dq=national+radical+camp+Fascist&hl=en&sa=X&ei=6dEKUPCsL-iw0QXQv5TOCg&ved=0CDsQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=national%20radical%20camp%20Fascist&f=false
  14. ↑ https://books.google.com/books?id=cGOA7Ku9mqcC&pg=PA53&dq=national+radical+camp+Fascist&hl=en&sa=X&ei=6dEKUPCsL-iw0QXQv5TOCg&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=national%20radical%20camp%20Fascist&f=false
  15. ↑ Joshua A. Fishman (1974) Studies on Polish Jewry, 1919-193 Yivo Institute for Jewish Research
  16. ↑ Wapiński 1980, 308.
  17. ↑ Ajnenkiel 1974, 226.
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 6 C.P. Blamires, World Fascism: A Historical Encyclopedia, ABC-Clio, 2006, p. 523
  19. ↑ Stanley G. Payne, A History of Fascism 1914-1945, London: Routledge, 2001, p. 262
  20. ↑ Payne, A History of Fascism, pp. 321-2
  21. ↑ P. Davies & D. Lynch, The Routledge Companion to Fascism and the Far Right, London: Routledge, 2002. p. 324
  22. 1 2 Norman Davies, God's Playground: A History of Poland Volume 2: 1795 to the Present, Columbia University Press, 1982, p. 262
  23. ↑ J.W. Borejsza, "East European Perceptions of Italian Fascism, S. U. Larsen, B. Hagtvet & J. P. Myklebust, Who Were the Fascists: Social Roots of European Fascism, Scandinavian University Press, Oslo, 1980, p. 358
  24. ↑ Payne, A History of Fascism, p. 322
  25. ↑ Davies, God's Playground, p. 579
  26. 1 2 Bartłomiej Kuraś, Bezkarne gesty ONR-u w Myślenicach Source: Gazeta Wyborcza Kraków. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
  27. ↑ "Zeitschrift OSTEUROPA | Fiddler as a Fig Leaf". www.zeitschrift-osteuropa.de. Retrieved 2018-02-26.
  28. ↑ "ONR po raz czwarty". Miasto-info.pl - Myślenice oczami mieszkańców. Retrieved 2018-05-07.
  29. ↑ "Poland 2005". The Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and Racism. Tel Aviv, Israel: Stephen Roth Institute, Tel Aviv University. 2005. Archived from the original on 2 May 2008. External link in |journal= (help)
  30. ↑ Bartłomiej Kuraś (2008-05-28). "Myślenice: wyrok po myśli ONR-u" (in Polish). Gazeta Wyborcza Kraków. Retrieved January 25, 2013.
  31. ↑ (in Polish) Official pages of Gmina Myślenice: Historia miasta. Retrieved from Wayback Machine archive, January 24, 2013.
  32. ↑ PAP (2008-06-21), Faszystowskie gesty w Myślenicach. Dziennik.pl Kraj. Retrieved January 25, 2013.
  33. ↑ "Transmisja Marszu Niepodległości (Video coverage of the event by a Catholic publisher)". Radiomaryja.pl (in Polish). Radio Maryja. 12 November 2014.
  34. ↑ "Stowarzyszenie Marsz Niepodległości (The Association [of] The Independence March)". National Court Register (in Polish). Retrieved November 14, 2014.
  35. ↑ "Historia Marszu Niepodległości (The history of The Independence March)". Official site of the March of the Independence (in Polish). Retrieved November 14, 2014.
  36. ↑ "White nationalists call for ethnic purity at Polish demonstration". POLITICO. 2017-11-12. Retrieved 2017-11-12.
  37. ↑ "60,000 join far-right march on Poland's Independence Day". CBC News. Associated Press. 11 November 2017. Retrieved 11 November 2017.
  38. ↑ Styczyński, Filip (15 November 2017). "Wiemy, kto stoi za rasistowskimi hasłami na Marszu Niepodległości" (in Polish). Warsaw: TVP INFO. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
  39. ↑ Hinshaw, Drew (11 November 2017). "Polish Nationalist Youth March Draws Thousands in Capital". Warsaw: The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 11 November 2017.
  40. 1 2 Day, Matthew (12 November 2017). "Nationalist protesters disrupt Poland independence day events". Warsaw: CNN. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  41. ↑ Specia, Megan (11 November 2017). "Nationalist March Dominates Poland's Independence Day". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 November 2017.
  42. ↑ "Poland nationalist rally with neo-Nazi slogans, calls for 'Islamic holocaust' draws biggest crowd ever". Newsweek. 2017-11-12. Retrieved 2017-11-12.
  43. ↑ "Poland to white nationalist Richard Spencer: keep out". The Guardian. Associated Press. 27 October 2017. Retrieved 13 November 2017.

Further reading

  • Holzer, Jerzy (July 1977). "The Political Right in Poland, 1918-39". Journal of Contemporary History. 12 (3): 395–412. doi:10.1177/002200947701200301.
  • Rudnicki, Szymon (1985). Obóz Narodowo-Radykalny: Geneza i działalność. Warszawa: Czytelnik. ISBN 83-07-01221-X.
  • Ajnenkiel, Andrzej (1974). Historia ustroju Polski (1764-1939). Warszawa: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe.
  • Wapiński, Roman (1980). Narodowa Demokracja 1893-1939. Wrocław: Zakład Narodowy Imienia Ossolińskich. ISBN 83-04-00008-3.
  • Ajnenkiel, Andrzej (1974). Historia ustroju Polski (1764-1939). Warszawa: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe.
  • Wapiński, Roman (1980). Narodowa Demokracja 1893-1939. Wrocław: Zakład Narodowy Imienia Ossolińskich. ISBN 83-04-00008-3.
  • Holzer, Jerzy (July 1977). "The Political Right in Poland, 1918-39". Journal of Contemporary History. 12 (3): 395–412. doi:10.1177/002200947701200301.
  • Rudnicki, Szymon (1985). Obóz Narodowo-Radykalny: Geneza i działalność. Warszawa: Czytelnik. ISBN 83-07-01221-X.
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