Due to the divisions inherent to polish parliamentary politics the electorate called for the establishment of a ‘strong government’. The greatly anticipated ‘strong government’ was introduced by Jozef Pilsudki a strongly anti-Semitic, nationalistic, and highly conservative leader who believed in the maintenance of the entrenched values of the middle and upper classes. Pilsudki enforced a coup d’etat in May 1926 in reaction to the weaknesses of the government, created under the constitution of 1921. His aim was to introduce a government which would face up to the social, economic and military problems which the ‘coalitions by coalitions’ had failed to address previously. However by 1926 national minorities, intelligentsia and those who anticipated more from their new national state were disaffected. Weaknesses in the government prevailed until the cataclysm of 1939 by Nazi forces. Political stability was essential for such problems to be rectified in a manner which would satisfy the diversity of the new Polish population. Poland faced major obstacles which were inherent in all of new East European states. The legacy of partitions ensured an abundance of proliferated political parties and therefore the difficulty of coexistence. Furthermore, the responsibility of Polish politicians changed from the focusing on national identity to the wider responsibilities of socioeconomic problems which would in time lead Poland to political independence. As highlighted by historian E. Mendelsohn ‘ from being leaders of a national minority, these politicians had to make the difficult adjustment to being leaders of a sovegin state plagued with major internal tensions.’
In the social sphere, relations between the diverse social communities and regions of the newly instated Republic, mirrored the divisions highlighted within the parliamentary forum. Approximately one-third of the polish population were non-poles. The largest non-Polish nationality was the Ukrainians, followed by the Jews, Bearussians and the Germans. Those from Slavic minorities (Ukrainians and Belorussians) possessed a territorial base in the kersy and eastern Galicia as well as aspirations for political independence. The aspiration for self-determination was promoted by all minorities in the new state of Poland. As historian R.J. Crampton highlights ‘The new Poland was a coat of many colours.’ and had inherited territory from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Germany and Russia. Such inheritance brought great diversity. Politically, economically and socially, the divided inheritance left Poland with three railway networks and economic infrastructures. There were no less than six currencies, varying educational practices, legal systems, which were not completely standardised even by 1939, and a multitude of military legacies. The repercussions of such inheritance can be highlighted as another problem which Poland faced in the interwar period.
Ethnicity and subsequently the ‘Jewish question’ was perceived as another ‘stumbling block’ in the establishment of the new Republic. As highlighted by historian E. Mendelsohn ‘The Polish nation, it was felt, had not shed its blood and sacrificed its sons in order to establish a state in which vast territories and important financial resources would be controlled by non-Poles’. The question of true national identity and the contention between pole versus non-pole led to the increase of anti-Semitic belief in the republic. The Jewish question did not pose any territorial constraints on the Polish nation therefore, in comparison to the territorial claims, which were delivered by the Ukrainian, Belorussian and German minorities, the Jewish minority could be regarded as an irrelevance. However, they did constitute political and economic problems for rulers of the state. The Jewish minority was defined not only by custom but also by educational and economic behaviour; most significantly they were not Christians. The Jewish minority, as educated people, were prominent in the intelligentsia and in the professions, for example, accountancy, law and medicine. As highlighted by R.J Crampton, Poland’s native commercial and industrial bourgeoisie was relatively small, therefore, the intelligentsia played a correspondingly larger role in the nation’s political life, in turn awarding proportionally more influence and power to the ‘non-polish Jewish minority’. Such social, educational and religious diversity was a further problem which was presented, universally, to the newly formed states in central Europe during the interwar period. Such problems were further intensified in Poland due to the frontiers and diversity of minorities which it became home to. By 1920 Poland was the largest Jewish state in the world, a factor which undoubtedly created great tension when addressing the question of national identity in the establishment of the new Republic.
Poland emerged from the First World War devastated, ninety percent of the country had been affected by military operations and losses were estimated at two thousand million dollars. Not alone in rebuilding its economic status after the war Poland faced great competition for securing credit. The result, commented by A. Zamoyski ‘was a bumpy economic start’. Foreign capital saw the newly established European states as rather uncertain investments. The instability of the economy was greater magnified by the anticipation of minorities in gaining independence. The Polish economy had no less than six different currencies and three different railway networks, all controlled by groups which had their own ideas of where economic investment should be directed. The rapid turnover of parliamentary ruling also lead to economic instability, through the lack of continuity which prevailed throughout the republic’s existence. It was not until the ‘economic boom’ of 1928 that the level of industrial production increased above pre-war output. Due to such an increase in production levels many new industrial factories, towns and establishments were built however the prosperity of the late 1920’s quickly diminished for Poland and the rest of the capitalist world with the 1929 Wall Street crash. Produce fell by 50 percent as unemployment rose sharply. For the reasons highlighted, the Polish economy did not develop uniformly during the interwar period. As Kepkiewicz highlights, ‘The capitalist economic cycle of booms followed by stagnation and serious crises, was made worse by Poland’s lack of financial resources’.
Through economic, social and political instability, relations for Poland on an international forum were limited. As a new state with a relatively small military, Poland were not deemed to be a particularly strong defensive ally. Peripheral conflicts between frontiers, in order to consolidate territorial claims, meant that Poland’s international relations became centred round economic aid and credits rather than the consolidation of the new republic ‘as a key European player’. Such lack of international creditability was another key problem faced not only by Poland but by all new European states. This caused serious problems in the later 1930’s as the threat from Nazi Germany increased. New states became ‘expendable and somewhat at the disposal of Britain and France’ in the struggle to appease Hitler’s expansionist aims.
During the interwar period, the newly created central European states faced a multitude of problems. Taking Poland as an example, social, political and economic diversity from the outset presented problems which could not be easily overcome. Within the political forum, social divisions presented a government made up of coalitions by coalitions. Such coalitions failed to introduce the continuity of policy required for the new Republic to socially and economically prosper in the interwar period. Through the inheritance of several currencies, industrial establishments and educational systems, economically Poland remained unstable throughout the interwar period. The reason for such economic instability, as highlighted, originated from the fact that Poland had been established across varying economic and social territorial frontiers. Such frontiers presented problems relating to ethnicity with the introduction of ‘the Jewish question’ and also the anticipation of other minority groups for independent rule and recognition. These somewhat common internal factors further alienated Poland, and the other newly formed states, in the international forum. To conclude, the post-war treaties transformed the map of Europe in order to reflect a continent driven by self-determination and identity however, in doing so, it created many more problems.
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