"FATHERS’ GRAVES" OF THE POLISH POLITICS

Jerzy Giedroyć’s¹ statement about two graves — of Piłsudski and Dmowski — that rule over the Poland became truism long time ago. Fierce political fight for the President’s post that unfolded after the brief mourning reconciliation, creates the preconditions for appearance of the third "ruling grave" — the one of Lech Kaczyński.

Marshal Józef Piłsudski is rather well-known in our country, while Roman Dmowski (1864-1939) — originator of the National Democracy political camp and the main ideologist of the Polish nationalism — is far less popular. However, given the realities of contemporary Poland, contradictions between these two people who became the principal architects of the Polish statehood after the First World War look more than just archaic and are comprehensible only to the specialists, majoring in Polish history. In the Polish national self-conscience both of these founding fathers of today’s Poland were engraved as the uncompromising fighters for the sovereign Polish state who dedicated their lives to the revival of their Motherland.

^{17th of April, 2010. Warsaw, Presidential Palace.
Lech Kaczyński is paid his last tribute.
Photo by Albert Zawada for "Gazeta Wyborzca"}

After the tragic accident near Smolensk, quite a situation emerged in Poland. The threat of using the "uncritical and emotional comprehension of the last President’s2 legacy in order to separate the Poles even today" is clearly seen, — said Roman Kuźniar, head of the Strategic Research Center for the Warsaw University.

The first post-socialistic Polish government, headed by Tadeusz Mazowiecki made its way to the integration of the country into the united Europe, simultaneously creating the good-neighborly relations with countries lying to the east from Bug River, including Russia. During the following years of Lech Wałęsa and Alexander Kwaśniewski presidentship — despite the fact that they belonged to the different political camps — Russo-Polish relations became not just simply tenser; sometimes they’ve crossed the lines of the diplomatic practice. Tragic airplane crash near Smolensk has, paradoxically, led to the dramatic improvement of this relationship.

At the same time, during the election campaign of Kaczyński’s twin-brother Jarosław, his political surrounding has chosen the tactics of instilling the idea of the "third grave of the Polish politics" into the nation. The supposed political last will of Lech Kaczyński — supposedly calling to stick to the anti-Russian foreign policy of Poland — is declared to be the only possible patriotic path that meets the national interests of our Western neighbors. Those, who do not share these extreme views, are proclaimed to be the moral successors of Mickiewicz’s "Dziady" that are very popular among the oppositional anti-socialistic environment.

In fact though, foreign policy of Kaczyński is a series of errors and failures. Its main weakness was the inability to understand what the Polish interests really consisted in at the given moment and the inability to comprehend the changes that Europe and the whole world were going through. This is exactly why President Kaczyński:

— didn’t sign the Lisbon Treaty after the referendum in Ireland;
— despite the will of government and parliament, has actively supported the administration of President Bush and his intention to mount the American AMD system in Europe;
— thoughtlessly strived to help Saakashvili’s regime, having been inspired by the unifying idea of the fight against their common enemy — Russia;
— having failed to understand the nature of the war in Iraq and the complete absence of the Polish national interests there, he was so self-forgetfully "fighting" in this country that he turned out to be "a greater saint that the Pope himself" — changes in the White House foreign policy took him by surprise;
— created atmosphere of tough confrontation against Donald Tusk government, having interpreting the Polish Constitution — regarding the matter of Presidential competence in the field of foreign affairs — the way he wanted to.

Having become a President, Lech Kaczyński failed to rise above the internal partisan interests of the "Law and Justice" party, headed by his brother Jarosław. Regardless of the Constitution and Polish political tradition, Kaczyński hasn’t been a President for all the Poles — just for those of them who stuck to the utmost right part of the Polish political scene. Grave of Kaczyński is not unifying but rather tells the Polish society apart, which is why his political legacy will hardly be asked-for. Common sense that always was so characteristic of Poles and actual national interests of Poland would hardly let his political twin-brother Jarosław to take his place at the Belweder Palace.

At least, we’d like to hope that it’s not only "love for the fathers’ graves" that unites us with Poles, but also the shared understanding of the role of our countries in the Europe of XXI century, historical memories of the tragic events that we came through together and the hope for the common future.

By Gregory Tinsky

¹ Jerzy Giedroyc (1906-2000) — famous political activist of the Polish immigration, person of dominant influence for the Polish intellectuals, publisher of the Parisian literary miscellany "Culture", buried at the Maisons-Laffitte cemetery near Paris.