Maritime and Colonial League
The Maritime and Colonial League (Polish: Liga Morska i Kolonialna) was a mass
Among countries regarded as suitable for Polish overseas settlements, there were such nations as Brazil (Paraná), Peru, Liberia, Portuguese Mozambique and French possessions in Africa, such as Madagascar. The organization enjoyed widespread popularity and in 1939 had around one million members.
Origins
The roots of the League can be traced back to the fall of 1918, the first days of the Second Polish Republic. On 1 October 1918, a group of 25 young men founded an organization called Polska Bandera (Polish Flag), whose purpose was to popularize the sea among the Poles and to encourage the youth to participate in naval navigation.[2]
The organization, supported by influential politicians, quickly grew, and in May 1919 it was changed into the League of Polish Navigation (Liga Żeglugi Polskiej). Five years later the name was changed again, into the Maritime and River League (Liga Morska i Rzeczna), then, in late 1925, it published its first monthly magazine, "The Sea" ("Morze") (in 1939 magazine's name was changed into "The Sea and Colonies").
The first demands for Polish colonies were issued at the first convention of the League (Katowice, October 1928)[2] Two years later, at the third and last convention in Gdynia, the organization got its most famous name, the Maritime and Colonial League.
Activities
Originally, the League was a public body, with limited membership. Soon afterwards, it was taken over by the government and became a tool of its propaganda. In 1933, Prince
Furthermore, some Polish politicians argued that the debt, which the world owed to Poland from saving Europe from
Throughout the 1930s, the League organized mass demonstration, collected money and published materials. Among people who participated in demonstrations were clergymen and members of the government, whose party, Camp of National Unity (
In the summer of 1937, the
Polish demands, however, were ignored by the Western powers, as neither France, nor Great Britain wanted to relinquish their possessions.[citation needed] Nevertheless, the Polish government continued to advance its demands even well into 1939, until the eve of German invasion of Poland.[1] However, Poland never considered possibility of armed capture of overseas lands, counting on a customs union with smaller and less significant colonial powers, such as Belgium and Portugal.[4]
Some historians argue that the Polish government promoted colonialism to solve the problem of chronic overpopulation and unemployment of some areas of the country.[1][4] Also, the Poles expressed a desire for raw materials like minerals and timber, especially those found in Liberia.
Apart from colonies, activities of members of the League were concentrated on the development and expansion of the
Attempted Polish overseas possessions
Angola
In collaboration with Portuguese colonial authorities, the league operated plantations in Angola during the 1920s, beginning in 1928. These efforts in Angola lead to Polish colonization attempts in other countries of Africa.[6]
Brazil
In 1930, 135 Polish families left for the state of
However, the Poles bought only 7000 hectares and created there a settlement called Morska Wola. Also, they purchased additional 2000 hectares and planned to found another settlement, "Orlicz-Dreszer" (as a gesture to director of the League, general Gustaw Orlicz-Dreszer, who died in Gdynia in a plane crash in 1936). In August 1935 the first Polish settlers left for Brazil, around 350 people.
However, in spite of initial success, Polish activities in Parana were noticed by Brazilian public opinion. In
Soon afterwards, the Brazilian government under Getúlio Vargas began limiting Polish immigration, and also the Poles themselves were no longer interested in settling in Brazil. In 1938, the project was cancelled.
Liberia
Poland became interested in
Madagascar
A special interest was shown in Madagascar, with a kind of historical claim provided by the 18th century Polish adventurer Maurice Benyovszky who had spent some years on that island and on one occasion been chosen a ruler by some of its inhabitants. Polish interest in Madagascar was fueled by the 1937 visit of Polish popular writer Arkady Fiedler to the Madagascar town of Ambinanitelo, where he lived for several months and on whose people's culture he later wrote a book which had considerable success among the Polish public. However, as France had no inclination to give up its rule of Madagascar in favor of Poland, this had no practical consequences.
Outcome
The League ceased to exist in September 1939, following the joint German and Soviet invasion of Poland. After World War II, the newly established Polish People's Republic was not interested in colonialism and the organization was reestablished in 1944 as the Maritime League. In 1953 it was dissolved, then in 1981 recreated again as the Maritime League. Since 1999 it has been called the Maritime and River League.
In the spring of 2006, Polish artist Janek Simon went to Madagascar, looking back to the ideas of the interbellum period. He wanted to organize there the "Polish Year in Madagascar"; instead, two exhibitions took place.[11]
See also
Notes
- ^
- ^ a b (in English) Taras Hunczak, Polish Colonial Ambitions in the Inter-War Period, Slavic Review, Vol. 26, No. 4 (Dec., 1967), pp. 648–656, JSTOR
- ^
- ^ a b c (in Polish) Anna Kicinger, POLITYKA EMIGRACYJNA II RZECZPOSPOLITEJ, Central European Forum For Migration Research, Working Paper 4/2005
- ^ (in English) History ORP ORZEŁ Archived 13 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Polish Lebensraum: the colonial ambition to expand on racial terms" (PDF). University of Leeds. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
- ^ (in Polish) Marek Arpad Kowalski, Wojna brazylijsko-polska, "Opcja na Prawo" maj 2006
- ^ Christy, Cuthbert (15 December 1930). "COMMISSION'S REPORT: INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION OF ENQUIRY IN LIBERIA" (PDF). League of Nations: 127. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 April 2019. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
- ^ (in Polish) Tadeusz Białas. Liga Morska i Kolonialna, 1930–1939. Gdańsk, 1983, p. 217.
- ^ (in Polish) Marek Arpad Kowalski. Dyskurs kolonialny w Drugiej Rzeczpospolitej. Instytut Etnologii i Antropologii Kulturowej Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, Warszawa, 2010: 109–120.
- ^ (in English) Karol Sienkiewicz, Poland in Antananarivo, Madagascar in Łódź, Tygodnik Sekcja, 2007