The Clergy in the Kingdom of Poland Towards the Agricultural Societies in the Period of 1897-1914

Abstract

After the collapse of the Polish uprising (1863) the Russian authorities would not permit Polish social organizations to be established, including agricultural organizations. The largest institution of that kind was the Central Agricultural Society (CAS), set up in 1907. It was governed by the National-Democratic Party. Priests participated in agricultural co-operatives run by CAS and that conditioned the development of the co-operatives; one third of them were directly run by the priests (370 co-operativers). It is the Church that encouraged people to create co-operatives, though the priests might not take part in their later work. Not all peasants, however, were satisfied with the work of the co-operatives run by CAS. They took part in the works of a few co-operatives (130) run by the Society of Agricultural Co-operatives named after Stanisław Staszic. This Society was established on the initiative of „progressive” activists (Progressive Democracy) who were hostile towards the social involvement of church milieus. That is why the majority of priests did not trust them, and from 1911 on even took a hostile attitude. One was afraid of a new political power over which there was no control. It was always emphasized that „Staszic people” movement was an agency of Progressive Democracy which in turn was hostile towards the Church. These imputations were not totally groundless.

The agricultural co-operatives did not take up their work to the same extent in all dioceses. Leaving aside the work in the „Staszic people” co-operatives in which few priests participated, the majority of them worked in that sphere in the Kujawy-Kalisz diocese (104 co-operatives CAS run by the clergy), then in the Płock (68), Warsaw (62), Lublin (51), Kielce (50), Sandomierz (20) and Augustów-Sejno (15) diocese. Many priests, however, thought that social work was not a vocation of a priest and kept themselves aloof.