The Christian and Peasant Movement in Galicia at the Turn of the 19th and 20th Century

Abstract

The political peasant movement in the Austrian partition was established in the 1890s. The initiator of many peasant organizations (the Alliance of Peasant Party, Polish Peasant Centre, Christian-Peasant Party) was Rev Stanisław Stojałowski. These organizations sought to put into practice social and political Christian ethical principles, and to raise the standard of economy and education in the village. Following the tenets of Leo XIII’s encyclical Rerum novarum the activists of the Catholic-peasant parties made efforts to promote the introduction of Christian order into social, economic and political life. The attempts to receive Catholic social thought into the village were made by the Polish bishops from the Austrian partition, as well. The turn of the century brought forth new problems. The bishops wanted to meet them. There were among them abp J. T. Teodorowicz, J. Bilczewski and bp. J. S. Pelczar and L. Wałęga. Undoubtedly, the socio-political and religious organizations which they had established played a positive role among the villagers in the times when liberal and socialist ideas sought to take over "the power over the souls".