Art. 11.-POLAND IN 1924.

A BRIEF study of conditions in Poland as they are to-day must include some reference to that important new element in the national life-the independence of the country, together with the social changes it has brought about; the collapse of the land-owners as a political influence, the rise of the peasant class and the Intelligentsia, and the peculiarly Nationalist attitude of Polish Socialists: something, too, must be said of what those parties have done for Poland during the last five years, especially in regard to education and the army. Lastly, the financial position and the fall in Polish currency, resulting from the unavoidable expenses incurred, must be alluded to, as well as the determination of the Diet to put an end to this collapse.

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An article by the present writer, entitled 'The Polish Nation,' appeared in the Quarterly Review' for October 1904. Therein it was shown that, as a nation, Poland had not only not perished, but was 'living on in perpetual unrest and fermentation, not less disquieting than disquieted, ever growing in down-trodden strength.' referring to Polish independence, the word 'impossible' was used. For this I was severely taken to task by a Polish patriot, and had to point out that what was impossible one day might still be possible the next. And so it has turned out. Any conflict between the partitioning Powers would at once make independence possible; but the perils of the struggle were so great that no one then dared to begin. One day, however, brought the change. On Aug. 3, 1914, Polish independence was impossible; on the 4th, Germany's action, forcing England to declare war, made it possible; and on Nov. 11, 1918, the independence of Poland had become a fact.

Power and responsibility were in a moment thrust into the hands of about twenty-five millions of Poles, and their land was restored to them-rich, indeed, in possibilities, but poor in realities, being stripped of all that the invaders could take with them as they retiredeven to the church-bells from the steeples: a land absolutely without resources then, and handed over to men who were absolutely without experience of government. The 'Regents-three Poles nominated by

Germany some time before-were ruling, but, emphatically, they were not governing; for they could not even prevent the aimless cruelty with which the retiring Germans smashed the machines in every factory of Lodz, the only great textile manufacturing town in Poland.

After the Regents came Joseph Pilsudski, with his Radical and Socialist friends; but they soon had to call a Constituent Assembly, of which the majority was strongly opposed to them. This majority, leaving Pilsudski as Head of the State,' proceeded to set up minister after minster, all ignorant of statecraft, yet convinced of Poland's immense resources. They could no more avoid mistakes than a child learning to walk can avoid falls. There were, moreover, in the Diet, men whose aim was out of the public necessities to snatch private advantages, wherever they could be snatched. This tendency, fostered by those who hate the very name of Poland, did mischief from the first; so that the idea, joyfully entertained by some, sorrowfully accepted by others—that the renewed Poland was an untimely birth, destined not to live-became common enough, even amongst true patriots; so that many believed the old days were better.

The Ruthenian insurrection, which is said to have been provided with arms by the retreating Austrians, seemed to forebode a new separate State, carved out of Poland, and Bolshevist in tendency. It was said, too, that some of the inhabitants of the country, though not Poles, declared themselves neutral wherever the Poles had the ascendency, while taking sides with the Ruthenians elsewhere. The Bolshevist invasion, likewise, found men rising to greet the invaders as they occupied town after town; but these again either gloried in their non-Polish nationality, or belonged to the renegade few who had broken away from their Socialist comrades.

The star of the nation, nevertheless, was rising; and soon it was found that Poland could live. Very soon, too, the League of Nations was called upon to protect the nominal neutrals'; and the fury of mobs striking at random-such rage as the strongest Government cannot always prevent-was given as a proof of systematic persecution, at a time when the poor Ministers had twenty Gordian knots to undo at once, and no notion how to undo them! This was a most unfortunate

step on the part of those who took it. An atmosphere of distrust and dislike was created amongst Poles, which still endures, and will endure till the independent existence of the nation is universally accepted. In consequence of this feeling, acts of injustice have at times been done by men in office. For instance, I knew a man who complained bitterly that, when in Siberia in the neighbourhood of some Polish troops, he had begged to be allowed to bear arms with them and cut his way through the Bolshevists to Vladivostok. His offer was refused; because, being a follower of Moses, he might also be a follower of Trotsky! This, no doubt, was hard upon him, and not less hard because at the time it was thought dangerous not to refuse him.

Polish independence, however, once accomplished, has remained a fact; and the changes brought with it have been in the nature of an upheaval in Polish society. Among these changes are the collapse of the former preponderance of the aristocracy, and the corresponding rise in the power wielded by the peasants and the 'Intelligentsia.' Every one who gets his bread honestly without being a labourer, or in trade, or owning land or capital, may roughly be classed in the 'Intelligentsia.' Now, in the present Diet, as in the preceding 'Constituante,' there is not (so we are informed) one single member of the Conservative Party-the Magnates. Many are strong Roman Catholics, indeed, and Conservative in many ways; but to refuse the peasants the Magnates' lands is, as we shall see, quite another thing. Again, the services of the aristocracy are largely used by the Government in the diplomatic field; but they are there solely through their personal qualities: the fact of their being magnates is, if anything, against them. How has this come to pass?

After the fall of Poland, the aristocratic system, supreme through the Three Empires, offered great privileges to Polish nobles, if they would but cast in their lot with Germany and Russia. The temptation was too strong for some. Yet, the vast majority of them proved stanch: the insurgents of 1794, of 1831, of 1862, were in great measure of noble blood. Confiscation of land, the systematic favouring of the interests of the peasants to the detriment of the nobles,

and constant official vexations, gradually weakened the power of the aristocracy, and inclined many of them to give up a contest of which they alone bore the brunt. Tired of behaving as patriots, while Polish demagogues snarled and ascribed the ruin of the country to their forefathers, and the Three Emperors ceaselessly afflicted them for their rebellious perversity, they had, even before the War, offered loyal support to each of their three rulers, only imploring them not to interfere with the national religion, customs, and language. This minimum of Polish demands, as pointed out by me in the Quarterly' of 1904, was, however, coldly received by the Emperors, and at the same time regarded by their fellow-countrymen as an act almost of treason. To be wise after the event is easy; but their present collapse may be partly due to that passage of pre-war history.

It is certain, too, that the cosmopolitanism of the nobles, their love for life abroad, and the general behaviour of some of them, cast a slur over their class in the popular eyes, while their treatment of the lower classes, as a rule, was often unfortunate in the extreme. A couple of illustrative instances, for which I can vouch, will show the attitude they took. A professor of languages, having a holiday engagement to teach the heir of a noble house, happened to ask a question or two of some peasant children outside the park gates. His pupil rejoined him then, and appeared scandalised. 'What!' he whispered; 'are you on speaking terms with such riff-raff?' Yet the boy was neither a blockhead nor a prig. Also a pious country lady, full of good works, when her somewhat primitive parish priest called on her, always had his dinner served in a separate room, though in church she would kneel to receive Communion from his hand! Such straws as these show how the wind blew not so long since, and explain, for instance, how wrong that lady was to be offended when the peasants, her neighbours, instead of following her advice, preferred that of the Jewish innkeeper.

If the relations were strained between peasantry and gentry, the latter saw clearly that it was the work of foreign rulers. Unfortunately, instead of avoiding the snare-which men of intellect surely might have done,

even if the peasants could not-they walked into it, with the result that the aristocrats have now no direct influence whatever on the national destinies. And though the Oosemka-the most numerous party in the Diet, mostly composed of educated persons—is far from hostile to the aristocracy on principle, there is a strong Peasant Party, eager and determined to get hold of the noblemen's estates, either by voluntary purchase or otherwise. They call their movement Agrarian Reform.' The Oosemka, striving to get a majority, found no party so able to work with them provided they granted that condition. They had to agree to such Agrarian Reform, or the Peasant Party would have voted with the Jews and Socialists. Yet if the Conservatives had won only thirty seats in the Diet, this concession would not have been made. The fact is, that the nobility are only now beginning to take things seriously, and to wake from their dreams of a possible King. But democracy cries, with a louder voice than the Tsar Alexander: Point de rêves, Messieurs!'

As regards the Socialists in Poland, their very designation, 'The Polish Socialistic Party,' shows that they profess to repudiate Internationalism. They want the Government to take over as many forms of industry as possible, to make monopolies of them—something, to put it roughly, in the way of State Socialism-and their attitude towards the Roman Catholic religion is, to say the least, distinctly unfriendly. But they abjure Communism. Sincerely? Who can tell? They know that if they did not repudiate it, popular opinion would sweep them away, and Socialism would cease for lack of Socialists. Not long ago, during the riots in Cracow, a man took advantage of the prevailing anger to advocate Bolshevism. He was mercilessly set upon by his 'comrades,' and barely (they say) escaped with his life. In the war of 1920 against the Bolshevist invaders, Socialists undoubtedly showed themselves ardent patriots. They had to prove themselves so; for besides the fact that Poles are strongly individualistic by nature, antipathy towards Communism is with the whole nation an overpowering instinct of self-preservation-bred, so to speak, in the bone. On the signing of the peace of Riga, thousands of captive Poles returned-to say what they