Polish Jacobins was the name given to a group of late 18th century radical Polish politicians by their opponents.
Polish Jacobins formed during the
Great SejmThe Great Sejm, also known as the Four-Year Sejm was a Sejm of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth that was held in Warsaw, beginning in 1788...
as an offshoot of the "
Kołłątaj's ForgeKołłątaj's Forge was a group of social and political activists, publicists and writers from the period of the Great Sejm in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth....
" (
Kuźnia Kołłątajska) of Hugo Kołłątaj (hence their alternate name - Hugenots (
Hugoniści) and later the
Patriotic PartyThe Patriotic Party , also known as the Patriot Party or, in English, as the Reform Party, was a political movement in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the period of the Four-Year Sejm of 1788–92, whose chief achievement was the Constitution of 3 May 1791...
(
Stronnictwo Patriotyczne). Polish Jacobins played a significant part in the preparation of the
Warsaw UprisingThe Warsaw Uprising of 1794 was an armed Polish insurrection by the city's populace early in the Kościuszko Uprising. Supported by the Polish Army, it aimed to throw off Russian control of the Polish capital city...
and
Wilno UprisingThe Wilno Uprising of 1794 began on April 22, 1794, during which Polish-Lithuanian forces led by Jakub Jasiński fought with Russian forces occupying the city during the Kościuszko Uprising. The Russians were expelled from Wilno , and thanks to Jasiński's skill, no casualties were sustained during...
during the
Kościuszko UprisingThe Kościuszko Uprising was an uprising against Imperial Russia and the Kingdom of Prussia led by Tadeusz Kościuszko in Poland, Belarus and Lithuania in 1794...
. Under the name of Association of Citizens Offering Help and Assistance to National Magistrate for Good of the Homeland (
Zgromadzenie Obywateli Ofiarujących Pomoc i Posługę Magistraturom Narodowym w Celu Dobra Ojczyzny) they formed a political club (based on French
Jacobin ClubThe Jacobin Club was the most famous and influential political club in the development of the French Revolution, so-named because of the Dominican convent where they met, located in the Rue St. Jacques , Paris. The club originated as the Club Benthorn, formed at Versailles from a group of Breton...
) which became part of the
provisional governmentA provisional government is an emergency or interim government set up when a political void has been created by the collapse of a very large government. The early provisional governments were created to prepare for the return of royal rule...
of Poland (Temporary Provisional Council,
Radza Zastępcza Tymczasowa). For their support for
lynchingLynching is an extrajudicial execution carried out by a mob, often by hanging, but also by burning at the stake or shooting, in order to punish an alleged transgressor, or to intimidate, control, or otherwise manipulate a population of people. It is related to other means of social control that...
of supporters of the
Targowica ConfederationThe Targowica Confederation was a confederation established by Polish and Lithuanian magnates on 27 April 1792, in Saint Petersburg, with the backing of the Russian Empress Catherine II. The confederation opposed the Polish Constitution of May 3, 1791, which had been adopted by the Great Sejm,...
they have been abolished by
Tadeusz KościuszkoAndrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko was a Polish–Lithuanian and American general and military leader during the Kościuszko Uprising. He is a national hero of Poland, Lithuania, the United States and Belarus...
, but as the Uprising neared its defeat they were reactivated under the name of Association for Supporting the Revolution and the Cracow Act (
Zgromadzenie dla Utrzymania Rewolucji i Aktu Krakowskiego). After the third partition of Poland, many Jacobins emigrated and joined the
Polish Legions in ItalyThe Polish Legions, in the Napoleonic period, were several Polish military units that served with the French Army from the 1790s to the 1810s....
. Many of those who remained in Poland took part in various conspirational organisations (Association of Polish Republicans,
Towarzystwo Republikanów Polskich). Eventually some prominent Jacobins (like
Józef ZajączekPrince Józef Zajączek , was a Polish general and politician.His first important military post was that of an aide-de-camp to hetman Franciszek Ksawery Branicki...
) became part of the government of the
Duchy of WarsawThe Duchy of Warsaw was a Polish state established by Napoleon I in 1807 from the Polish lands ceded by the Kingdom of Prussia under the terms of the Treaties of Tilsit. The duchy was held in personal union by one of Napoleon's allies, King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony...
and later
Congress PolandThe Kingdom of Poland , informally known as Congress Poland , created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna, was a personal union of the Russian parcel of Poland with the Russian Empire...
). During the
November UprisingThe November Uprising , Polish–Russian War 1830–31 also known as the Cadet Revolution, was an armed rebellion in the heartland of partitioned Poland against the Russian Empire. The uprising began on 29 November 1830 in Warsaw when the young Polish officers from the local Army of the Congress...
they were reactivated as
Patriotic SocietyPatriotic Society can refer to two Polish organizations:* National Patriotic Society formed by Walerian Łukasiński* Patriotic Society or Patriotic Club formed by various activists during the November Uprising...
(
Towarzystwo Patriotyczne), founded by
Joachim LelewelJoachim Lelewel was a Polish historian and politician, from a Polonized branch of a Prussian family.His grandparents were Heinrich Löllhöffel von Löwensprung and Constance Jauch , who later polonized her name to Lelewel.-Life:Born in Warsaw, Lelewel was educated at the Imperial University of...
. Polish Jacobins slowly became absorbed into other groups of the
Great EmigrationThe Great Emigration was an emigration of political elites from Poland from 1831–1870. Since the end of the 18th century, a major role in Polish political life was played by people who carried out their activities outside the country as émigrés...
, although traces of their ideas were visible not only in the
January UprisingThe January Uprising was an uprising in the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth against the Russian Empire...
but also in the Józef Piłsudski's
Polish Socialist PartyThe Polish Socialist Party was one of the most important Polish left-wing political parties from its inception in 1892 until 1948...
(
Polska Partia Socjalistyczna).
Their political views had much in common with French
JacobinsA Jacobin , in the context of the French Revolution, was a member of the Jacobin Club, a revolutionary far-left political movement. The Jacobin Club was the most famous political club of the French Revolution. So called from the Dominican convent where they originally met, in the Rue St. Jacques ,...
. They supported the
French RevolutionThe French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
and wanted to transplant most of its ideals to Poland, to abolish
monarchyA monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...
and
serfdomSerfdom is the status of peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to Manorialism. It was a condition of bondage or modified slavery which developed primarily during the High Middle Ages in Europe and lasted to the mid-19th century...
, equalize the privileges of the various
social classSocial classes are economic or cultural arrangements of groups in society. Class is an essential object of analysis for sociologists, political scientists, economists, anthropologists and social historians. In the social sciences, social class is often discussed in terms of 'social stratification'...
es, nationalize property (as a temporary measure for funding the war) and limit the privileges of the Catholic Church (although unlike radical French Jacobins, their stance was not anti-Christian).
Main activists:
- Hugo Kołłątaj
- gen. Jakub Jasiński
Jakub Jasiński was a Polish-Lithuanian general, and a Polish poet of Enlightenment. He participated in the War in Defence of the Constitution in 1792, was an enemy of the Targowica Confederation and organized an action against its supporters in Vilnius...
- Józef Pawlikowski
Józef Pawlikowski was a Polish noble and political activist. One of the Polish Jacobins; secretary of Tadeusz Kościuszko in 1795 in France. An independence activist in Congress Poland, he was arrested in 1826 and died in prison in 1828....
- Jan Alojzy Orchowski
- Józef Zajączek
Prince Józef Zajączek , was a Polish general and politician.His first important military post was that of an aide-de-camp to hetman Franciszek Ksawery Branicki...
- Tomasz Maruszewski
Tomasz Maruszewski was a prominent participant in the Kościuszko Uprising.A burgher and Polish Jacobin, he was a member of Kołłątaj's Forge and was ennobled by the Great Sejm in 1790....
- Józef Kalasanty Szaniawski
Józef Kalasanty Szaniawski was a Polish philosopher and politician.-Life:During the Kościuszko Uprising Szaniawski was a Polish Jacobin...
- Jan Czyński
Jan Kazimierz Czyński was a Polish independence activist, lawyer by education, writer and publicist, a life-time fighter for the emancipation of the Jews, trade supporter, utopian socialist, radical democrat....
- Tadeusz Krępowiecki
- Maurycy Mochnacki
Maurycy Mochnacki was a Polish publicist and independence activist. He participated in the November Uprising as a soldier and chronicler - Powstanie narodu polskiego w roku 1830 i 1831. After the defeat, he emigrated. In his early life, he was a supporter of Polish Jacobins ideology. He died in...
- Kazimierz Konopka
Kazimierz Konopka was a Polish Jacobin, secretary of Hugo Kołłątaj, officer in the Polish Legions, aide-de-camp of Jan Henryk Dąbrowski. He gained notoriety for his involvements in the unrest and hangings in Warsaw during the Kościuszko Uprising.-Biography:Konopka was born in 1769 to a burgher...