Agrarianism in the Polish Dimension (1885-1925)

Abstract

The article shows that peasant parties first appeared in Eastern Europe from 1860 to 1910, when the commercialization of agriculture and the forces of the world market destroyed the traditional rural society, and the railway and the growing literacy of the population to facilitated the work of organizers of political communication.

It is highlighted that the programs of the agrarian parties advocated land reform with the aim of redistributing the land of large estates among those who actually cultivate it. They also sought to ensure that rural cooperatives would leave the profits from the sale of crops in the hands of local residents, and credit institutions to ensure the necessary improvements.

The problematic factors in the development of the agrarian movement on Polish lands are analyzed through the prism of decision-making centers and the lack of a unified hierarchy of the movement.

Thus, agrarianism in the Polish lands as part of three empires, which were at the end of the 19^th – the first quarter of the 20^th century, it developed with ordinary success. The main problem, in our opinion, should be considered the lack of a single decision-making center and the media. Also difficult was the electorate of the parties, which for a certain period was predominantly illiterate and could not freely use the materials of the agrarian media. In further studies, attention should be paid to the research of Polish archival funds on this topic and to attract an array of Polish sources to the Ukrainian scientific community.