Wpływ fali radykalizmu społecznego lat 1917–1923 na powstania śląskie
The Wave of Social Radicalism and Its Impact on Silesian Uprisings, 1917–1923

Summary/Abstract: Three Silesian Uprisings (1919, 1920, 1921) all contributed to incorporating a portion of industrial Upper Silesia to Poland after the First World War. Until now, history has been emphasizing mostly the national nature of these upheavals. However, the revolutionary wave of between 1917 and 1923 left an enormous impact on the region, influencing the character of the aforementioned uprisings as well. Already in 1917, the Upper Silesia was witness to mass hunger strikes, and in 1918 the region became one of the important centers for the German Revolution. The Communist Party of Upper Silesia counted twenty thousand members, and its activity both affected and reflected a radicalization of sentiment in Silesian laborers. Two sides of the conflict over Silesia,the Polish and the German, both feared the communist influence, but at the same time they were forced by it to put forward more radical democratic and social slogans, as part of their propaganda. Raising of such voices was further encouraged by emergence of Workers’ Councils, by which the workers were drawn directly into the world of politics, and also by the post-war „democratization” of weaponry that led to armament of numerous worker communities. The author’s primary thesis is concerned with how the revolutionary wave influenced the character of the Silesian Uprisings – both in activity (strikes, laborer militias) as well as in dialogue (radical democratic and social slogans). This period in the Silesian history should not be reduced to a Polish-German conflict.

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