Historical story

Heroes of the homeland ... from under a liquor store? This is how people like Piłsudski started

Revolution is a serious word. But how to be serious when the militants' impetus hits primarily the vodka bottles? It was alcoholic beverages that were the main target of Polish terrorists from the beginning of the 20th century.

The terrorist turmoil in the Kingdom of Poland exploded in 1904 and demanded money (read more about Polish terrorists in the previous article!) . And violently, because the first actions of the Polish Socialist Party militias were essentially based on throwing stones and sticks at the Russian police.

A few makeshift bombs did not explode, and there were only a few pistols for a few hundreds of demonstrators .

But it was the fact that these few were successfully used on November 13, 1904 during a demonstration at Grzybowski Square in Warsaw that made workers realize that shooting at the gendarmes could be effective. In turn, the tops of the Polish Socialist Party (PPS) understood that only by arming the workers and forming regular troops, will it be able to somehow tame this element. It was not delayed.

Bida with misery

In the revolutionary magazine "Przedświt" ​​an article immediately appeared in which we read:

Down with the tsar! Down with the excise tax on vodka!

Since there must be victims, if we are prepared for them, let's make sure that they are paid properly - this was the opinion of the party ranks. There could only be one conclusion:there is no time for small, conspiratorially prepared demonstrations, (...) [time] to put up an armed resistance to the military.

But how do you "put up an armed resistance" with a few rusty revolvers from the times of Romuald Traugutt, when on the other side of the barricades there are hundreds of thousands of modern rifles?

The grotesque condition of the PPS arsenal was later confirmed by Aleksandra Szczerbińska, responsible for this condition.

"The supplies of weapons for the militia began modestly with a few Brownings, irregularly imported to Poland from abroad with great difficulties" - she recalled.

After a while, however, she blithely added that, over time, contraband smuggling had developed so successfully that "in the spring of 1906 I received and sent shipments almost every day."

How is that possible? Well, good old vodka turned out to be an inexhaustible resource of cash for revolutionary terrorists.

Bombs for vodka

A certain Plus - an unidentified fighter from Częstochowa - once summarized the activities of his unit:

It was like this. Zdzisław made me a sixth player. This and I did. We cleaned up the glass, then this… this one. And they made a monopoly, then a monopoly. We took the money. Well, not that much, but always .

Russia as a drunk of Europe? Kind of a caricature from the beginning of the 20th century, but extremely accurate…

And this was more or less what the everyday life of Polish terrorists looked like at the beginning of the 20th century. Ideas - ideas, and you had to eat and shoot. Walery Sławek later explained that the attacks were the only way to finance the revolution. And since the Polish fighter liked to combine business with pleasure - it was also that liquor stores were most often attacked.

Renata Ślusarska, studying the revolutionary activity in the vicinity of Lublin, enumerated:

In the Puławy poviat, liquor stores in Garbów, Kazimierz, Baranów, Końskowola, Wąwolnica, Piotrawin, Chruszczów, Markuszów, Nałęczów have broken down.

In Lubartów poviat such cases took place in Kamionka, Niedźwiada, Michów, Czerniki, Firlej, Krasienin and Niemce.

Moreover, liquor stores were destroyed in Hrubieszów, Pawłów, Wojciechów and Niemce .

And we are talking only about the Lublin region - similar actions took place every day throughout the entire territory of the Russian partition.

Monopoly for independence

How it looked in practice was told by Władysław Rutkiewicz, whose militia attacked a shop in the village of Łopuszno near Kielce in 1907

I started pounding on the door with the handle of a browning. A male voice said, "Who's eto?", I replied that, on behalf of the PPS, I demanded the immediate opening of the door. Silence ensued, and in a moment, shots roared from the monopoly window and inventions:"I'll give you bandits!".

A revolution in the clutches of addiction ... or an addiction in the clutches of a revolution?

Two fighters jumped to the door and started hitting it with axes that we had brought with us just in case, and I ordered the six to fire through the window. Hearing the gunshots and the slamming of the doors, the monopolist's fervor cooled. To make an impression I shouted:open it or I'll throw the bomb.

He opened the door moaning "pom pom". I shouted at the monopoly to turn on the light and put his hands up. When the light flashed, I stepped inside with the fighters. There was a monopoly man standing there, holding a lamp in one hand and holding the other up and his wife with a child in her hand, pleading: "Officer, don't hurt your husband, he thought they were bandits"

I replied that I was lucky none of our men were injured and demanded that my weapons be surrendered. Two revolvers - a bulldog and a stick - lay under the bed. I sat down at the table and asked for the revenue book and cash, and told the fighters to smash bottles of vodka in the store.

Although some people wanted to warm up, because they came from 15-degree frost, but there was an order to smash and break it, which was fair. According to the book, it was 200 rubles. The cash was poured by Jan Chodak into a specially brought bag.

The author of the article also published the book "Polish terrorists" (more about it on the publisher's website). If you are not afraid of controversial topics, it is definitely worth reading!

The monopolist could write in Polish, so I had him write in my own hand, under the dictation, in the book:" money is confiscated for the purposes of the revolution and I stamped the Kielce Workers' Committee of the PPS . February 10, 1907 ” .

It was so easy for Rutkowski's branch that, as it were, they also robbed the local post office , and in the Municipal Office they robbed several dozen passport forms. But to tell you the truth, shots during this kind of action were rare, and they also declined over time.

Because who would want to die for their money? Although Bronisław Szuszkiewicz recalled that he happened to come across a kind of civic guard made up of local peasants during the attacks, but apparently it was enough to pull out a pistol to stop them from any attempt to resist. There were also times when the owners of liquor stores returned their profits, even without drawing their weapons.

Hangover terror

In all the memories of the fighters, one thing is striking - smashing vodka bottles. Is Polish terrorism from the beginning of the last century focused only on sworn abstainers, with weapons in hand fighting anti-Polish, bourgeois liquors?

Well, they were as far away as possible. Mieczysław Dąbrowski, while defining an average revolutionist, wrote about men "willing to fight and drink" . Nobody hid that during party conferences in Zakopane, cherry vodka was eaten so abundantly that more than one "stomped on and fell asleep" , not even mentioning the slightly colored books by Andrzej Strug, but still with documentary value, from which alcohol sometimes literally leaks out.

A drunk accident? No, it's a drunk revolution!

Indeed, many times during the revolutionary actions themselves was assisted in the treatment with alcohol . Eugeniusz Ajnenkiel related, for example, the course of the robbery in Aleksandrów near Łódź:

Arriving at the scene, the fighters went to a restaurant, where they ate a hearty breakfast, sprinkled with alcohol. After having breakfast, they headed straight to the liquor store.

In their case, vodka certainly sharpened the senses - after the robbery, the entire unit attacked by the Cossacks was able to undertake an almost open battle with the textbook combat order, though in the end ineffective - almost all of them died near the village of Bełdów.

Revolution by the cup

Vodka, being vodka, has also helped in business many times. Władysław Dehnel - officially a mathematics student at the University of St. Petersburg, and less formally, a man who manages the three thousand kilometer smuggling route from London to the Russian capital - solved the problem with smugglers from Finland under his control:

They came to one of the fishermen's huts and smugglers started to come. There was a fight, they almost started fighting, but my translator turned out to be a good psychologist.

My rowers brought a supply of food and vodka to the hut and when they spread it all on the table, we went to God's gifts (…) . There was a long pause. (…)

The mighty glass pushed nectar down the good man's throat. the author of the article], the others did not lag behind and in a dozen or so minutes the vodka disappeared from the table, the faces lit up and a seriously relaxed situation ensued. My translator took advantage of it and made a political speech (...) There was then a cheerful and sincere mood. There was no end to the shouts in honor of revolution and death to the tsarist regime. After a dozen or so minutes, forty boxes with blotting paper and weapons were loaded into the boat.

In view of such facts, is it worth believing in the breaking of bottles with a drink that brings many benefits? Probably not.

Piłsudski's strong head

The documents indicate that the vodka was not so much destroyed as it was plundered together with the money. Renata Ślusarska writes, for example, that in reports informing about such actions, losses resulting from the destruction of a vodka shop were always mentioned.

Vodka brings people together. Revolutionaries too (photo Th1234, license CC BY 3.0).

For example: In Konopnica, money and vodka worth 124 rubles were stolen; during the robbery in Garbów 23 rubles were stolen, 82 kopeks and vodka for a total of 22 rubles and 47 kopecks . What was done with it?

This can only be guessed, because in the declining phase of revolutionary years society in the Kingdom was already heavily drunk. If 5,700,000 liters of alcohol were consumed in Łódź in 1905, 11,100,000 liters of alcohol were buzzing in 1911. Was it a serious hangover as a side effect of Polish terrorism?

The destruction of bottles began to be discussed only after Poland regained independence. Such was the political need in the Second Polish Republic. Efforts were made at all costs to build a positive myth of Polish terrorism from the beginning of the century - it was required, for example, by the dignity of the office of Józef Piłsudski, Walery Sławek, Ignacy Mościcki or Stanisław Wojciechowski.

And it turned out to be extremely effective. Because, can anyone imagine today the Marshal in a decent sump, or the hungover Ignacy Mościcki?

Sources:

The article was based on the sources, literature and materials that the author collected while working on the book "Polish terrorists" (Znak Horyzont 2014 ).