POLISH MASKILIM engaged in political activism for the same reasons as other east European maskilim. It has often been shown that, throughout eastern Europe, the development of the Haskalah as a movement with its own institutions, networks, and so forth was connected to a certain rapprochement with government circles. The maskilim eagerly sought such a rapprochement since they believed that (a) it would achieve the objective of reforms in Jewish society that would genuinely improve the condition of the Jews in terms of their legal status, economic standing, and access to culture; (b) an enlightened government would readily collaborate with them, since it shared their belief in the need to reform Jewish society; and (c) government support would help them to achieve their objectives in a way that they could not do on their own. The desire for rapprochement inevitably meant involvement in politics; although they saw themselves as an intellectual vanguard (a self-perception which was later reinforced by the historiography of the Haskalah movement), there is no doubt that the maskilim were deeply engaged in political activism of all sorts, including frequent interventions with the authorities, political publications, involvement in the struggle for communal power, and, above all, the implementation of various reform projects, as discussed below.

Apart from these general factors, which were common to all east European maskilim, local factors that were unique to specific social, political, and legal conditions of the Kingdom of Poland also played their part. It should be remembered that during the first half of the nineteenth century Poland was the only constitutional monarchy in eastern Europe. Although its rights were being violated and its autonomy gradually curtailed, it was, at least until 1831, the only state in this part of the continent where political opposition was legal, where an independent judiciary functioned, and, most importantly, where heated and nearly free political debate could take place. One of the fiercest debates, which raged intermittently between 1815 and 1822, concerned the so-called Jewish Question, namely the project to reform Jewish society. It is not surprising that the maskilim were drawn to participate.

Another reason why the leaders of the Haskalah in Poland were drawn to political activism is that many were in any case employed by the state, especially in education, and therefore had relatively easy access to the institutions determining or implementing government policy.