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Land reform in the Second Polish Republic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2020

Marta Błąd
Marta Błąd*
Affiliation:
Institute of Rural and Agricultural Development, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
*
Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

When Poland was re-established as an independent state one hundred years ago, one of its political priorities was to implement a land reform, as the ‘agrarian question’ was an extremely sensitive socio-economic problem. In Poland at that time, two thirds of its inhabitants made their living by working in the agricultural sector. A ‘land craving’ phenomenon was notorious, as was rural poverty, especially among smallholders. On the other hand, almost half of the total area of farmland in the Second Polish Republic was held by huge landowners. The situation led to ever louder political calls for land redistribution to peasant smallholders. The Land Reform Implementation Act of 1920, and its amendment of 1925, laid legal foundations for land redistribution. By the Second World War, 2,654,800 hectares of land had undergone redistribution, as a result of which 734,100 new farms were established. However, this land reform did not achieve its goal, namely the empowering of efficient smaller farms, as quantitative analysis showed a continuing process of agricultural land fragmentation.

Type
Research Article
Information
Rural History , Volume 31 , Issue 1 , April 2020 , pp. 97 - 110
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Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2020

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References

Notes

1 Land Reform Implementation Act of 15th July 1920, in Dziennik Ustaw [Journal of Laws], No. 70 (1920), item 462.

2 Bateman’s summary table from 1883 shows how the 4,217 Peers, Peeresses, Great Landowners and Squires owned eighteen million acres: ‘A Guide to Modern Domesdays’ <https://whoownsengland.org/2017/03/05/a-guide-to-modern-domesdays/> [accessed 5th November 2019].

3 Biegeleisen, , Reforma rolna głównych państw europejskich [Land Reform of Major European Countries], Vol. I. (Warsaw, 1924), p. 96.Google Scholar

4 ‘A Guide to Modern Domesdays’.

5 Biegeleisen, Reforma rolna głównych państw europejskich [Land Reform of Major European Countries], pp. 118–19.

6 ‘A Guide to Modern Domesdays’.

7 Ludkiewicz, Zdzisław, Podręcznik polityki agrarnej [Agrarian Policy Manual], Vol. I (Warsaw, 1932), pp. 28, 30, 89.Google Scholar

8 Central Statistical Office of the Republic of Poland, Rocznik Demograficzny [Demographic Annals], 1945–1966 (1968), pp. 5, 70.

9 Ludkiewicz, Podręcznik polityki agrarnej [Agrarian Policy Manual], p. 87.

10 Michałowski, Jerzy, Wieś nie ma pracy: Wywiad społeczny w powiecie rzeszowskim [No Jobs in the Country: Social Interview in Rzeszowski Poviat] (Warsaw, 1935), p. 68.Google Scholar

11 Poniatowski, Józef, Przeludnienie wsi i rolnictwa [Overpopulation of Agriculture and Rural Areas] (Warsaw, 1935), p. 64.Google Scholar

12 See also Grabski, Władysław, Materjały w sprawie włościańskiej [Materials on Peasantry Issue], Vol. I (Kraków, 1907)Google Scholar; Grabski, Władysław, Oświata ludu i sprawy agrarne w Polsce [Peasants’ Education and Agrarian Issues in Poland] (Warsaw, 1929)Google Scholar; Józef Poniatowski, Przeludnienie wsi i rolnictwa [Overpopulation of Agriculture and Rural Areas].

13 Grabski, Oświata ludu i sprawy agrarne w Polsce [Peasant’s Education and Agrarian Issues in Poland], p. 9.

14 Poniatowski, Przeludnienie wsi i rolnictwa [Overpopulation of Agriculture and Rural Areas], p. 133.

15 Ibid.

16 Ibid., p. 239.

17 Szczepanowski, Stanisław, Nędza w Galicji w cyfrach i program energicznego rozwoju gospodarstwa krajowego [Poverty in Galicia in Statistics and a Programme for Energetic Development of National Economy] (Lviv, 1888), p. 22.Google Scholar

18 Ibid., p. 55.

19 Stróżecka, L., ed., Pamiętniki chłopów: Wybór [Peasants’ Diaries: A Selection] (Warsaw, 1954).Google Scholar

20 Ibid., pp. 148–9.

21 Ibid., p. 9.

22 Ibid., p. 247.

23 Ibid.

24 Ibid., p. 313.

25 Ibid., p. 167.

26 Ibid., p. 2.

27 Ibid., p. 59.

28 Bujak, Franciszek, O naprawie ustroju rolnego w Polsce [On Improvement of the Polish Agrarian System] (Warsaw, Lublin and Łódź, 1918), p. 1.Google Scholar

29 Ibid., p. 90.

30 Bronikowski, Wiktor, Drogi postępu chłopa polskiego [Progress of the Polish Peasant] (Warsaw, 1934), p. 63.Google Scholar

31 Mieszczankowski, Mieczysław, Struktura agrarna Polski międzywojennej [Polish Agrarian Structure in the Interwar Period] (Warsaw, 1960), pp. 17–18.Google Scholar

32 Central Statistical Office of the Republic of Poland, Rocznik Statystyki Rzeczpospolitej Polskiej [Statistical Annals of the Republic of Poland 1925/1926] (1927), p. 106; Mieszczankowski, Struktura agrarna Polski międzywojennej [Polish Agrarian Structure in the Interwar Period], p. 19.

33 Central Statistical Office of the Republic of Poland, Statystyka Polski: Wielka własność rolna [Polish Statistics: Large Agricultural Estates] (1925), p. vii.

34 Ibid., pp. viii–ix.

35 Mieszczankowski, Struktura agrarna Polski międzywojennej [Polish Agrarian Structure in the Interwar Period], p. 20.

36 Central Statistical Office of the Republic of Poland, Statystyka Polski: Wielka własność rolna [Polish Statistics: Large Agricultural Estates] (1925), p. 1.

37 See also Central Statistical Office of the Republic of Poland, Kwartalnik Statystyczny [Statistical Quarterly] 1925 (1925), Vol. II, Book 4, p. 585.

38 Central Statistical Office of the Republic of Poland, Statystyka Polski: Pierwszy Powszechny Spis Rzeczpospolitej Polskiej z dnia 30 września 1921 r. Grunty wspólne, T. XII, Zeszyt 2 [Polish Statistics: First Polish Census dated 30 September 1921, Commons, Vol. XII, Book II] (1927), p. 25.

39 Gościcki, Jerzy, ‘Dziesięciolecie rolnictwa [A Decade of Agriculture]’, in Dąbrowski, M., ed., Dziesięciolecie Polski Odrodzonej 1918–1928 [The Decade of Poland Reborn] (Kraków and Warsaw, 1933), p. 943.Google Scholar

40 Roszkowski, Wojciech, Historia Polski [History of Poland], 1914–1990 (Warszawa, 1992), p. 18.Google Scholar

41 Ambrozowicz, J., ed., Republika Tarnobrzeska w świetle faktów i dokumentów [Tarnobrzeg Republic in Light of Facts and Documents] (Rzeszów, 1982), p. 10.Google Scholar

42 Roszkowski, Historia Polski [History of Poland], 1914–1990, p. 18.

43 Dziennik Praw Państwa Polskiego z 29 listopada 1918 [Journal of Laws of the State of Poland of 29 thNovember 1918], No. 17 (1918), item 38.

44 Dziennik Praw Państwa Polskiego z 29 listopada 1918 [Journal of Laws of the State of Poland of 29 thNovember 1918], No. 17 (1918), item 40.

45 Dziennik Praw Państwa Polskiego z 28 listopada 1918 [Journal of Laws of the State of Poland of 28 thNovember 1918], No. 18 (1918), item 46.

46 Jezierski, Andrzej and Leszczyńska, Cecylia, Historia gospodarcza Polski [Economic History of Poland] (Warsaw, 1998), p. 237.Google Scholar

47 Stanulewicz, Maksymilian, ‘Reforma rolna jako próba regulacji stosunków agrarnych w Polsce [Land Reform as an Attempt at Regulating the Agrarian System of Poland]’, in Borkowska-Bagieńska, E. and Szafrański, W., eds, Reformy rolne w Polsce międzywojennej i powojennej: Prawo–realizacja–skutki-problemy reprywatyzacyjne (Poznań, 2008), p. 20.Google Scholar

48 ‘Stenographic Transcript from 44th Session of the Constituent Sejm dated 3rd June 1919’, Maria Curie Skłodowska University (UMCS), p. 28 <http://dlibra.umcs.lublin.pl/dlibra/docmetadata?id=7486&from=publication> [26th March 2019].

49 A broad study of rural issues by Maria Dąbrowska entitled ‘Rozdroże’ [‘Crossroads’] may be an example of the dispute. In her study the author criticises rich landowners opposing the reform as ‘acutely shortsighted people who are permanently unable to see the paramount importance of peasants for Poland’. See Dąbrowska, Maria, Rozdroże: Studium na temat zagadnień wiejskich. Moja odpowiedź. Refleksje nad polemiką z Rozdrożem (Warsaw, 1987), p. 87Google Scholar. This book triggered a stormy discussion among the big landowners’ intellectual elite, to which Dąbrowska belonged.

50 It is worth pointing to an analysis of big landowners’ criticism of land reform based on the idea of compulsory expropriation, conducted by Włodzimierz Mich based on landowners’ publications between 1918–39. See Mich, Włodzimierz, W obliczu wywłaszczenia: Kwestia reformy rolnej w publicystyce ziemiańskiej 1918–1939 [Facing Expropriation: Land Reform Issue in Landowners’ Publications] (Lublin, 2001), pp. 43–98Google Scholar. In the chapter ‘Genuine Land Reform’, Mich presents landowners’ ideas on how to amend the bill. They suggested revamping the agrarian system through making farms sustainable, farm consolidation, amelioration and indivisibility of peasant farms. The corrections also concerned land redistribution; the landowners were against forced expropriation for the sake of evolutionary changes by means of voluntary redistribution. They also proposed launching a process of internal colonisation combined with shifting the population surplus to less intensively populated areas. The landowners’ concept of ‘genuine land reform’ also included acceleration of Poland’s economic development, including intensification of agricultural production and creation of non-agricultural jobs, chiefly in the industrial sector (Mich, W obliczu wywłaszczenia, pp. 99–196).

The analysis of landowners’ publications shows that landowners did not only limit themselves to opposing land reform bills, but they also had certain suggestions in this respect and they wanted actively to participate in the work on the reform. A Decision of the Committee of Polish Landowners’ Associations on agrarian policy dated 22nd March 1919 is an example of such a position. The Decision concerned voluntary redistribution of 1,500,000 morgen over five years. The Parliamentary Agrarian Committee was, however, against this proposal, which resulted in rejection of the latter by the Sejm (Mich, W obliczu wywłaszczenia, p. 104). However, landowners’ arguments did not influence significantly the final contents of the Agricultural Reform Act.

51 ‘Stenographic Transcript of the 44th Session of Constituent Sejm Held on 3rd June 1919’, p. 33.

52 Ibid., p. 28.

53 Ibid.

54 While land reform was being discussed in Poland, some other countries were already implementing such reform. For example, in Romania the first pieces of agricultural legislation concerning the land of the former Romanian Kingdom were passed in December 1918 (Act No. 3681, dated 14th December 1918, about expropriation of large estate landowners, and Act No. 3697, dated 15th December implementing Act No. 3681, dated 14th December 1918, about expropriation of large estate landowners in the area of the Romanian Kingdom). The following Acts were passed for Besarabia and Transylvania and the remaining lands formerly occupied by the Hungarians. For more, see Rose, Adam, Reformy rolne w Europie Środkowej po wojnie światowej [Land Reforms in Central Europe following the Great War] (Warsaw, 1925), p. 124Google Scholar, and Roszkowski, Wojciech, Land Reforms in East Central Europe after World War One (Warsaw, 1995), pp. 110–12.Google Scholar

55 ‘Stenographic Transcript of the 44th Session of Constituent Sejm Held on 3rd June 1919’, p. 31.

56 Ibid., pp. 28–9.

57 Ibid., p. 30.

58 Ibid., p. 31.

59 ‘Stenographic Transcript from 49th Meeting of the Constituent Sejm dated 13th June 1919’, UMCS University, p. 20 <http://dlibra.umcs.lublin.pl/dlibra/docmetadata?id=7520&from=publication> [26th March 2019].

60 Ibid., p. 24.

61 Ibid.

62 Ibid., p. 25.

63 Ibid.

64 Ibid.

65 Dziennik Urzędowy Ministerstwa Rolnictwa i Dóbr Państwowych [Official Journal of the Ministry of Agriculture and State Property], No. 13 (1919), item 1.

66 Kutrzeba, Stanisław, Polska Odrodzona [Poland Reborn], 1914–1939 (Kraków, 1988), p. 167.Google Scholar

67 Ibid.

68 Journal of Laws of 1920, No. 79, item 462.

69 Journal of Laws of 1926, No. 1, item 1.

70 Act of 17th March 1921 – Constitution of the Republic of Poland. Journal of Laws of 1921, No. 44, item 267.

71 Central Statistical Office of the Republic of Poland, Mały Rocznik Statystyczny [Small Annals of Statistics] (1939), p. 71.

72 Ibid.

73 Ibid.

74 Mieszczankowski, Struktura agrarna Polski międzywojennej [Polish Agrarian Structure in the Interwar Period], p. 69.

75 Ibid., p. 70.

76 Ibid., p. 69.

77 Central Statistical Office of the Republic of Poland, Mały Rocznik Statystyczny [Small Annals of Statistics] (1939), pp. 70–1.

78 Noniewicz, Czesław, Rozwój gospodarki chłopskiej [Development of Peasant Economy] (Białystok, 1996), p. 42.Google Scholar

79 Czerniewski, Konstanty, ‘Zagadnienia struktury agrarnej [Agrarian Structure Issues]’, in Strzelecki, E., Czerniewski, K., Jabłonowski, R. and Bentlewska, K., eds, Struktura społeczna wsi polskiej [Social Structure of Polish Rural Areas] (Warsaw, 1937), p. 81.Google Scholar

80 Grabski, Stanisław, Ekonomja społeczna [Social Economics] (IV): Gospodarstwo i przedsiębiorstwo [Farm and Business] (Lviv, Warsaw and Kraków, 1927), p. 44Google Scholar. The author provides an example that ‘peasants holding 3–4 morgens of land, which accounted for approx. 40 per cent of the Little Poland population, were ready to give away all their earnings generated for a few years of hard work in American factories to get 3 or 4 morgens of land of the neighbouring farm’. In ibid.

81 Mieszczankowski, Struktura agrarna Polski międzywojennej [Polish Agrarian Structure in the Interwar Period], p. 315.

82 Ibid.

83 Ibid., p. 317.

84 Marian Dütz, ‘Plany parcelacyjne i ich wykonanie w latach 1926–1937 [Land Redistribution Plans and Their Implementation between 1926–1937]’, Rolnictwo [Agriculture], X, Vol. I, Book 1 (1938), p. 60. According to the Land Reform Implementation Act of 1925, the annual redistribution quota was to amount to 200,000 hectares for the first ten years of reform. According to Marian Dütz, only the first four Land Redistribution Plans were set according to the statutory target. The target was lowered pursuant to the Land Redistribution Plan Implementation Act of 25th February 1932 (Journal of Laws 1932, No. 25, item. 216), in ibid.

85 Ibid., p. 55.

86 In the period 1935–8, 2,814 independent settlements were established in Pomerania, of which 677 (24 per cent) were acquired by the settlers from overpopulated Cracow province, which also acquired 466 (25 per cent) of 1,747 settlements in Greater Poland (Żmidziński, Franciszek, Realizacja reformy rolnej na Pomorzu, 1920–1938 [Implementation of Land Reform in Pomerania] (Warsaw and Poznań, 1978), p. 155).Google Scholar

87 Mieszczankowski, Struktura agrarna Polski międzywojennej [Polish Agrarian Structure in the Interwar Period], p. 67.

88 Ibid.

89 Easements were the most popular in this part of Poland, which was under the Russian partition and there, their size was the best recorded. In 1864, almost half, as much as 49.6 per cent of the peasant farms, served the right to easements (Krzywicki, Ludwik, Serwituty w 1912 [The Easements in 1912] (Warsaw, 1918), pp. 53–4)Google Scholar. As a result of the appearance of the expropriation of peasants issued by the Tsar, the mutual consent of the two sides and for remuneration began to endure easements so that in 1912 ‘only’ 99,725 peasant farms used them (ibid., p. 53) (against 344,898 benefiting in 1864). After Poland regained independence, the case of easements was taken up by the Polish authorities. The first pioneering Polish easement act was adopted in 1920 (only for the former Congress Kingdom) (Journal of Laws of 1920, No. 42, item 249). This act permits the liquidation of easements from office by coercion.

90 Ibid., p. 68. Common lands were of particular importance for small-scale farms (because they ‘allowed [families] to support a cow as a provider’). (Mieszczankowski, Struktura agrarna Polski międzywojennej [Polish Agrarian Structure in the Interwar Period], p. 28). In Poland under three partitions they covered 1,505,938 ha (9.4 per cent of the area of smaller ownership); the majority of them were permanent pastures (Central Statistical Office of the Republic of Poland, Statystyka Polski: Pierwszy Powszechny Spis Rzeczpospolitej Polskiej z dnia 30 września 1921 r. Grunty wspólne, T. XII, Zeszyt 2 [Polish Statistics: First Polish Census dated 30 September 1921, Commons] (1927), Vol. XII, Book. II, p. 3, and Roczniki Statystyki Rzeczpospolitej Polskiej 1925/1926 [Statisticals Annals of the Republic of Poland, 1925/1926] (1927), p. 106). Their decline in the interwar period was gradual, but very slow.

91 Czerniewski, ‘Zagadnienia struktury agrarnej [Agrarian Structure Issues]’, p. 123.

92 Ibid., p. 125.

93 Ibid., p. 132.

94 Mieszczankowski, Struktura agrarna Polski międzywojennej [Polish Agrarian Structure in the Interwar Period], p. 360.

95 Ibid., p. 363.

96 Growing farmland fragmentation was to be prevented to a certain degree by an Act of 14th April 1937, on limiting the sale of property established as a result of redistribution (Journal of Laws Year 1937, No. 36, item 272).

97 Mieszczankowski, Mieczysław, Rolnictwo II Rzeczpospolitej [Agriculture of the Second Polish Republic] (Warsaw, 1983), p. 94.Google Scholar

98 Central Statistical Office of the Republic of Poland, Rocznik Demograficzny [Demographic Annals] 1945–1966 (1968), p. 5.

99 Ibid., p. 70.