Bolesław Wysłouch (; 22 November 1855 – 13 September 1937) was a Polish nobleman,

peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasan ...

advocate, a

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

, a senator and co-establisher of the original Polish Peasants Party. Wysłouch was born in

Polesia Polesia, also called Polissia, Polesie, or Polesye, is a natural (geographic) and historical region in Eastern Europe within the East European Plain, including the Belarus–Ukraine border region and part of eastern Poland. This region shou ...

, in

Socha Socha is a town and municipality in the Colombian Department of Boyacá, part of the Valderrama Province, which is a subregion of Boyacá. It borders Socotá in the east, Sativasur in the north, Tasco in the south and in the west Paz de Rí ...

, a village in the

Grodno Governorate Grodno Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Northwestern Krai of the Russian Empire, with its capital in Grodno. It encompassed in area and consisted of a population of 1,603,409 inhabitants by 1897. Gro ...

of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

(present-day

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

). He completed his education with a degree in

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of the operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials ...

at the Emperor's Petersburg Institute of Technology in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. He became active in politics as a student, mainly through university societies. From 1881 he was affiliated with ''Lud Polski'', a left-wing newspaper run by

Bolesław Limanowski Bolesław Limanowski (; 18 October 1835 – 15 February 1935) was a Polish socialist politician, as well as historian and journalist and advocate of Agrarianism. He was one of the first people to promote socialist ideas in Poland. Political act ...

(as a result of which he was imprisoned in the

Warsaw Citadel Warsaw Citadel (Polish language, Polish: Cytadela Warszawska) is a 19th-century fortress in Warsaw, Poland. It was built by order of Tsar Nikolay I of Russia, Nicholas I after the suppression of the 1830 November Uprising in order to bolster im ...

for three years). In 1885 Wysłouch moved to

Lviv Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

, where together with his wife Maria he ran a monthly newspaper, ''Przegląd Społeczny'' until it was stopped by the Austrian officials in 1887. He then created ''Przyjaciel Ludu'' (People's Friend), a new left-wing newspaper which became popular with activists for peasant rights and which became the centre of the popular movement in the Austrian partition.Więzikowa, "Przywódcy ruchu ludowego: szkice biograficzne". Warsaw, 1968, p 410. In 1894 Wysłouch created the Polish Democratic Society, and a year later he co-founded the People's Party (which since 1903 has been known as the Polish People's Party) in Galicia. He became a member of the party's Head Council, but in 1912 he left in order to establish a new entity called "PSL Union of the independent popular activists". The following year he moved to the Polish People's Party "Piast", where he stayed until 1923, after which he moved to the

Polish People's Party "Wyzwolenie" Polish Peasant Party "Wyzwolenie" or Polish People's Party "Wyzwolenie" (Polish: ''Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe "Wyzwolenie"'', abbreviated as PSL Wyzwolenie) — ''Wyzwolenie'' is Polish for ''Liberation'', and many sources translate the pa ...

with which he was involved until 1925. From then he was a member of the Labour Club until his political retirement in 1927. During the years 1922-1927 he served as a

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

of the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...

. He was married to Maria Wysłouch, a political activist from Galicia. After her death in 1905 he married Bronisława Wysłouchowa, which later became a colonel in the

Polish Armed Forces in the West The Polish Armed Forces in the West () refers to the Polish Armed Forces, Polish military formations formed to fight alongside the Allies of World War II, Western Allies against Nazi Germany and its Axis powers, allies during World War II. Poli ...

as well as an inspector of the Women's Auxiliary Service. He died in Lviv on 13 September 1937 and is buried at the

Lychakiv Cemetery Lychakiv Cemetery (; ), officially State History and Culture Museum-Reserve "Lychakiv Cemetery" (), is a historic cemetery in Lviv, Ukraine. History Since its creation in 1787 as Łyczakowski Cemetery, it has been the main necropolis of the c ...

References

Bibliography

* Brock, "Boleslaw Wyslouch: Founder of the Polish Peasant Party." ''Slavonic and East European Review'', xxx (74), 1951. * Mazurek, ''Kraj a emigracja''. Instytut Studiów Iberyjskich i Iberoamerykańskich, Warsaw, 2006. * Kudłaszyk, Wysłouch, ''Myśl społeczno-polityczna Bolesława Wysłoucha: 1855-1937''. Wrocław, 1978. * ''Encyklopedia PWN'', 2007.

References

Bibliography

See also