The National Party ( pl, Stronnictwo Narodowe, SN) was a Polish nationalist

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

formed on 7 October 1928 after the transformation of ''

Popular National Union Związek Ludowo-Narodowy (ZLN; en, Popular National Union}was a Polish political party aligned with the National Democracy (Poland), National Democracy political movement during the Second Polish Republic, gathering together right-wing politician ...

''. It gathered together most of the political forces of Poland's

National Democracy National Democracy may refer to: * National Democracy (Czech Republic) * National Democracy (Italy) * National Democracy (Philippines) * National Democracy (Poland) * National Democracy (Spain) See also * Civic nationalism, a general concept * ...

right-wing political camp. SN was one of the main opponents of the ''

Sanacja Sanation ( pl, Sanacja, ) was a Polish political movement that was created in the interwar period, prior to Józef Piłsudski's May 1926 ''Coup d'État'', and came to power in the wake of that coup. In 1928 its political activists would go on ...

'' government. Shortly before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

the party had 200,000 members, being the largest opposition party of that time.* In the 1930s the two main factions competed within the party, the "old generation" and "young generation", divided by the age and political programmes. The old generation supported the parliamentary means of political competition, while the activist young generation advocated the extra-parliamentary means of political struggle. In 1935 the young activists took over the leadership of the party. In 1934 a significant part of the young faction split off from the SN, forming the '' National-Radical Camp''. During

, many SN activists joined the ''

National Armed Forces National Armed Forces (NSZ; ''Polish:'' Narodowe Siły Zbrojne) was a Polish right-wing underground military organization of the National Democracy operating from 1942. During World War II, NSZ troops fought against Nazi Germany and communist ...

'' and ''

National Military Organization Narodowa Organizacja Wojskowa (National Military Organization, NOW) was one of the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish resistance movements in World War II. Created in October 1939, it did not merge with the Service for Poland's Vic ...

'' resistance organizations.

Policies

The main goal of the party was the construction of a Catholic Polish State, through combining the principles of

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and

Nationalism Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...

. The party advocated a hierarchical organisation of society and the transformation of the political system by increasing the role of the Polish National elite within the country. The SN organised numerous rallies and demonstrations against the policies of the

government. It had the most influential political centres in

Greater Poland Greater Poland, often known by its Polish name Wielkopolska (; german: Großpolen, sv, Storpolen, la, Polonia Maior), is a historical region of west-central Poland. Its chief and largest city is Poznań followed by Kalisz, the oldest cit ...

Pomerania Pomerania ( pl, Pomorze; german: Pommern; Kashubian: ''Pòmòrskô''; sv, Pommern) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The western part of Pomerania belongs to ...

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...

Wilno Vilnius ( , ; see also #Etymology and other names, other names) is the capital and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the munic ...

and

Lwów Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in Western Ukraine, western Ukraine, and the List of cities in Ukraine, seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is o ...

. Prominent leaders of the old generation included Stanisław Stroński,

Marian Seyda Marian may refer to: People * Mari people, a Finno-Ugric ethnic group in Russia * Marian (given name), a list of people with the given name * Marian (surname), a list of people so named Places * Marian, Iran (disambiguation) * Marian, Queensla ...

Roman Rybarski Roman Franciszek Rybarski (3 July 1887 in Zator – 6 March 1942 in Auschwitz) was a Polish economist and politician. He was the foremost economist of the right-wing National Democracy political camp and creator of its economic program. Rybars ...

Stanisław Głąbiński Stanisław Głąbiński (25 February 1862 – 14 August 1941) was a Polish politician, academic, lawyer and writer. Early years Głąbiński was born on 25 February 1862 in Skole, in the Stryj district, Eastern Galicia, in what was then the ...

Witold Staniszkis Witold may refer to: * Vytautas the Great (ca. 1350–1430), ruler of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania *Witold (given name) Witold is a masculine Polish given name. This name derives from the Lithuanian “Vytautas” composed of two elements: “vy ...

Wacław Komarnicki Wacław is a Polish masculine given name. It is a borrowing of cz, Václav, Latinized as Wenceslaus. For etymology and cognates in other languages, see Wenceslaus. It may refer to: * Wacław Leszczyński *Wacław of Szamotuły * Wacław Hański ...

Jan Zamorski Jan, JaN or JAN may refer to: Acronyms * Jackson, Mississippi (Amtrak station), US, Amtrak station code JAN * Jackson-Evers International Airport, Mississippi, US, IATA code * Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN), a Syrian militant group * Japanese Article Num ...

Jan Załuska Jan, JaN or JAN may refer to: Acronyms * Jackson, Mississippi (Amtrak station), US, Amtrak station code JAN * Jackson-Evers International Airport, Mississippi, US, IATA code * Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN), a Syrian militant group * Japanese Article Num ...

and

Stanisław Rymar Stanislav and variants may refer to: People *Stanislav (given name), a Slavic given name with many spelling variations (Stanislaus, Stanislas, Stanisław, etc.) Places * Stanislav, a coastal village in Kherson, Ukraine * Stanislaus County, Ca ...

. The young generation was represented by

Tadeusz Bielecki Tadeusz Bielecki (born 30 January 1901 in Słupia – 5 February 1982 in London) was a Polish politician and writer. Personal secretary to Roman Dmowski, member of the National Party (Stronnictwo Narodowe) and Camp of Great Poland (Obóz Wielki ...

, Jędrzej Giertych, Kazimierz Kowalski, Adam Doboszyński, Karol Stojanowski, Tadeusz Dworak, Karol Frycz, Witold Nowosad and Stefan Sacha.

After World War II

During the period of the Polish People's Republic the organization was outlawed in Poland but continued in the Polish emigration with a major centre in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. It was re-established in Warsaw in 1989 by Jan Ostoj Matłachowski, Leon Mirecki,

Maciej Giertych Maciej Marian Giertych (, born 24 March 1936 in Warsaw) is a Polish dendrologist and social conservative politician of the League of Polish Families (LPR). He favours state intervention in the economy. He was a member of the Sejm (between 2001 ...

, Boguslaw Jeznach, Bogusław Rybicki, and others. The new SN was officially registered on 21 August 1990 in sovereign

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

after the

fall of communism The Revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, was a revolutionary wave that resulted in the end of most communist states in the world. Sometimes this revolutionary wave is also called the Fall of Nations or the Autumn of Nat ...

in 1989. Most of its members eventually entered the

League of Polish Families The League of Polish Families ( Polish: ''Liga Polskich Rodzin'', LPR) is a conservative political party in Poland, with many far-right elements in the past. The party's original ideology was that of the National Democracy movement which was hea ...

(LPR) and dissolved the National Party in 2001.

Electoral results

Sejm The Sejm (English: , Polish: ), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland ( Polish: ''Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''), is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of ...

References

{{Authority control 1928 establishments in Poland 1947 disestablishments in Poland Catholic political parties Conservative parties in Poland Defunct political parties in Poland National conservative parties National Democracy Nationalist parties in Poland Polish nationalist parties Political parties disestablished in 1947 Political parties established in 1928