The National-Democratic Party ( pl, Stronnictwo Demokratyczno-Narodowe, SDN) was a secret political party created in 1897 in the

Russian Partition The Russian Partition ( pl, zabór rosyjski), sometimes called Russian Poland, constituted the former territories of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that were annexed by the Russian Empire in the course of late-18th-century Partitions of Po ...

of Poland by the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

(Liga Narodowa), a conspirational Polish organization active in all three partitions. SND rejected the idea of armed struggle for Poland's sovereignty similar to Polish Positivists. Instead, SDN focused on non-violent opposition and legislative attempts at trying to stop the wholesale

Russification Russification (russian: русификация, rusifikatsiya), or Russianization, is a form of cultural assimilation in which non-Russians, whether involuntarily or voluntarily, give up their culture and language in favor of the Russian cult ...

and

Germanization Germanisation, or Germanization, is the spread of the German language, people and culture. It was a central idea of German conservative thought in the 19th and the 20th centuries, when conservatism and ethnic nationalism went hand in hand. In ling ...

of the Poles ever since the Polish language was banned in the Russian partition in reprisal for the

January Uprising The January Uprising ( pl, powstanie styczniowe; lt, 1863 metų sukilimas; ua, Січневе повстання; russian: Польское восстание; ) was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at ...

. This however meant also rejecting cooperation with the linguistic and ethnic minorities living in the Empire such as Jews and Ukrainians who did not reciprocate the same sentiment. SDN was founded by

Roman Dmowski Roman Stanisław Dmowski (Polish: , 9 August 1864 – 2 January 1939) was a Polish politician, statesman, and co-founder and chief ideologue of the National Democracy (abbreviated "ND": in Polish, "''Endecja''") political movement. He saw th ...

, Jan Ludwik Popławski, and

Zygmunt Balicki Zygmunt Balicki (30 December 1858 in Lublin – 12 September 1916 in Saint Petersburg) was a Polish sociologist, publicist and one of the first leading thinkers of the modern Polish nationalism in the late 19th century under the foreign Partiti ...

, to represent the

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 * ...

movement at elections. It was a political opponent of the

Polish Socialist Party The Polish Socialist Party ( pl, Polska Partia Socjalistyczna, PPS) is a socialist political party in Poland. It was one of the most important parties in Poland from its inception in 1892 until its merger with the communist Polish Workers' ...

advocating armed resistance. In 1919, when Poland regained independence, the National-Democratic Party was transformed into the

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 ...

. The latter, in turn, was in 1928 renamed ''Stronnictwo Narodowe'' (the National Party). Ideologically it promoted the

Piast Concept The Piast Concept is a political idea of Polish state based on its initial territories under the Piast dynasty, containing a mostly Polish population. It holds that Poland, composed of mostly Polish territories in the west during Middle Ages, w ...

, calling for a Polish-speaking Catholic Poland with little role for minorities. In the

German Reich German ''Reich'' (lit. German Realm, German Empire, from german: Deutsches Reich, ) was the constitutional name for the German nation state that existed from 1871 to 1945. The ''Reich'' became understood as deriving its authority and sovereignty ...

, the majority of Poles were represented by the legal

Polish Party The Polish Party (german: Polnische Partei) was a political party in the German Empire and the Free City of Danzig. Representing the Polish population in Germany, it was the largest of the minority parties. History The party had its origins in ...

("Polenpartei"). It participated in elections and regularly returned members to the Reichstag. Its best showing was in the

1907 German federal election Federal elections were held in Germany on 25 January 1907.Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p762 Despite the Social Democratic Party (SPD) receiving a clear plurality of votes, they were hampered by ...

, when it took 4% of the vote and 20 seats.

Notes

1897 establishments in Poland 1897 establishments in the Russian Empire 1919 disestablishments in Poland Defunct political parties in Poland National Democracy Nationalist parties in Poland Polish nationalist parties Political parties disestablished in 1919 Political parties established in 1897 Republican parties {{Poland-party-stub