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1928 Polish parliamentary election

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1928 Polish parliamentary election

← 1922 4 March 1928 (1928-03-04) (Sejm)
11 March 1928 (1928-03-11) (Senat)
1930 →

All 444 seats in the Sejm
Turnout78.5%[1]
  Majority party Minority party Third party
 
Slawek_i_Daszynski.png
Dr. Zymunt Marek LCCN2014719388.jpg
Yitzhak Gruenbaum 1948.jpg
Leader Walery Sławek Zygmunt Marek Yitzhak Gruenbaum
Party BBWR PPS BMN
Leader since November 1927 2 February 1926
(as chairman of PPS caucus)
1922
Leader's seat 1 – Warsaw 44 - Nowy Sącz 1 - Warsaw
Last election Did not exist 41 66
Seats won 125 64 55
Seat change Increase 125 Increase 23 Decrease 11
Popular vote 2,399,438 1,482,097 1,439,568
Percentage 21.0% 13.0% 12.6%

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Malinowski Maksymilian.jpg
Kozicki.jpg
Premier Wincenty Witos i Władysław Kiernik.jpg
Józef Chaciński.png
Leader Maksymilian Malinowski Stanisław Kozicki Wincenty Witos
Józef Chaciński
Party PSL "Wyzwolenie" BKN PBK
Leader since 1925 1923 1918 (Witos)
1927 (Chaciński)
Leader's seat 27 - Zamość Senate - Lublin area 84 - Tarnów (Witos)
24 l.p. (Chaciński)
Last election 49 98
(163 asChjena)
Did not exist
Seats won 40 38 34
Seat change Decrease 9 Decrease 60 Increase 34
Popular vote 834,710 925,570 770,891
Percentage 7.3% 8.1% 6.8%

Results parliamentary election by constituency

Prime Minister before election

Józef Piłsudski
Independent

Elected Prime Minister

Kazimierz Bartel
BBWR

Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 4 March 1928, with Senate elections held a week later on 11 March.[2] The Nonpartisan Bloc for Cooperation with the Government, a coalition of the Sanation faction - won the highest number of seats in the Sejm (125 out of 444) and 48 out of 111 in the Senate–in both cases, short of a majority. Unlike latter elections during the Sanation era, opposition parties were allowed to campaign with only a few hindrances, and gained a significant number of seats. The 1928 election is often considered the last fully free election in the Second Polish Republic.[3][4]

Background

[edit]

The 1928 elections were the first elections after Józef Piłsudski's May Coup in 1926. Thirty-four parties took part in the 1928 elections.[5] Piłsudski was supported by the Nonpartisan Bloc for Cooperation with the Government (BBWR) led by Walery Sławek, which campaigned for a more authoritative government, declaring its total support for Piłsudski[6] and proclaiming itself to be a patriotic, non-partisan and pro-government formation.[3] Other factions in contemporary Polish politics and their primary parties included: the Left, consisting of the Polish Socialist Party of Ignacy Daszyński; the Communist Party, two Polish People's Party factions (the Polish People's Party "Wyzwolenie" of Jan Woźnicki and Stronnictwo Chłopskie of Jan Dąbski); the Right (endecja, represented by the Popular National Union of Stanisław Głąbiński); the Center, composed of the PSL faction, Christian Democracy of Wojciech Korfanty and the National Workers' Party of Adam Chadzyński; and finally, the Minorities, represented by the Bloc of National Minorities.[3]

The government applied much pressure to ensure victory for its candidates. Propaganda media were distributed, Sanation supporters tried to break up opposition rallies and some opposition lists and candidates were declared invalid by ostensibly neutral government institutions.[5] Pressure was put on state employees to vote for the BBWR and to participate in its electoral campaign. Public funds were diverted to the BBWR, which had ready use of government facilities.[3]

Despite these irregularities, opposition parties could still campaign and put forward candidates, and the results were not falsified. For these reasons, the 1928 election is reckoned as the last even partially free election held during the Second Polish Republic, and the last free elections of any sort held in Poland until 1989 (or 1991).[3][4] The last three elections held before World War II were all rigged in favour of the Sanation forces (the BBWR in 1930 and 1935, the Camp of National Unity in 1938). By the time of the first elections after the return of peace, in 1947, a Communist regime was rapidly consolidating.

Results

[edit]

Sejm

[edit]
PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Nonpartisan Bloc for Cooperation with the Government2,399,03221.03125New
Polish Socialist Party1,481,27912.9864+23
Bloc of National Minorities1,438,72512.6155–11
Catholic-National Bloc925,7748.1138
Polish People's Party "Wyzwolenie"834,4487.3141–8
Polish Catholic Bloc770,8916.7634
Peasant Party618,5035.4225
Bloc of Ukrainian Socialist and Peasant-Worker's Parties (URPUSDP)268,6772.369
Jewish National Union in Lesser Poland240,7802.116–12
National Workers' Party228,0882.0011–7
Workers' and Peasants' Unity (Communists)217,2981.905+3
Sel-Rob179,5361.574
Catholic Union of Western Lands193,3231.693
General-Jewish National Bloc (FolksparteiAguda)174,9781.530
Polish National Labour Bloc146,9461.294
Sel-Rob Left143,4751.263
Agrarian Union135,2761.193
Ruska (RNURAORPO)133,1961.171
General Jewish Labour Bund in Poland80,2190.7000
Monarchist All-estate Organization53,6230.470
Ukrainian Labour Party44,9190.391
Radical Peasant Party44,5600.390–4
Poale Zion30,9450.270
Independent Socialist Labour Party21,9290.190
Ukrainian National Union8,8870.080
Local lists592,9415.2012
Total11,408,248100.004440
Valid votes11,408,24897.27
Invalid/blank votes320,1412.73
Total votes11,728,389100.00
Registered voters/turnout14,970,39478.34
Source: Sejm i Senat 1928-1933 p.229–230

Senate

[edit]
PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Nonpartisan Bloc for Cooperation with the Government1,842,53728.8448
Bloc of National Minorities1,063,88816.6521–2
Polish Socialist Party714,95611.1910+3
Popular National Union589,0059.229
Polish Catholic Bloc426,1796.676
Polish People's Party "Wyzwolenie"391,9796.137–1
Peasant Party274,0974.293
Bloc of Ukrainian Socialist and Peasant-Worker's Parties (URPUSDP)148,4312.321
National Workers' Party143,8062.252–1
Polish National Labour Bloc132,0392.071–1
Jewish National Union in Lesser Poland123,0901.931–3
General-Jewish National Bloc (FolksparteiAguda)94,6091.480
Sel-Rob80,5021.261
Communist Party of Poland48,3460.7600
Ruska (RNURAORPO)38,0650.600
Agrarian Union36,1180.570
Catholic Union of Western Lands12,7490.200
Radical Peasant Party6,4230.1000
Monarchist All-estate Organization4,6610.070
Local lists217,9203.411
Total6,389,400100.001110
Valid votes6,389,40098.20
Invalid/blank votes116,9311.80
Total votes6,506,331100.00
Registered voters/turnout10,184,72763.88
Source: Sejm i Senat 1928-1933 p.242, 245

Ethnoreligious voting analysis

[edit]

According to Kopstein and Wittenberg, 45% of the majority Catholic population voted for non-revolutionary left-wing parties, 16% for the Pro-Pilsudski bloc and 15% for right-wing parties.[7]

The 1928 vote has been studied in relation to the Zydokomuna narrative which portrays the major ethnic minority blocs of Jews as well as Ukrainians and Belarusians as fifth columns and reservoirs of communist support. After the 1921 these minorities were totally excluded from cabinet positions and parties self-identifying as "Polish" refused to form governments with minority interest parties although they had captured 24% of the vote together in 1922, which among other factors led to ethnic polarization. Elements of Poland's pre-1918 political elite had discussed the creation of a federal arrangement with regional autonomy for minorities, but after 1922 these plans were scrapped in favor of a unitary state with "less than adequate protection of cultural and education rights for the countries Germans, Ukrainians, Belarusians and Jews".[8] Soviet propaganda tried to convince Belarusians, Ukrainians and Jews that their cultures and national aspirations could be better protected within the Soviet state.[9]

However, the response to this Soviet overture varied between Ukrainian Uniates, Ukrainian Orthodox, Belarusian Orthodox, and Jews. All four groups, according to analysis by Kopstein and Wittenberg, faced the problem of how best to react to a centralizing and nationalizing state which at various points pursued policies of either accommodation, assimilation or discrimination, with the response of the minorities varying between attempts at "exiting" the state, trying to persuade the state to change its behavior, or by asserting loyalty to the state.[10]

Jozef Pilsudski came to power in 1926 but is thought to have let the 1928 elections be mostly fair aside from some suppression in ethnically Belarusian regions. He received significant support from minority voters, especially the Jewish minority.

The combination of discrimination, Soviet interference, and the lack of a prior national movement radicalized Belarusian politics such that support for centre-left and minority interest parties gave way to the heaviest support for communists. Overall the 44% of the Orthodox vote that went to communists is estimated to also have included the Ukrainian Orthodox, who based on data from Volhynia and Polesia are estimated to have yielded 25% of their vote to communist parties, meaning the Belarusian level of support must have been higher than 44%. On the other hand, Uniate Ukrainians and Jews were mostly unconvinced by Soviet overtures.[10] The Uniates instead held to minority interest parties. Among the Jewish population, support for minority parties fell from 65% in 1922 to 33%, while a plurality of Jews voted for Pilsudski's bloc. Despite the prevalent "Judeo-communist" myth, and although Jews were prominent in the leadership of communist institutions, 93% of Jews did not support communists at "the height of communist appeal" before Stalin consolidated absolute power, and furthermore only 14% of the communist vote came from Jews, less than the 16% which was from Catholics.[10]

Instead, Jews were the strongest ethnic bastion of support for the Pilsudski government, moreso than both other minorities and the Polish majority, with no significant regional differences in the political behavior. Kopstein and Wittenberg argue their data show that "Even in the face of both public and private prejudice... Most Jews were thus politically neither "internationalist" nor ethnically exclusionary, as a large vote For the minority parties in 1928 would have in- dicated. Rather they were casting their lot with the Polish state."[11] An alternative explanation holds instead that Jews turned to Pilsudski as a protector in an increasingly volatile political scene.[12]

Estimates of voting patterns by ethnoreligious groups
Confession Communists Non-revolutionary left Minority lists Pro-Pilsudski bloc (BBWR) Right-wing Share in 1921 Census
Catholic 4% 45% 4% 16% 15% 64%
Uniate 12% 1% 71% 30% 3% 12%
Orthodox Chr. 44% 4% 21% 21% 1% 10%
Jewish 7% 4% 33% 49% 3% 11%
Overall share 8% 30% 24% 28% 10%

Aftermath

[edit]

The BBWR government bloc won the highest number of seats (125 out of 444 in Sejm (Polish parliament) - 28.12% of the total, and 48 out of 111 in the Senate of Poland - 43.24% of the total); the opposition parties, however, gained a majority of the remaining seats,[13] with the left - including Polish Communists - doing much better than the traditional Polish Right.[5] Groth notes that the elections showed a progressively increasing fragmentation of the Polish electorate; a steady and significant increase in the proportion of ethnic minority voting; the rapid rise of the Polish Socialist Party as a major force within the less stable and cohesive Polish Left; and the substantial weakening of the Right by Piłsudski's supporters, as the BBWR, which despite its claims of being above traditional party divisions, attracted its support mostly from the right.[3]

Although the opposition to Sanation failed to gain control of the Sejm, it was able to show its strength and prevent Sanation from taking control of the Sejm. This convinced Piłsudski and his supporters that more drastic measures had to be taken in dealing with the opposition. Opposition politicians became increasingly persecuted and threatened.[6]

Opposition parties formed the Centrolew coalition to oppose the government of Sanation. Their actions led to a vote of no confidence for the Sanation government and dissolution of the parliament. New elections were held in 1930; however, Sanation succeeded in having many Centrolew politicians arrested; and the 1930 elections are not considered free.[6]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Polska 1918–2018. Warsaw. 2018. p. 29.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  2. ^ Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1491 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  3. ^ a b c d e f A. J. Groth, Polish Elections 1919-1928, Slavic Review, Vol. 24, No. 4. (Dec., 1965), pp. 653-665. JSTOR, Last accessed on 14 April 2007
  4. ^ a b Kenneth Ka-Lok Chan, Poland at the Crossroads: The 1993 General Election, Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 47, No. 1. (1995), pp. 123-145. Last accessed on 14 April 2007
  5. ^ a b c TIME article on 1928 Polish elections from Mar. 19, 1928 Last accessed on 14 April 2007
  6. ^ a b c (in Polish) Bartłomiej Kozłowski, Aresztowanie przywódców Centrolewu Archived January 18, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, Last accessed on 14 April 2007
  7. ^ Jeffrey S. Kopstein & Jason Wittenberg. "Who voted communist? Reconsidering the social bases of radicalism in interwar Poland." Slavic Review 62.1 (2003): pp87-109
  8. ^ Kopstein, Jeffrey S., and Jason Wittenberg. "Who voted communist? Reconsidering the social bases of radicalism in interwar Poland." Slavic Review 62.1 (2003): 87-109. Pages 99-100 , 108.
  9. ^ Kopstein, Jeffrey S., and Jason Wittenberg. "Who voted communist? Reconsidering the social bases of radicalism in interwar Poland." Slavic Review 62.1 (2003): 87-109. Page 100.
  10. ^ a b c Kopstein, Jeffrey S., and Jason Wittenberg. "Who voted communist? Reconsidering the social bases of radicalism in interwar Poland." Slavic Review 62.1 (2003): 87-109. Quote is commented.
  11. ^ Kopstein, Jeffrey S., and Jason Wittenberg. "Who voted communist? Reconsidering the social bases of radicalism in interwar Poland." Slavic Review 62.1 (2003): 87-109. Pages 105-106.
  12. ^ Kopstein, Jeffrey S., and Jason Wittenberg. "Who voted communist? Reconsidering the social bases of radicalism in interwar Poland." Slavic Review 62.1 (2003): 87-109. Page 106.
  13. ^ The Elections to the Polish Parliament (Sejm) 1928 - results Archived 2007-10-25 at the Wayback Machine

Further reading

[edit]
  • A. J. Groth, Polish Elections 1919-1928, Slavic Review, Vol. 24, No. 4 (Dec., 1965), pp. 653–665 JSTOR