The Movement of Polish Nationalists Zadruga was a Polish

neopagan Modern paganism, also known as contemporary paganism and neopaganism, spans a range of new religious movements variously influenced by the beliefs of pre-modern peoples across Europe, North Africa, and the Near East. Despite some common simila ...

nationalist movement.

History

It was founded in 1937 by

Jan Stachniuk Jan Stachniuk (13 January 1905 – 14 August 1963) was a Polish philosopher, an editor-in-chief of the Polish pre-war nationalist journal ''Zadruga'', the creator of the Zadruga Movement, a theoretician and the founder of culturalism. Jan Stach ...

. It published a monthly political and cultural bulletin ''Zadruga''. The group that coalesced around this bulletin was the most active neopagan group during the 1918–1939 period in Poland, with around 300 followers in 1939. However, the Zadruga movement never formalized its membership. During 1945–1947, as part of the Nationalist opposition, Zadruga published the ''Zryw'' in Poznań and ''Arkona'' journals in Bydgoszcz. The movement leaders were arrested in 1949 by the Communist regime, accused of collaboration with

Neo-Fascists Neo-fascism is a post-World War II far-right ideology which includes significant elements of fascism. Neo-fascism usually includes ultranationalism, ultraconservatism, racial supremacy, right-wing populism, authoritarianism, nativism, xenop ...

, and were imprisoned in 1952. After the amnesty in 1956, they were released. Rather than resume their former activities, they transformed into an informal intellectual movement, based in

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

. Attempts in the 1980s and 1990s to revive the association were not successful.

Use by later movements

After 1989 the elements of ''Zadruga'' were used by Bolesław Tejkowski in his ideology of Polish

anti-clerical Anti-clericalism is opposition to religious authority, typically in social or political matters. Historically, anti-clericalism in Christian traditions has been opposed to the influence of Catholicism. Anti-clericalism is related to secularism, ...

nationalism of the Social-National Union (''Unia Społeczno-Narodowa''). The ideology was propagated separately by the

Toporzeł The Toporzeł is an emblem created by Stanisław Szukalski Stanisław Szukalski (13 December 1893 – 19 May 1987) was a Polish sculptor and painter who became a part of the Chicago literature#Periodization, Chicago Renaissance. Szukalski's ar ...

Publishing House. Many former participants of the informal Zadruga intellectual groups became members of the National Movement (Ruch Narodowy) or of the Nacjonalistyczne Stowarzyszenie ''Zadruga''. The foundational writings of Stachniuk and Wacyk are used now by certain Polish

Slavic native faith The Slavic Native Faith, commonly known as Rodnovery and sometimes as Slavic Neopaganism, is a modern Paganism, modern Pagan religion. Classified as a new religious movement, its practitioners hearken back to the Slavic paganism, historica ...

groups, especially by the Union of Native Faith (

Rodzima Wiara Rodzima Wiara (meaning "Native Faith") is a Polish Rodnover religious organization, founded in 1996 by Stanisław Potrzebowski in Wrocław as ''Zrzeszenie Rodzimej Wiary'' (meaning "Union of Native Faith"). The name was changed to the current o ...

) and by the Association for Tradition and Culture "Niklot" (Stowarzyszenie na rzecz Tradycji i Kultury „Niklot”):.

Slavic Native Faith

Its spiritual guide was Antoni Wacyk, who promoted a return to

. Stachniuk promoted an ideology of

culturalism In philosophy and sociology, culturalism is the central importance of culture as an organizing force in human affairs.Hałas (2010), p. 12.Hałas (2010), p. 214.Dulczewski (1984), pp. 186–187. It is also described as an ontological approach that ...

, aiming at the unification of Western Slavic peoples based on the reconstruction of their original national culture. Stachniuk believed that Christianity, especially the Catholic clergy, presented an anti-cultural influence and promoted a culture of

laxism In Catholic moral theology, probabilism provides a way of answering the question about what to do when one does not know what to do. Probabilism proposes that one can follow an authoritative opinion regarding whether an act may be performed mor ...

escapism Escapism is mental diversion from unpleasant aspects of daily life, typically through activities involving imagination or entertainment. Escapism also may be used to occupy one's self away from persistent feelings of depression or general s ...

, and consumption.Jan Stachniuk: ''Wykład teoretyczny "Zadrugi" i jego zadanie''
in: "Zadruga", nr 7 (maj 1938)

in: "Zadruga", nr 5 (marzec 1938)

in: "Zadruga", nr 7 (maj 1938)

in: "Zadruga", nr 16 (luty 1939) It was believed that unification under the Slavic native faith would prepare these nations for an inevitable confrontation with

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

and German expansionism and that each nation would build its own strength through its ''collective matrix'' (a term used in ''

zadruga A zadruga (, ) refers to a type of rural community historically common among South Slavs. The term has been used by the Communist Party of Yugoslavia to designate their attempt at collective farming after World War II. History Originally, gener ...

),'' after the original Slavic notion of the organization of rural communities. According to the movement, the Western Slavic nations should function as one centralized state with the

collective ownership Collective ownership is the ownership of private property by all members of a group. The breadth or narrowness of the group can range from a whole society to a set of coworkers in a particular enterprise (such as one collective farm). In the la ...

of land and industry, based on grass-roots enthusiasm and heroism.

Stanisław Potrzebowski Stanisław Potrzebowski (born 9 February 1937) is the founder and Naczelnik (leader) of Rodzima Wiara, a Polish rodnover organisation, and of the European Congress of Ethnic Religions. Career Between 1954 and 1957 Potrzebowski studied geolog ...

, the founder of Rodzima Wiara and ''zadrugist'', noticed the influence of the ''Zadruga'' movement on

Slavic Native Faith The Slavic Native Faith, commonly known as Rodnovery and sometimes as Slavic Neopaganism, is a modern Paganism, modern Pagan religion. Classified as a new religious movement, its practitioners hearken back to the Slavic paganism, historica ...

, as described in his book ''Slavic movement Zadruga''. He stated that ''Zadruga'' and Slavic Native Faith were linked by a common set of

values In ethics and social sciences, value denotes the degree of importance of some thing or action, with the aim of determining which actions are best to do or what way is best to live ( normative ethics), or to describe the significance of different a ...

. He expressed an appreciation of the work of Zdzisław Słowiński, founder of Toporzeł Publishing House, which triggered the rebirth of zadrugist thought in the

Third Polish Republic Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (dis ...

from Polish and Ukrainian Rodnover groups. According to Potrzebowski, the founding of World Congress of Ethnic Religions (later European Congress of Ethnic Religions) in 1998 in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

, coincided with Stachniuk's dream of the "renovation of Aryan people's unity" and a number of joint initiatives of Rodnovers from different countries. For example, the Generic Weche of Slavs is a realization of the social-political program of pre-war ''Zadruga''.

References

Footnotes

Sources

* M. Łapiński, T. Szczepański: ''Czciciele Polski pogańskiej'', in: "'Karta" nr 19, 1996.
Tomasz Szczepański: ''Mniejszości narodowe w myśli politycznej narodowo-demokratycznych (endeckich) ugrupowań opozycyjnych 1980-1989''
in: "Mazowieckie Studia Humanistyczne", nr 1-2, 2005.
Mariusz Filip: ''O etnografię rodzimowierstwa. Wprowadzenie do etnografii Zakonu Zadrugi "Północny Wilk"''
in: "Państwo i Społeczeństwo", t. VIII: 2008, nr 4. * Tomasz Szczepański: ''Rodzimowierstwo polskie a życie publiczne po 1989 r. Próba szkicu'', in: "Państwo i Społeczeństwo", t. VIII: 2008, nr 4. * Tomasz Szczepański: ''Ruch zadrużny i rodzimowierczy w PRL w latach 1956-1989'', in: "Państwo i Społeczeństwo" t. IX: 2009, nr 4. *

External links

"Zadruga" monthly (1937-1939) - full text

ZADRUGA RODZIMEJ WIEDZY - SĘDRUGA Publ.
- Reprints of original texts by Jan Stachniuk and Antony Wacyk (in Polish)

- Concize summary of the ideology of Zadruga movement (in Polish)
Paweł Bielawski: Zadruga tradycjonalistyczna a ortodoksyjna. Przyczynek Zadrugi w XXI wieku
Analysis of the ideology of "Zadruga" and of that of its followers (in Polish)
Paweł Konar: Pochwała neopogańskiej twórczości. Jan Stachniuk i „Zadruga”
- Biography of Jan Stoigniew Stachniuk with bibliography (in Polish) {{Slavic Native Faith People and Organizations Slavic neopaganism Political history of Poland Modern pagan organisations based in Poland Defunct modern pagan organizations Modern pagan organizations established in the 1930s Modern pagan political organizations