Patriotic Society

(Narodowe Towarzystwo Patriotyczne). (1) A secret Polish organization that existed from 1821 to 1826. It was founded by a group of gentry revolutionaries, mostly officers, who were headed by W. Łukasiński and who sought to regain Polish national independence. After Łukasiński and other radical members advocating social reforms were arrested in 1822, moderate representatives of the szlachta (country gentry) assumed leadership. This caused the failure of the society’s negotiations with the Decembrists. In 1826 the tsarist authorities arrested members of the Patriotic Society and turned them over to the Polish Sejm for trial. The Sejm, however, refused to categorize the society’s activities as state treason and passed notably light sentences in 1828.

(2) A legal organization (Patriotic Club) that existed from December 1830 to August 1831. Founded in Warsaw after the beginning of the Polish Uprising of 1830–31, the Patriotic Society united the radical intelligentsia and enjoyed the support of Warsaw’s middle strata and urban lower strata. J. Lelewel was the chairman and K. Bronikowski and M. Mochnacki were the deputy chairmen. In December 1830, General J. Chłopicki, who had assumed dictatorial powers, outlawed the Patriotic Society, which had criticized the conservative leadership of the uprising. After the fall of the dictatorship in January 1831, however, the society resumed its activities. The demonstration it organized on Jan. 25, 1831, in memory of the Decembrists forced the Sejm to proclaim the deposition of Nicholas I. The society’s left wing, including T. Krępowiecki and J. Czyñski, demanded the proclamation of a republic and the allotment of land to the peasants. The activities of the Patriotic Society, which was radicalizing the course of the uprising, incited the huge demonstration of Warsaw’s popular masses on Aug. 15, 1831. On Aug. 17, 1831, General J. Krukowiecki, who had assumed dictatorial powers, outlawed the society.