Is Józef Piłsudski the king of modern Poles?

was a de facto dictator..

he was a reluctant dictator.

Some would say he was just an imperialistic terrorist who personally profitted from killing.

Seanus:
Some would say he was just an imperialistic terrorist who personally profitted from killing.


Pilsudski? Why would you say that?

Any links to those "unbelievable" amounts?

What do my fellow Poles think about my hero, Jozef Piłsudski?

I actually believe his political adversary Roman Dmowski had a better vision for Poland

I'm 14, born in Britain and am half Polish.
My family in Poland absolutely love Piłsudski and both my great-Grandfathers fought in his army during the Polish-Soviet War.

My question is:
What do my fellow Poles think about my hero, Jozef Piłsudski?

Thanks.

Perhaps you believe that because he was an outspoken racist and fascist, which the great Pilsudski, a true hero, was most certainly not.

Perhaps you believe that because he was an outspoken racist and fascist, which the great Pilsudski, a true hero, was most certainly not.

to put labels on Dmowski NOW

words "patriot" and "nation".

Because certain labels fit. Fascist is one - it was a label that fit at the time and still fits aptly. In his writings (I assume you've read Dmowski and aren't just shooting your mouth off) he openly admired Mussolini and Dollfuss, and espoused the fascist cause. Racist, certainly, from his first book, Thoughts of a young Pole, throught the least pleasant passages of Polityka Polska i odbudowanie państwa right through to organising boycotts of businesses based on their ownership.

Describing Dmowski as a patriot is interesting, especially as he initially(and strongly) supported the idea of Poland as an autonomous region of Russia.

To talk about 'nation' too is odd - among the shared cultural values that make the Polish nation, both Christianity and tolerance play a large part - Dmowski despised both.

He was not fit to lick the boots of Pilsudski and Narutowicz.

Is Józef Piłsudski the king of modern Poles?

How a Polish patriot from the first half of the 20th century could not be "racist" when Poles were opressed or threathened by other nationalities?

Whether or not that Dmowski statement was sincere to Russians is debatable

especially given the fact that the Russians were somehow less successful at russification of Poles, than the Germans were at germanization.

all those despised Christians

Piłsudski, despite his disagreements with Dmowski, was a big enough Pole to appreciate what Dmowski did for Poland. You are not.

Dmowski was a technocrat, no?.

Quite easily, many including Pilsudski were not.

His own writings and actions at the time leave no room for debate about his views. Pilsudski strongly (and wisely) opposed him tooth and nail on this matter. If he had not, the history of Europe may well have been very different.

Lifted pretty well word for word from Wikipedia.

Read what he actually wrote about Christianity - he detested its values. He also detested the concepts of tolerance, diversity and liberalism - which may well have contributed to his failure and Pilsudski's success.

This from someone a continent away who has contributed nothing to Poland

Pilsudski, on the other hand (who loathed Dmowski and his ilk) was a true Polish patriot, liberal, tolerant and at the same timke both idealistic and pragmatic.

What by the way is your take on Pilsudski's contemporary and ally, President Narutowicz?

Dmowski was an antisemite who thought Poland belonged to the "birthers". Piłsudski was - for all his shortcomings - a cosmopolitan and the true Father of modern Poland.

Dmowski was an antisemite

You oversimplify, to the extreme...By birthers, you mean Poland belonging to native Poles?...What an outrageous idea!

Like I said, Piłsudski was a rough man, who didn't write books.

That would mean that hatred towards Dmowski is a hobby of a small group of Polish leftists and foreigners, while the most of society recognizes him as a great patriot.

Only a bunch of Polish leftists (surprisingly often gay) and foreigners loath him -

Most of his ideas are of course no longer suitable for modern-day Poland, but so is the politics of Piłsudski, unless you want somebody to organize a coup d'etat, killing several hundred Poles and establishing authoritarian rule. But it doesn't mean the two weren't Polish patriots back in their time.

I don't even know why he brought that up. Perhaps he thinks that a person's attitude towards Jews is the most important factor, by which we should judge whether or not somebody was a Polish patriot

And again, the great Pilsudski is to be admired for his actions.

Thank you Johnny, and I will do my very best never to get a swelled head.

At that time and place in history, when many people were both Poes and Jews, it is significant.