The Dusk of Prometheanism (1935–1940)

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12775/STW.2020.04.01

Abstract

The main aim of this article is to highlight the importance of the Polish Promethean campaign in the late period of the Second Polish Republic. From the historiographic point of view, the issue of when exactly Polish Prometheanism came to an end remains a subject of debate. The proposed periodization focuses on 1932 – the year that Poland and the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression treaty; or 1935 – the death of Józef Piłsudski. And yet the most obvious date that sounded the knell of Prometheanism seems to be September 1939 – the German attack on Poland. After the Soviet attack of 17 September 1939, the Polish government had to flee the country. Conditions for promoting the Promethean idea visibly improved in 1939–1940, and that is precisely what makes Polish government policy towards the Soviet Union during the period from 1935 to 1940 so interesting.

Author Biography

Dr. Wojciech Łysek

A political scientist who received his PhD for the thesis “The Issue of Nationality in the Eastern Policies of the Piłsudski Movement: Condition, Evolution, Heirs” (2017). A participant in an internation­al research project “La Grande piu 100 anni” (2014–2017). An as­sistant professor in the Institute of Political Studies at the Polish Academy of Sciences since December 2018. Since 2019 a secretary in the project “The Prof. Richard Pipes Laboratory” implemented at the Institute of Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences as part of the DIALOG program (no. 0032/2019). His research fo­cuses on post-Soviet states and the Polish Eastern Policy. His most recent publication is the book “Zadanie Polski jest na Wschodzie”. Polityka piłsudczyków wobec nierosyjskich narodowości byłego Cesarstwa Rosyjskiego (1921–1940).

Selected publications
The Federal Idea in Poland in the Interwar Period: Idealism or Pragmatism?, “Politeja” no. 51 (2017); Józef Piłsudski wobec wschodniego sąsiedztwa do 1918 roku, “Przegląd Wschodni” vol. 14, no. 58 (2019); Aktualność rozważań Juliusza Mieroszewskiego na temat geopolitycznego znaczenia Niemiec w Europie Środkowo-Wschodniej, in: Uwarunkowania sąsiedztwa Polski i Ukrainy – przezwyciężanie trudności we wzajemnych relacjach, (ed.) T. Astramowicz-Leyk, Y. Turchyn (2019); Richard Pipes: A Life Against the Tide (1923–2018) / Richard Pipes. Życie pod prąd (1923–2018), “Studia Polityczne” vol. 47, no. 4 (2019).

Totalitarian and 20th Century Studies

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Published

2025-09-21

How to Cite

1.
ŁYSEK, Wojciech. The Dusk of Prometheanism (1935–1940). Totalitarian and 20th Century Studies. Online. 21 September 2025. Vol. 4, pp. 12-33 (PL), 308-329 (ENG). [Accessed 30 December 2025]. DOI 10.12775/STW.2020.04.01.

Issue

Vol. 4 (2020)

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Artykuły

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