The authoress presents a concept of research on the Jewish ethos internalized in the groups representing main political trends popular among the Polish Jewry in the interwar Poland (1918-1939). These trends are: Zionism, Socialism, Folkizm and a policy of Assimilation. The impression that traditional values based on Jewish orthodox style of life were in a state of crisis was a result of the modernization process. Some of the groups of Polish Jewry decided to look for new sources of their self-identity and new possibilities leading to the new conception of life. The laic modernizers had to undertake a difficult task of finding new sources of self identification by defining who they were, what were the goals they wanted to achieve, which ideals they should follow. The research on their ethos makes it possible to gain a deep insight into these non-traditional communities. It gives an opportunity to see how they made moral and ethic choices and to explore the differences among them. There is an important issue to show how they influenced the whole traditional society of the Polish Jews at that time and to ask if they were a dynamic factor. The method of analysis proposed in this paper allows to construct a model of their discourse. The analysis of Jewish ethos as a cultural phenomenon finally leads to research on: the value system, the attitudes expressed in the ethos, the sources of the ethos and its functions, the instruments of communication used in its transmission inside the Jewish society in Poland at that time.
Analyzing the works of Polish solidarists, we can find many references to other — sometimes mutually exclusive — ideological currents. However, as far as the economic aspects of the solidarist doctrine are concerned, we can easily detect especially strong connections with corporatism which was also repeatedly referred to by representatives of Italian Fascism. The principal ideologue of Polish solidarism — Professor Leopold Caro — perceived corporatism as a so-called “Third Way,” constituting the ideological alternative positioned between liberalism and socialism. In all his most important works — such as Thoughts of a Japanese on Poland, Solidarism, New Ways or Towards New Poland — he repeatedly made approving references to Italian Fascism or to Benito Mussolini. His main analysis of the phenomenon of Fascism can however be found in the publication titled Social and Economic Reforms of Fascism. The most important element of the analysis of Fascism as presented by Leopold Caro was the comparison of this Italian doctrine with socialism, and particularly liberalism, regarding the issue of social and economic rights in the context of labor relations. Analyzing the social-and-economic policies undertaken by Benito Mussolini, Leopold Caro pointed out their dualist character, involving, on one hand, gaining the approval of the group of leading industrialists (right after the conclusion of military hostilities when the specter of Communist revolution was seemingly looming), and, on the other, exerting a pressure on the industrialists in order to force them to recognize social rights. Another issue, which was approvingly acknowledged by the Polish solidarist, concerned the separation of economic aspects in which there existed a possibility of governmental intervention with simultaneous protection and development of private initiatives. Attempting to transplant Italian solutions onto Polish ground, Leopold Caro finally concluded that it is currently impossible to achieve due to the fact Polish society was simply not prepared for such radical changes and required substantial transformation before they could take place.
The conservative forces in the Slovak society of the first half of the 20th century sought models in Christian solidarity and the corporate state, which would replace parliamentarism of the Western type. The ideas could be put into practice after the seizure of power in autumn 1938 and especially when Slovakia became independent in March 1939. However, the ally of independent Slovakia, Nazi Germany rejected the corporate state. Therefore, the idea of Christian solidarity was replaced with the idea of Slovak national socialism and plans for a corporate social system for the Slovak working community according to the German model. The regime of the Slovak Republic in 1939 – 1945 attempted to put the new principles of the social state into economic and social practice. However, the implementation of the ideas of the time about a social state and the political system of Slovakia stopped half way.
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