The agrarian question was one of the main problems of the economy of the Second Republic of Poland (1918-1939). Witold Staniewicz - the minister of the agrarian reform - was the creator of the agrarian program which was based on the agrarian act of December 28th 1925. According to this act the government should have realised the following tasks: an integration of the separate pieces of land of the same owner into a whole, an aggrandizement of the smallholdings, the state’s credits for the agriculture, a creation of the new farms with the land of parcelled out of the great property, a settlement action on the eastern borderlands of Poland, an arrangement of the melioration, and a regulation of the easements. In the years 1926-1930 a parcelling out of a great property, a liquidation of the servitudes, an integration of the lands, and the other works which influenced the agrarian structure of the country were completed quicker than before. They were realised in a moderate still consequent way. A good conjuncture in agriculture that had lasted since 1928 favoured the realisation of such a policy. Still in the following years, the diminution of sum spending on those purposes slopped that activity.
In the 20th of June 1926 Witold Staniewicz was appointed to a minister of agricultural reforms in the Kazimierz Bartel’s office. He had been holding this post also in next governments (Józef Piłsudski’s and Kazimierz Świtalski’s), until the 4th of December 1930. He was well educated in a range of agriculture and economy, what he could use in work on his position. Staniewicz was a member of a group of so-called experts, who haven’t been engaged in political life before appointing to a post in the first office of Bartel. Through all four years of working as a minister of agricultural reforms Witold Staniewicz’s dynamic nature and organizational talents hugely influenced on structural transformations, which characterized polish agriculture between wars. He formulated then coherent program of restructuring polish agriculture. Staniewicz placed great emphasis on merging soils and growing little farms. Forming new farms from plot estates, settling action on Eastern Borderland, ordering land improvement, controlling obligations, crediting by the country and economical emigration were the way to change almost natural peasant farms into modern agriculture enterprises. More than four years of Staniewicz’s job as a minister of agricultural reforms, left one’s stamp on the way of understanding the agriculture reforms issues in the prewar period of the Polish Republic, and his successors were continuing a plan of restructuring Polish agriculture initiated by him in 1926.
One of more important issues, concerning industry of the Polish Republic II, was state policy towards obligatory cartels. After J. Pilsudski's coup d’etat sanacja authorities, having an interest to win business spheres’ support, exposed its positive attitude towards cartels. Number of cartels grew rapidly since 1925. An economic importance of cartels increased and the main branches of economy were comprised by the cartelization. The Government had an influence on cartels agreements. The state interventionism in economy, tending to the obligatory cartelization, appeard in using proper policy of customs, credits and tarrifs towards some branches of industry. The Government had also a direct influence on organizational matters of some cartels. This interference appeared in special legal acts for exemple, which changed organizational structures of cartels or created new ones. Between 1925 and 1933 the coal, sugar, textile and alcohol industries were obligatory cartelized among others. The Government tended to subordinate main branches of industry in result of a conviction that cartels should prevent a disorder of domestic market and should be an effective instrument of economic policy, creating an economic balance and a rapid industralization of Poland.
Dans la période du 15 mai jusqu’au 30 septembre 1926 fonctionnaient en IIéme République de Pologne trois gouvernements de Kazimierz Bartl. Les déclarations du premier ministre et des directeurs des ressorts économiques montraient qu’on a déclaré comme les branches les plus importantes de l’économie: l’aspiration à l’équilibre de budget et à la stabilisation de valeur; un bilan positif de commerce, l’équilibre des prix et la reforme d’impôts. La question agraire devrait occuper une place spéciale dans la politique du gouvernement. On parlait aussi du développement de l’industrie et de la reforme du système bancaire. Les déclarations du gouvernement ne se différenciaient de celles proposées par le gouvernement de Aleksander Skrzyński, et dans la politique financière on se basait sur le programme crée par Jerzy Zdziechowski. Le gouvernement n’a pas eu intention (pas directement après le boulversement) de faire des changements dans la politique économique et seulement de corriger des plans des prédécesseurs. Le 2 août le gouvernement a obtenu de larges pleins pouvoirs concernant la publication des règlements de loi. On a commencé d ’agir d’une manière concrète au champ législatif, normalisant la vie économique de Pologne. Il parait que ces activités très prudentes devraient calmer la société agitée par le boulversement et disposer favorablement les représentants de l’économie. En réalisant ces elements les plus importants de sa politique, le gouvernement a mené la budget d’état à l’équilibre en juin et en août la stabilisation de valeur était faite au niveau 1 dollar = 9 zł. En estimant la politique économique du gouvernement de Bartl on peut constater que c ’était une periode intermédiaire dans lequel on continuait la politique d’objet et on analysait la situation politique prudemment.
In 1914 The Jewish Community in the city of Łódź was comprised of 162,500 residents. During the Great War that number dropped to 137,200 people, which equaled 40.1% of the total population of Łódź. The beginning of World War I saw the municipality in conflict over the recent election of a local rabbi, Lejzor Trajstman, and weakened by the absence of the Community Board. The new Community Board elections (conducted on 25th October 1914) as well as the introduction of new laws by the German occupants regulating activity in the Jewish communities inside the area of the administrative district of the General Government of Warsaw allowed the municipality to function as efficiently as was possible. The new laws placed the responsibility for social welfare of the co-religionists on the Community Board. This became the central element of all decisions and actions of the Community Board body between 1914 and 1918. First and foremost, it was necessary to combat the ubiquitous poverty, hunger, and unemployment. With the help of its agencies and other subsidized institutions, the Jewish Community attempted to reach the most needy. It funded the pre-existing charitable organizations, hospitals, and shelters. It began to organize help for orphaned children placing them with Łódź families and newly established orphanages. In order to ease the life of its poorest, it created cheap soup kitchens and teahouses. It also supplied the co-religionists with fuel for stoves, Passover bread, and other holiday products. Despite all the efforts, however, the municipal government and the rabbis, including the head rabbi Lejzor Trajstman, did not manage to meet social expectations. As existing sources indicate, modest funds were only sufficient to satisfy a small fraction of the community’s needs. The ongoing war with all its deprivations pauperized the Jewish population and deepened the level of poverty, malnutrition, and disease.
Witold Staniewicz (1887–1966) is a scientist, politician and social activist born and living in Vilnius during the Second Polish Republic. He was a professor at the Stefan Batory University in Vilnius, its rector and vice-dean of the Faculty of Agriculture. Staniewicz’s scientific interests included: theory of agrarian policy and the importance of agriculture in the national economy, agricultural economics, social economy, history of agriculture and agricultural studies, problems of regional economic conditions of the Vilnius Region and deflation policy. The article summarizes the current state of knowledge about Witold Staniewicz and presents his scientific, didactic and organizational activities in the years 1921–1939.
PL
Witold Staniewicz (1887–1966) to urodzony i mieszkający w Wilnie w okresie Drugiej Rzeczypospolitej naukowiec, polityk i działacz społeczny. Był profesorem Uniwersytetu Stefana Batorego w Wilnie, jego rektorem i prodziekanem Wydziału Rolniczego. Zainteresowania naukowe Staniewicza obejmowały: teorię polityki agrarnej i znaczenie rolnictwa w gospodarce narodowej, ekonomikę rolną, ekonomikę społeczną, historię rolnictwa i studiów rolniczych, problemy regionalnych uwarunkowań gospodarczych Wileńszczyzny oraz politykę deflacyjną. Artykuł podsumowuje aktualny stan wiedzy o Witoldzie Staniewiczu i przedstawia jego działalność naukową, dydaktyczną i organizacyjną w latach 1921–1939.
During the period of the prime minister's office by Józef Piłsudski, agricultural policy focused on activities aimed at protecting the consumer's interests. As a result, it focused on activities aimed at regulating the prices of agricultural commodities, mainly cereals. Such regulation by means of export restrictions contributed to a sharp fall in cereal prices. Regulation of trade in agricultural products did not positively affect the amplitude of price fluctuations. The reason for this was the undecided government export and import measures. Frequent changes caused anxiety among sellers and buyers, which caused that the price differences paid by producers and consumers significantly increased. Therefore, this policy encountered serious resistance from the landowners' spheres, merchants, as well as grain millers, who were also trade with grain. The attempt to develop a comprehensive plan of aid to agriculture was undertaken only at the turn of 1929 and 1930. The government's actions aimed at intensifying agricultural production did not bring good results. Eventually, they were stopped by the economic crisis.
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