I have a book on Polish history I've been keeping nearby. I started reading it in order to understand various family members better. But I've been reading it more intensely lately in order to better frame the argument about limited Government. You see the medieval and early modern history of Poland has many parallels to that of Britain and France, and also warnings not just about the benefits, but the dangers of limited Government. You see Poland was a country that was a very special commonwealth. As the Wiki article describes it:
The Nihil novi act adopted by the Polish Diet in 1505 transferred all legislative power from the king to the Diet. This event marked the beginning of the period known as "Nobles' Democracy" or "Nobles' Commonwealth" (Rzeczpospolita szlachecka) when the state was ruled by the "free and equal" Polish nobility (szlachta). The Lublin Union of 1569 constituted the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as an influential player in European politics and a vital cultural entity. By the 18th century the nobles' democracy gradually declined into anarchy, making the once powerful Commonwealth vulnerable to foreign influence. Eventually the country was partitioned by its neighbors and erased from the map in 1795.
The szlachecka, or szlachta, were the nobility of Poland and Lithuania. They jealously guarded their rights and privileges in a similar way to the way English Nobles of the Magna Carta guarded their rights. They basically stripped the king of legislative power, which was good, except their idea of "equal" was a little too literal. Every member of the szlachta had veto power over legislation. Nothing could get done in Poland that required new law without 100% consensus. Because of that nothing good got done, especially late in the period of the commonwealth when Poland was under seige from all directions:
During the 18th century the Polish crown itself became subject to the manipulations of Russia, Sweden, the Kingdom of Prussia, France and Austria. Poland's weakness was exacerbated by an unworkable constitution which allowed each noble or gentry representative in the Sejm to use his vetoing power to stop further parliamentary proceedings for the given session. This greatly weakened the central authority of Poland and paved the way for its destruction.
The author is being too kind to the Szlachecka. The Russians, Swedes, and Austrians were aided by nobles who were more serious about guarding their local power than in preserving the country. For that reason there were factions in the Government that looked East to Russia, and other factions that looked West to Prussia or South to Austria. They didn't regain their nationalist voice until the country disappeared and they grew nostalgic for their lost power.
"Most accounts of Polish history show the two centuries after the end of the Jagiellon dynasty as a time of decline leading to foreign domination."
Poland was an ideal state for the nobles. They could exercise virtual impunity and immunity in the absence of state power. Even the poorest and most destitute of the nobility, farming his own land, behaved like the nobles portrayed in the Three Musketeers, constantly feuding with neighbors or giving his allegiance to those who paid him the most money. The Szlachta system undermined the Government and made foreign intervention easy. The Polish nobility loved their country, but felt no need to actually defend it.
"Before another hundred years [had] elapsed, Poland-Lithuania had virtually ceased to function as a coherent and genuinely independent state.
Consequently they created a kind of National Anarchy at the top that destroyed Poland by creating a class of people who could do anything they wanted with near total impunity. It wasn't until Poland was gone that those who loved its language and culture started working together to rebuild it.
All quotes (for now) are from the wikipedia article, but it repeats things that are in my book at home and I'll update this post with better detail and citations later
Posted by cholte at December 16, 2009 09:30 PM