Poland Reacts to the Spanish Right, 1936-1939 (And Beyond)1
1 Affinity and Revulsion: Poland Reacts to the Spanish Right, 1936-1939 (And Beyond)1 Marek Jan Chodakiewicz Poland has customarily viewed Spain through the prism of its own domestic concerns. More specifically, between 1936 and 1939, Spain figured in Poland's public discourse to the extent that the politics, ideas, and circumstances of the Spanish Right were similar to those of its Polish counterpart. The salient features of the Polish Right were its Catholicism, which gave it a universalist frame of reference; traditionalism, which limited the boundaries of its radicalism; anti-Communism, which fueled its rhetoric; anti-Sovietism and anti-Germanism, which defined its security 1 This essay was written for the Historical Society's National Convention at Boston University, May 27-29, 1999, and specifically for the panel “Reaction and Counterrevolution in Spain: Carlism, 1810-1939.” Parts of this paper are based upon my Zagrabiona pamięć: Wojna w Hiszpanii, 1936-1939 [Expropriated Memory: The War in Spain, 1936-1939] (Warszawa: Fronda, 1997) [afterward Zagrabiona]. All unattributed quotes and data are from this work. All translations are mine unless otherwise stated. For assistance with this essay I would like to thank the late Gregory Randolph (University of Chicago), Richard Tyndorf, Wojciech Jerzy Muszyński, Leszek Żebrowski, and Anna Gräfin Praschma. I also benefitted from very generous comments by Professor Alexandra Wilhelmsen (University of Dallas), Professor Carolyn Boyd (University of Texas at Austin), and Dr. Patric Foley. I dedicate this essay to the memory of Gregory Randolph. 2 concerns; and nationalism, which circumscribed its instinct to fight in Spain. This essay considers the extent of the identification of the Polish Right with its Spanish counterpart.
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