ACTIVITIES OF THE SOCIETY OF AGRICULTURAL GROUPS OF WEST PRUSSIA FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE POLISH AGRICULTURAL CLUSTER (FIRST DECADE OF THE 20TH CENTURY)

Abstract

In the era of capitalism, the question is often asked whether cooperatives are a form of economic activity. This issue is mostly related to a misunderstanding of the principles of the cooperative, which are based not only on the desire to obtain the greatest possible profit, but also on the concern of the shareholders of the cooperative. The roots of this form of organization on Polish lands go back to the imperial era. At a time when the cooperative movement in Western Europe was reaching ever larger circles of the urban and rural population, the Polish community was in captivity, torn and divided between three empires: Russia, Germany and Austria. In all three state formations, the Polish people were deprived of independence, subjectivity and subjected to brutal political and social oppression. At that time, the optimal and economically justified use of one’s own land by Poles grew into the status of a patriotic duty. In this context, Polish agricultural organizations played an important role in the struggle for the transformation of private farms of Poles into modern farms. The article presents aspects of the activities of Polish agricultural organizations, as well as the ways of establishing a more efficient development of agriculture in West Prussia, which they were looking for. It turned out that this topic was raised by the Polish press at the time. There was a theoretical search for a panacea in the pages of the magazines of agricultural circles of the Polish community, with the aim of saving Polish farms from bankruptcy in the era of increased competition from German farming. The report materials of the meetings of the organization, which were published in the pages of the magazine «Klosy» – a periodical published since July 5, 1865, specializing in social, cultural and popular scientific topics, were analyzed. It is highlighted that book reviews and short literary works of the leading Polish scientists and intellectuals of that time, historical articles, and articles on household and economic topics were published in the pages. Among the authors of the magazine were Józef Ignacy Kraszewski, Adam Asnyk, Eliza Ozheshkova and Maria Konopnytska.