National Party

The National Party (, SN) was a Polish nationalist political party formed on 7 October 1928 after the transformation of Popular National Union. It gathered together most of the political forces of Poland's National Democracy right-wing political camp. Shortly before World War II the party had 200,000 members, being the largest opposition party of that time. In the 1930s the two main factions competed within the party, the "old generation" and "young generation", divided by the age and political programmes. The old generation supported the parliamentary means of political competition, while the activist young generation advocated the extra-parliamentary means of political struggle. In 1935 the young activists took over the leadership of the party. In 1934 a significant part of the young faction split off from the SN, forming the National-Radical Camp. During World War II, many SN activists joined the National Armed Forces and National Military Organization resistance organizations. Policies The main goal of the party was the construction of a Catholic Polish State, through combining the principles of Catholicism and Nationalism. The party advocated a hierarchical organisation of society and the transformation of the political system by increasing the role of the Polish National elite within the country. It had the most influential political centres in Greater Poland, Pomerania, Warsaw, Wilno and Lwów. Prominent leaders of the old generation included Stanisław Stroński, Marian Seyda, Roman Rybarski, Stanisław Głąbiński, Witold Staniszkis, Wacław Komarnicki, Jan Zamorski, Jan Załuska and Stanisław Rymar. The young generation was represented by Tadeusz Bielecki, Jędrzej Giertych, Kazimierz Kowalski, Adam Doboszyński, Karol Stojanowski, Tadeusz Dworak, Karol Frycz, Witold Nowosad and Stefan Sacha.