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Dr. Bronisław Wojciechowski Organization of employees of the company “Gazolina” in Borysław Ever since the days of Robert Owen and the emergence of modern industry and the working class associated with it, efforts have been made to create better living and working conditions for all workers, in particular those workers who struggle to put bread on the table as they participate in the enormous and often complicated process of extracting and processing raw material. We do not all have the same idea of what happiness is, but we all feel that earning a decent wage is an essential part of happiness. Without a secure foundation for our material existence, there […]
“The Polish soldier fights for the freedom of all nations but dies only for Poland” The eldest sons of Marian Wielezynski, Leszek and Ignacy, fled Poland in September 1939 and soon joined “La 10e Brigade de cavalerie blindée polonaise” in the camp of Coëtquidan at Guer, France, where they trained under General Maczek who, after his heroic campaign of Poland, was re-organizing in France his brigade, the so-called “Black Brigade”, to continue fighting the Nazis. General Maczek was born near Lvov in 1892 and began his military career as an officer in the Austrian Army, fighting on the Italian front in 1914. At the end of World War I, the […]
IGNACY MOŚCICKI President Ignacy Mościcki was born on December 1, 1867 in Mierzanów. He studied chemistry at the University of Riga. In 1892, due to threats from the tsarist police, he left for London. Four years later, he was appointed assistant professor at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. He developed an original method of obtaining nitrogen oxide from the air, leading to the production of nitrogen compounds and ultimately the production of explosives. His research on nitrogen, however, was only one of the early achievements of engineer Mościcki. His most important inventions include high-voltage capacitors (first installed at the Eiffel Tower) and devices that protect electrical networks against lightning. […]
POPE PIUS XI On May15, 1931, Pope Pius XI published his encyclical Quadragesimo Anno to commemorate the 40 years since Pope Leon XIII published his Encyclical Rerum Novarum on the condition of workers in 1891. Before the publication of his encyclical, Pius XI invited Marian Wielezynski to the Vatican to explain his vision of employee shareholding summarized here in Wielezynski’s own words: “The management principles of Gazolina joint stock company are that justice and a sense of duty must prevail over our company, and the will to help each other must also prevail…” In paragraph 110 of Quadragesimo Anno, Pius XI echoed Marian Wielezynski’s philosophy: “The twofold character, that is […]
JOZEF KLEMENS PILSUDSKI In 1914, Jóseph Piłsudski declared: “Only the sword now carries any weight in the balance for the destiny of a nation.” As I was growing up, my father loved to tell stories about his heroes. This is what he told me when I was at the university in France: “After Tadeusz Kościuszko raised a Polish army and tried but failed to give Poland its sovereignty, it took another 123 years before Piłsudski, inspired by his courage, grabbed Kościuszko’s sword and gave Poland her Freedom and Independence once more.” Józef Piłsudski was born in Zalavas, Lithuania on December 5, 1867, but his family always considered themselves Polish. In […]
The General de Gaulle and Employee participation in the capital of companies Between 1918 and 1921, General de Gaulle spent time in Poland with the Polish army. In 1920, with a contingent of the French military, he supported Polish soldiers who were fighting for the independence of Poland against Russia. He received the Virtuti Military medal, the highest decoration bestowed by the Polish military. De Gaulle retained a fondness for Poland and its people from his stays in Poland. In 1942, while in London as the leader of the Free French Forces, he asked the sons of Marian Wielezynski, Ignacy and Leszek Wielezysnski, who were officers in the Polish army […]