THE POLISH EMIGRATION 211gres customarily divided themselves into conservative 'whites' and radical
'reds'. Wybicki's conservative Agencja in revolutionary France had its rivals in
Dembowski's radical Deputacja and in the Society of Polish Republicans.
Czartoyski's Hotel Lambert was flattered by a bevy of democratic oppositionist
factions, from the TOP (Polish Democratic Society, 1832-62) with its 'Centra-
lizacja' (Central Co-ordinating Committee), to the more socially-minded Lud
Polski (Polish People 1835—46) in London, and the 'Young Poland' in Berne. In
this period, Lelewel's mantle as prophet of the Left was gradually assumed by
Stanislaw Worcell (1799-1857). A freemason, Carbonaro, ex-deputy to the
Insurrectionary Sejm and a friend of Herzen and Mazzini, Worcell was instru-
mental in keeping the Polish cause on the agenda of most progressive and inter-
national organizations in Europe during his lifetime, as he was in the rise of
Polish socialism. With time, the split between the 'whites' and 'reds' deepened
significantly, as moderate policies failed and demands for socialism and terror-
ism grew ever more insistent. In England, which sheltered the more extreme ele-
ments of the day, the Gromada Rewolucyjna Londyn Ludu Polskiego
(Revolutionary Assembly, 1856-61) was linked with international communist-
Utopian circles. Its successor, the Ognisko Republikanskie Polskie (Polish
Republican Hearth, 1867-70) had Pan-slav overtones, whilst the Zwiqzek Ludu
Polskiego (Union of the Polish People, 1872-7) was directly connected with
Marx's First International. The ZSSP (Union of Polish Socialists Abroad) was
the forerunner of the PPS. The ideas generated by these groups commanded
greater respect than their puny membership suggests, and they hold a definite
place in the history of Polish political thought. In the First World War,
Dmowski's Polish National Committee was challenged by Pilsudski-ite
'activist' organizations. In the Second World War, the Government-in-Exile in
London was attacked and later superseded by Soviet-sponsored organizations
based in Moscow.
Attempts to harmonize the opposing factions rarely succeeded for long. From
1837 to 1846 Lelewel and the Hotel Lambert co-operated in forming the
Zjednoczenie Emigracji Polskiej (United Polish Emigration) until the fiasco of
the Cracow Revolution. From 1866 to 1871, a revived ZEP lasted until the col-
lapse of the Paris Commune which its leaders had supported. Thereafter there
were few signs of united action. The followers of Dmowski in the 'National
Camp' and of Pitsudski in the 'Independence Camp' could never be persuaded
to make common cause so long as each harboured hopes of dominating Polish
politics. In the First World War, Dmowski's Polish National Committee fought
in the Allied side whilst Pitsudski's Legions fought on the side of the Central
Powers. During the Second World War, the official Government-in-Exile in
London was systematically and deliberately discredited by the unofficial Polish
communist organizations in Moscow. The only political compromises ever
worked out between the two rival groupings—Sikorski's Treaty with the USSR
in 1941, and Mikolajczyk's adherence to the TRJN in 1945—soon proved to be
empty bargains. In the post-war era, the Polish emigres shared little beyond a