THE REBIRTH OF THE POLISH STATE 28lWe're kept apart, my brother,
By a fate that we can't deny.
From our two opposing dug-outs
We're staring death in the eye.
In the trenches filled with groaning,
Alert to the shellfire's whine,
We stand and confront each other.
I'm your enemy: and you are mine.
So when you catch me in your sights
I beg you, play your part,
And sink your Muscovite bullet
Deep in my Polish heart.
Now I see the vision clearly,
Caring not that we'll both be dead;
For that which has not perished
Shall rise from the blood that we shed.^3
In every centre where political activity was possible, Polish organizations
appeared from nowhere. In Cracow, a conference on 16 August 1914 brought
to life a Supreme National Committee (NKN), which aimed to unite all Polish
independence movements under the Austrian aegis.^4 Its first President was
Professor Juliusz Leo (1862-1918), the long-time Mayor of Cracow. Its milit-
ary department was headed by Wladyslaw Sikorski (1881-1943). It was sup-
ported by all the leading party leaders of Galicia, and operated for three years.
It maintained links with Pifcudski's Polish National Organization (PON), the
political wing of the Legions, but the relationship was anything but easy. In
Warsaw, on 10 September 1914, the National Democrats formed a Central
Citizens' Committee (CKO), ostensibly to provide social assistance to war vic-
tims, in effect also to support Dmowski's Polish National Committee (KNP),
which at this stage was still devoted to the goal of autonomy under Russia.
The KNP soon moved in 1915 to Petrograd, and thereafter to Lausanne in
Switzerland.^5 In London, a Polish Information Committee (PKI) was created to
help Poles affected by the Aliens' Registration Order and to publicize the
Polish cause. It was patronized by R. W. Seton-Watson, the leading British
advocate of the East European national movements, and counted August
Zaleski among its most energetic members^6 In Switzerland, a Central Polish
Relief Committee (CAP) was established at Vevey by I. J. Paderewski, the
pianist. Both the British and the Swiss centres strove to co-ordinate aid to areas
of Poland devastated by war. The CAP opened branches in London, Paris,
Rome, and Washington, which were destined to fall under the influence of
Dmowski's KNP. The two main tendencies in Polish politics at this time were
represented on the one hand by the so-called 'activists', proclaiming the call for
an active struggle against Russia at the side of the Central Powers, and on the
other hand the so called 'passivists', who put their faith in Russia and later in
the western Allies.