RULER OF POLAND

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22108, 14 May 1935, Page 9

RULER OF POLAND

DEATH ANNOUNCED MARSHAL PILSUDSKI TERM OF DICTATORSHIP SUCCESSORS APPOINTED NATIONAL MOURNING By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Received May 13, 5.5 p.m.) WARSAW. May 12 The death has occurred of Marshal Joseph Pilsudski, Dictator of Poland. He introduced a new autocratic Constitution on March 25, centring supreme power in his own hands and in the hands of his friend President Moscicki. Marshal Pilsudski was in his 68th year. General Rvdzsmijjly has been appointed to succeed Marshal Pilsudski. He is popular with the Army and was one of the most trusted of Marshal Pilsudski's assistants. Doctors state that Marshal Pilsudski's death was due to cancer of the liver. Members of the Government, with Madame Pilsudski and her two daughters. were at the bedside when the Dictator passed away. General Kasrzvoki has been appointed to Marshal Pilsudski's other office, the Ministry ,of War. Marshal Pilsudski's death coincides with the ninth anniversary of his seizure of power. National mourning for 36 days will be proclaimed.

RISE TO FAME

LIBERATOR OF COUNTRY REMARKABLE CAREER The rise of Marshal Pilsudski was one of the most meteoric in an age of meteoric rises to fame. Regarded as the liberator of Poland, he certainly did more than any other Pole toward lifting the Russian yoke and freeing his people. Born at Zolow, near Vilna, in July, 1867, Pilsudski developed Socialist tendencies from his earliest days. At the age of 19, as a student of Kharkoff University, he was found guilty of complicity in a plot to assassinate the Tsar. Five years' banishment to Siberia was the penalty he paid, and Pilsudski never really recovered from the effects of his imprisonment. On his return from Siberia he became one of the organisers of the new Polish Socialist Party, the main aim of which was the freeing of Poland from Russian rule. Arrested again, Pilsudski was taken to the prison of St. Peter and St. Paul, in Leningrad. Feigning insanity, however, he was attended by a Polish mental specialist attached to the prison staff. With the assistance of the doctor, ho tunnelled his way from the sick bay of the institution and escaped into the streets of Leningrad. Escaping over the Russian frontier within the next few weeks, he made his way to Cracow in Austrian Poland and organised one of the strongest revolutionary movements known in modern times, ' a secret Socialist army, well drilled and well equipped. On the outbreak of the Great War he fought in South Poland on the Austrian side as commander of the Ist Brigade of the Polish Legioru During the occupation of Poland by the Central Powers he attempted to start a Polish national movement with an independent army, but resigned his command when the Austrian Government would agree only to the Polish Legion being converted into a Polish auxiliary corps. He was, however, elected in January, 1917, to the provisional council of the Polish State, which had been proclaimed by the Central Powers. There he endeavoured to unite all the Polish parties on a programme of complete independence. Early in July, 1917, he resigned with the other advocates of independence and, as he wa§ said to have incited the Polish Legionaries to refuse to take the oath of obedience, he was arrested by the Germans and interned at Magdeburg. , After the collapse of the Central Powers, Pilsudski made a triumphal return to Warsaw, where the Regency Council, which had remained in existence after the occupation ceased, granted him dictatorial powers so that he might set up a national Government. Pilsudski then called a Polish National Assembly, which met on November 14, 1918, and entrusted a former member of the Austrian Reichsrat, Moraczewski, with the formation of a Cabinet. In this Government Pilsudski himself was War Minister,- but on December 18, he was elected President of the Polish Republic. In that capacity he had a decisive influence on the constitution of the new State, and especially of its army, which honoured him in 1920 by presenting him with a marshal's baton. In consequence of the failure of the campaign against the Soviet in April, 1920, Pilsudski's position, which quite apart from that had been strongly attacked by the parties of the Right, was temporarily shaken. But he retained his popularity with the masses and the army. After his retirement on December 17, 1922, ho became chief of the

general staff, but in 1923 resigned that post, being succeeded by General Haller. Pilsudski was appointed InspectorGeneral of the Army in August, 1926, and during that year led a military revolt which resulted in the overthrowing of the Premier and President and Pilsudski's elevation to the position of Premier. After Pilsudski had suffered a bad stroke in 1928, his Cabinet resigned, but in the Cabinet formed by the new Premier, Bartel, he retained the portfolio of Minister of War. After various troubles with the other Ministers he managed to have himself appointed Premier in 1930. Since 1926 he had been responsible for the virtual settlement of the outstanding differences which threatened to cause war between Lithuania and Poland, and in 1928 drew up a plan for joint action by Poland and Rumania in the event of a war with Russia. Pilsudski resigned from the position of Premier in 1931, but Avas appointed to his old post, Minister of War, in the Jedzrejcwicz Cabinet of 1933. This Government existed until March 25, when the Diet drew up a new constitution appointing Pilsudski Dictator, the President, Ignace Moscicki, being given authority to appoint and remove Ministers, control the army, navy and judiciary, and the power to conduct all important dealings with foreign Powers.

EUROPE'S FUTURE

SITUATION ALTERED POLISH ASPIRATIONS FRANCE'S MORAL SUPPORT (Received May 13, 5.5 p.m.) LONDON, May 13 A message from Warsaw states that a communique issued after a conference between the French and Polish Foreign Ministers, M. Laval and Colonel Beck, announced that the Franco-Polish alliance had been restored to its right plane. The public had no idea that Marshal Pilsudski was a dying man, though the members of his entourage were well aware of the crisis. The announcement of the Dictator's death eclipsed interest in M. Laval's visit which, however, resulted in an official French intimation that there was nothing behind the Franco-Soviet pact to cause Poland the least anxiety.

The Daily Telegraph's Warsaw correspondent says he gathers that M. Laval promised France's moral support for Polish aspirations in the Baltic sector, but said he could not be more specific until he had talked the matter over. Marshal Pilsudski's body is lying in state in the Belvedere Palace. The Cabinet has been in continuous session in the Palace for many hours, but the real power lies with the President, Professor Moscicki, and Colonel Beck. Professor Moscicki, who was Marshal Pilsudski's nominee, was assured of farreaching powers approaching a Dictatorship under the new Constitution. Moreover, the deceased leader's friends, known as " the colonel's group " retain all the principal Government positions. Mr. Vernon Bartlett, diplomatic correspondent of the News Chronicle, says Marshal Pilsudski's death will profoundly affect the European situation. It may end the attempt to keep Poland equally friendly to Germany and Russia. Many Poles who, questioning the possibility of continuing friendship with Germany, feared to oppose Marshal Pilsudski, now are not likely to hide their feelings. . Poland has lost the greatest unifying force she has known, says the writer. Consequently, she is likely to become a pawn instead of a commanding influence.

SEARCH FOR GOLD

OBSERVERS IN AUTOGIRO LONDON. May 7 Western Australian mining interests shortly will undertake'a survey of the goldfields in that State by autogiro. The machine will be able to hover as low as 100 ft., and the crew to telescopically examine geological formations, thus greatly expediting prospecting. ________________