STANISLAW AUGUST THUGUTT'S 'CATECHISM OF YOUNG PEASANT ACTIVISTS' (Stanislawa Augusta Thugutta 'Katechizm mlodych ludowcow')

The article recounts the figure of Stanislaw August Thugutt (1873-1941) - one of the most distinguished activists of Polish peasant movement before World War II - and his views on education of young generation of peasants. His brochure 'Letters to a Young Friend' (1929) is an important voice on education of the young generation of Polish peasants that began their adult life in the 1930s and in the 1940s. On the outlined background of the life of Stanislaw August Thugutt and the programme of social reforms - co-written by Thugutt, and announced by Provisional Government of the People's Republic of Poland in the autumn of 1918 - the paper presents in more detail the letters that constitute a handbook on adult education, prepared by Thugutt for Polish peasants of the period between the two World Wars. The letters give advice to young farmers (letter I: Learn so that you are not a workhorse but a conscious creator of new life, letter II: Organize yourself so that you are not a pile of airborne sand but a barrier that withstands a storm; letter III: Let money be your servant not your lord; letter IV: Be yourself and have faith in yourself; letter V: Be good and just, do not give up on fighting evil; letter VI: Be brave since there is a long way ahead of you; letter VII: Never forget about Poland). The collection became a sort of catechism for young generation of Polish peasants of that time.