THE BEGINNINGS OF THE POLITICAL CAREER OF KAZIMIERZ SWITALSKI (1903-1918) (Poczatki dzialalnosci politycznej Kazimierza Switalskiego (1903-1918)

The political career of Kazimierz Switalski (1903-1918), one of the closest collaborators of Józef Pilsudski, is reconstructed here on the basis of Switalski's private papers kept in the Special Collection of the National Library in Warsaw, his diaries and personal documents from the Central Military Archives and courthouse records from the State Archives of the Capital City of Warsaw. As a young man, ie in secondary school and during his studies (1903-1910), Switalski was not a sympathizer of Pilsudski; he seemed to have been more responsive to the ideas of the left, especially the Socialists. The outbreak of the First World War in 1914 was for him something of catalyst: he joined the First Brigade of the Polish Legions, and then worked for the Polish Military Organisation (1917-1918). In November 1918 he took part in the fighting against Ukrainian nationalists in Lvov (Lwów).