Polityczny wymiar koncepcji wojny ludowej Henryka Kamieńskiego w kontekście debat połowy lat czterdziestych XIX w.

The aim of the article is to analyse the political dimension of Henryk Kamieński’s concept of a people’s war in the context of the debates of the mid-1840s. The crux of the debates lay in reflections on creating a mass insurgent army. The very concept of a mass army emerged already in the 18th century and was subsequently developed during the November Uprising and in discussions among representatives of the Great Emigration. The main uprising theorists in the democratic camp in the 1840s were Karol Stolzman and Ludwik Mierosławski. The former formulated a vision of guerrilla warfare, without, however, embarking on any broader political reflection. Mierosławski, on the other hand, believed that the best solution in Poland would be to have the uprising based on „democratic absolutism”, i.e. dictatorial, one-man power of the most talented strategist. Kamieński brought a number of new arguments to the discussion. He pointed out that in the political sphere the objective of a „people’s war” was primarily to stimulate a real democratisation tendency that was to be manifested in actions of various individuals and groups within local councils or clubs. He also assumed that an insurgent army should be deeply democratised; e.g. according to his idea soldiers were to have the right to elect their commanders. In addition, Kamieński argued that the success of an uprising was determined by its preparatory stage and after its outbreak émigré circles should join the independence movement without any leadership aspirations. The concepts of a „people’s war” provoked an extensive polemic from Mierosławski and in the end were not supported by the Polish Democratic Society. It seems, however, that the political content of a „people’s war”, consisting in a vision of multi-level empowerment of individuals, institutions and social groups, is an important complement of the philosophy of creation formulated by Kamieński