Politics – action
Korfanty honed his political skills in the German Parliament, whose MP he became in 1903. It was a great success given that he had become known to the public merely two years earlier. Moreover, Korfanty’s political promotion dismantled the structure of the electorate of the German Catholic Centre Party, which had counted on Polish votes before. After the establishment of Silesian Voivodeship in 1922, the National Bloc that he supported received 33.5% of the votes in the election to the Silesian Parliament. However, the Silesian tribune was not so successful on the Polish political scene. The reasons for this may be attributed to the aversion expressed by the charismatic Józef Piłsudski, who was not willing to share power with this talented opposition activist. Korfanty’s biggest success came in 1923. The increasing inflation and its accompanying chaos in commercial and monetary relations led to social disturbances. In the tense situation, Prime Minister Wincenty Witos decided to reconstruct the cabinet. It included the proponents of confrontation, and also Wojciech Korfanty as Deputy Prime Minister, who was responsible, inter alia, for taking measures to prevent strikes.
Korfanty derided the lies of the ‘national philosophy’ that had its moral source in the will of the Piłsudski camp, which had governed the country since 1926. What he saw as evil was, above all, depriving the social system of moral law and stripping individuals of their inborn rights. He negated the building of the state based on a purely political construct, which became the domain of Sanation politicians. In his opinion, only the idea of a civic society in a democratic formula could ensure the harmonious development and well-being of both individual people and the community. He was an ardent proponent of the idea of corporatism, which could become a foundation for the reconstruction of the country into a self-governed democracy. He saw this system as a unique opportunity for Poland and a counterbalance to the post-May dictatorship with its preferred omnipotence of the state. However, he lost the fight. In September 1930, the Silesian Parliament was dissolved and Korfanty was arrested and imprisoned in the Brest Fortress. In 1935, he was once again at risk of being imprisoned. He was informed in confidence about the threat of detention and ultimately decided to leave the country.