The Logic of Violence in Civil War, by Stathis N. Kalyvas. 2006. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and New York
Zolnierze Wykleci Violence? Some Basic Contextualization
Author Kalyvas is a Greek political scientist and an expert on violence in irregular wars. Lewaks (Polish leftists) and Jews have revived the old Communist propaganda of the Zolnierze Wykleci killing innocent Poles. Owing to the fact that the Communists falsified official documents, this accusation is a difficult one to substantiate, which ironically helps explain its carefree use by lewaks and Jews.
However, even if the Zolnierze Wykleci did indeed kill “innocent” Poles on a nontrivial scale, Kalyvas’ extensive research makes it obvious that this was a completely normal part of almost every irregular war! He writes, “Irregular combatants and the spies and agents on either side hide among the civilian population. This feature of irregular war, which can be termed the ‘identification problem’…’Two out of 10 people here hate you and want to kill you. You just have to figure out which two.’…The inability to tell friend from enemy is a recurrent element of irregular war…” (p. 89).
ZOLNIERZE WYKLECI VIOLENCE? LIKE ALL GUERILLAS, THEY KILL THOSE WHO MAY DENOUNCE THEM
Kalyvas comments, “The populations in the midst of which they [insurgents] hide may turn them in…As a result, betrayal becomes a pervasive obsession among insurgents. Insurgent memoirs are replete with an overarching concern about information leaks…Civilian collaborators are equally hard to identify…” (p. 90-91). “The effective use of violence may successfully deter informing.” (p. 105). “The supply of denunciations is subject to a fundamental constraint, namely the likelihood of retaliation…” (p. 192). It is obvious that the Zolnierze Wykleci had a strong incentive to kill known or suspected denouncers, and to do so in a way that intimidates others from denouncing. Note, for example, that Jozef Franczak “Lalek”, who was not exposed until 1963, had been betrayed by a Pole who was well paid to do so. See:
ZOLNIERZE WYKLECI VIOLENCE? THE MAGNITUDE OF COMMUNIST CONTROL, AND NOT CONVERSION TO COMMUNISM, INCREASED DENUNCIATION (AND THE ENSUING RETALIATORY KILLINGS)
As the reality of the Yalta betrayal of Poland sunk in, and Soviet control because more and more inevitable, an increasing number of Poles turned to denunciation. This had nothing to do with any acceptance of Communist ideology, as Kalyvas points out, “The anecdotal empirical record provides substantial evidence that control spawns collaboration independently of support…Political actors are obviously well aware that control spawns collaboration” (p. 118, 122). The remaining Zolnierze Wykleci thus had more known or suspected denouncers they had to kill in order to try to stay covert as long as possible.
CONCLUSION
The freedom-fighting acts of the Cursed Soldiers (Zolnierze Wykleci) must primarily be understood as a fight against the Communist imposition by a foreign power (Soviet Union). Only belatedly and secondarily did these Soviet policies provoke significant combat between differing factions of Poles. Therefore, the Soviet Union bears complete responsibility for whatever acts that actually took place of the Zolnierze Wykleci killing innocent Poles. The unilateral Soviet Communism-imposing policies are the ones that incited, engineered, and sustained the whole process of Poles killing other Poles.
AUGUST TRIAL DENUNCIATIONS
On another subject, Kalyvas shows (pp. 343-345) that very many denunciations stem from personal grudges. This fits-in with historian Piotr Gontarczyk, who suggested that the denunciations (often from Jews) that fuelled the August Decree trials, regarding onetime alleged Nazi collaboration, commonly stemmed from petty and personal disputes. See:
