Deputy Wislicki, Chairman of the Executive of the Jewish Merchants Federation in Poland, who is a member of the Government Parliamentary Club, explained to the annual meeting of the Federation now being held here, why he sits in Parliament on the Government side.
He had been attacked by one of the delegates, ###r M. Greiver, who said that he admitted that the Executive and Deputy Wislicki had done a great deal on behalf of the Jewish merchants of Poland, making many representations and interventions on their behalf, but the policy of their organisation was defensive, whem the policy of Jewish representatives should be offensive. Deputy Wislicki had contended, he went on, that the policy of the administration of the Federation was purely economic, but this purely economic policy was not sufficiently Jewish, to his mind. When their leaders worked in conjunction with people like Deputy Minzberg of the Agudah, they could not conduct a proper Jewish economic policy.
M. Grodzinski and Advocate Olomucki spoke in opposition to Mr. Greiver. Jewish merchants could not adopt an aggressive attitude, M. Grodzinski said. They had to be practical, and deal with facts and possibilities.
Advocate Olomucki added his plea that an economic organisation like theirs must not be dragged into political partisan strife. It was not by banging their fist on the table, but by commonsenese methods, by means of facts and figures, by using sober arguments to convince the Government and the authorities that their interests and those of the State coincide that they would be able to achieve something positive to protect the interests of the Jewish merchant class.
Ex-Senator Raphael Szereszewski, the President of the Federation, who was in the chair, also urged the delegates to consider the serious economic position of the Jewish merchant class. He hoped that there were better times in sight and that this Conference would be their last in the midst of crisis.
Deputy Wislicki, in his reply to the discussion, said that their Executive was conducting an active and aggressive policy, and was not allowing itself to be intimidated.
If it is necessary, he said, we bang our fists on the table as good as anyone and demand that Jewish interests should be recognised, that the Jewish merchants should not be pushed out of their positions. Our policy is not always to the liking of the Government, he went on, but very often Government circles find that the Jewish demands are in consonance with the laws and ordinances drafted by the Cabinet.
It is true, Deputy Wislicki said, that we are not conducting a policy of offensive for the sake of an offensive. Where it is necessary, where Jewish interests are menaced, the representatives of the Jewish merchant class will always be found.
I am reproached for sitting on the Government side. My answer is that the Jewish merchant must have his representation in Parliament not to demonstrate but to be on guard in the Legislative Chamber so that there should be no injustice done to the Jewish merchant. I sit in the Government Parliamentary Club as a Jew, and I defend there the Jewish interests.
It is not my fault, Deputy Wislicki went on, that the united Jewish front has been broken up, and that I have been forced to go with the Government Party. If a united Jewish front is constituted again, I shall stand once more with the All-Jewish representatives. But if that is not possible I shall stay in the ranks in which I am now, and will continue with the same energy to defend the Jewish economic interests in Poland.
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