
Julian Marchlewski
'Julian Balthasar Marchlewski' (
May 17,
1866 -
March 22,
1925) was a
Polish socialist and later
communist functionary. He was also known under the
aliases 'Karski' and 'Kujawiak'.
In
1889, he was one of the co-founders of the Polish Workers' Union. In
1893, he together with
Rosa Luxemburg, founded the Social Democratic Party of the Kingdom of Poland, which was dissolved in
1895 due to massive arrests. After
1900, he became a member of the Social Democratic Party of the Kingdom Poland and
Lithuania.
He took part in the
Russian Revolution of 1905 in the Polish territories. In
1906, he joined the
Bolsheviks. After the failure of the revolution he emigrated to
Germany. During
World War I, he participated in the German
social democratic movement and was a co-founder of the left-wing
Spartakus (
Spartacist League). He was arrested and later exchanged with Russia for a German
spy. In
1919, during the
Polish-Soviet War, he took part in the negotiations with
Poland. During the
Red Army counterattack under
Mikhail Tukhachevsky, he headed the
Polish Provisional Revolutionary Committee (''Tymczasowy Komitet Rewolucyjny Polski'') in
Białystok in
1920, which planned to declare the
Polish Soviet Socialist Republic.
As an economist, he was an expert in
agriculture and took part in the preparation of the Bolshevik program with respect to the peasantry.
He published a number of scientific and ideological works.
He died in
Neri,
Italy during a vacation.
In
1926, he was the namesake for the 'Polish Autonomous District' in
Ukraine (
Marchlewszczyzna), with the capital at 'Marchlewsk' (known before and after as 'Dołbysz' or 'Dowbysz'). (A similar Polish district of
Dzierzynszczyzna, after
Felix Dzerzhinsky, was in
Belarus).
The
Jan Paweł II street in
Warsaw was formerly the Marchlewski street.