Władysław Dominik Grabski (; 7 July 1874 – 1 March 1938) was a Polish National Democratic politician,ładysł economist and historian. He was the main author of the currency reform in the Second Polish Republic and served as Prime Minister of Poland in 1920 and from 1923 to 1925. He was the brother of Stanisław Grabski and Zofia Kirkor-Kiedroniowa.
He was responsible for the creation of the Bank of Poland and implementing the zloty. Grabski's cabinet became the longest-standing cabinet in interwar Poland. At the same time, however, Grabski's cabinet was severely criticized. Stanisław Głąbiński, for example, criticized Grabski's inefficiencies in the sphere of international relations, and Wincenty Witos disapproved of Grabski's deficient agricultural reform, as well as his inability to inform the public of the state's real financial situation.
Life
Władysław Grabski was born in 1874, in a family manor in Borów (a part of Gmina Bielawy) near Łowicz, Congress Poland, Russian Empire. He studied politics at the École Libre des Sciences Politiques (today: Sciences Po) and history at the University of Sorbonne. While in Paris, Grabski's political views changed. He abandoned the socialist ideas and turned more towards the right.
The years Władysław Grabski had spent in Paris became an impetus behind Grabski's desire for his involvement in the Polish government. Soon after Grabski's return from Paris, in 1905, he founded the Agricultural Society in Łowicz, in central Poland. The Society quickly won the support of many peasants, which in turn led to the creation of the National Labor Union.
Due to the growing autonomy and strength of Grabski's Agricultural Society and the Union, in 1905, Grabski was arrested by the Russian authorities and imprisoned in Warsaw. Grabski's imprisonment, however, lasted less than a year. In 1905, Grabski was elected on behalf of National Democracy as a member of three successive sessions of the Duma, the legislative assembly of the Russian Empire. He was a deputy in Duma until 1912. It was at that time that he became involved in the work of the budgetary commission with the Russian Ministry of Agriculture. Grabski's involvement in the budgetary Commission became a reason for his later desire to become the finance minister in the Polish parliament.
When World War I broke out, he organized the Central Citizens' Committee, which was responsible for restoring order into the life of a society devastated by the Polish partitions, and to represent the interests of Polish people before the Russian authorities. He also became a member of the Polish National Committee. In 1919, he entered the government of the newly restored Poland as Minister of Agriculture.
Grabski's influence on Polish affairs increased when he became Treasury Minister and Prime Minister in 1920. However, his first cabinet lasted for only one month. In December 1923, he was again appointed Prime Minister and served as Treasury Minister in a specialist cabinet (appointed by but not necessarily composed of elected parliamentary representatives). Grabski managed to implement reforms that alleviated Poland's economic situation and managed to preserve his cabinet for twenty-three months, a relatively long period for a Polish cabinet in interwar Poland. Until the end of 1924, Grabski's government enjoyed great popularity.
Yet Grabski remained a controversial figure for the twenty-three months he remained in office. Stanisław Głąbiński, for example, argued that in the sphere of foreign relations, Grabski did not show the desired assertiveness. At the League of Nations conference, Grabski did not mention the League's unresponsiveness to the Polish-Soviet War of 1919–1921. According to the tenth article of the treaty of Versailles, "The Members of the League undertake to respect and preserve as against external aggression the territorial integrity and existing political independence of all Members of the League". However, the League of Nations remained aloof and impassive in 1920.
Grabski's decision not to raise the issue of the League's lack of action resulted in severe criticism from the Polish parliament. Głąbiński was not the only critic of Grabski's cabinet. Wincenty Witos criticized Grabski for his excessively optimistic attitude regarding the financial reforms and so did others; nevertheless, the reform stopped the hyperinflation in its tracks.
On 13 November 1925 Grabski was forced to resign following a disagreement with the President of the Bank of Poland, who refused to help him with the backing of the industrialist 'Lewiatan' organization.