In Need of a Leader: Bolesław Piasecki’s Charismatic Leadership in the 1930s

This article is part of the special cluster, “National, European, Transnational: Far-right activism in the 20th and 21st centuries”, guest edited by Agnieszka Pasieka. Bolesław Piasecki, the leader of the Polish National Radical Movement (RNR), was one of the influential far-right activists in the 1930s. This article examines his political leadership through the lens of Weberian charismatic authority, enhanced by the analytical Anthony Ammeter’s framework for the analyzing power dynamics of leadership. Through a close investigation of the development of his political career, the article shows—in contrast to much of the existing literature—that Piasecki’s power was forged through triangular interactions between his skills and influential personality, the expectations and needs of his associates, and as a result of a series of events in which he displayed the ability to wield political impact. This approach sheds light on the ways in which political leadership is reliant on a wider network of relationships and shows that Piasecki’s charismatic authority was to a large extent an image constructed by his closest associates. At the same time, it shows parallels and connections between the RNR and other European fascist movements. This approach enables us to define and specify more precisely the nature of the RNR, and dig deep into the complex dynamics lying behind the final failure of the movement and Piasecki’s leadership.