Stanisław Harla (1908–1977) the Rural Activist, Man of Letters

Abstract

Stanisław Harla (1908–1977) Polish activist, a man of letters. Before World War II activist in Union of the Youth of Rural Areas “Wici” in Mielec County, the Republic of Poland, Małopolska Voivodeship of that time. In the mid-1930s, Stanisław Harla was an active member of the Polish People’s Party. In 1936 and 1937 Harla took part in strikes taking place in Mielec County. The Great Peasant Uprising was pacified by the government. Stanisław Harla was repeatedly persecuted and questioned by the police. In 1939 while subjected to cruel, inhuman interrogation procedure by the police, Harla sustained a spinal injury. After World War II in the late 1940s, Harla, disappointed by the Polish People’s Republic system, backed away from active political life. Harla is bracketed together with outstanding popular poets. In his work Harla expressed the misery, injustice, anguish and physical pain that peasants living in Polish villages felt. Through his poems readers may picture the magical, beautiful Polish countryside of the time. In the verses, the author considers the evanescence of human life and asks questions about the sense of active participation in the history. In spite of everything, throughout his life Harla was devoted to the idea of agrarianism and the people’s movement.