Iza Zielińska (27 February 1863 – 15 December 1934) was a Polish anarchist, social activist and educationalist. She was a lifelong campaigner for women’s rights and staunch critic of bourgeois feminism.
Biography
Early life
Little is known about Zielińska's formative years. She was born into a szlachta family in Grodno, then part of the Russian Empire, at a young age her parents separated and her mother took her to live in the city of Vilna. As a young student she attended the Flying University in Warsaw, where she studied the works of the English philosophers John William Draper and Herbert Spencer, and became influenced by Positivist ideas. After graduating from the Flying University she returned to Vilna where she set up her own underground educational club.[1]
Although Zielińska integrated herself into social and political life in France, many other members of the Polish émigré community in Paris found themselves isolated. Zielińska sought to remove some of the cultural and linguistic barriers by producing language books for her fellow expatriates. [2] While similar publications sometimes contained antisemitic stereotypes, Zielińska eschewed such racist tropes to focus on Polish history, culinary heritage, industry, and geography.[3]
Return to Poland
With her husband accompanying her, Zielińska returned to Poland in 1920 to settle in Warsaw. The following year she founded the League for the Defence of Human and Citizen Rights (Liga Obrony Praw Człowieka i Obywatela), alongside Teodora Męczkowska among others, which was to become an important antifascist campaigning organisation in the 1930s. She also became evermore active within the PPS agitating for womens rights.[4] A 1928 PPS pamphlet listed Zielińska as one of the main organisers of the party's Women's Department.[5]
On 14 September 1930 Zielińska attended a demonstration on Ujazdów Avenue that had been called by Centrolew in opposition to the Sanation regime. After the protest developed into a riot, Zielińska received a gunshot wound to the face in the mêlée. The following month she stood in the elections as a Centrolew candidate for the Warsaw district, and was duly elected to the Senate.[6]
Following her death a street in the town of Żyrardów was named Izy Zielińskiej In her honour.[8]
References
^Łaniewski, Aleksander (2016). "„Najwierniejsza z wiernych" - życie i poglądy Izy Zielińskiej (1863–1934)". In Skrycki, Radosław (ed.). Studia z dziejów anarchizmu (2) W dwusetlecie urodzin Michaiła Bakunina (in Polish). Szczecin: University of Szczecin. p. 170. ISBN978-83-7972-056-9.
^Łaniewski, Aleksander (2016). "„Najwierniejsza z wiernych" - życie i poglądy Izy Zielińskiej (1863–1934)". In Skrycki, Radosław (ed.). Studia z dziejów anarchizmu (2) W dwusetlecie urodzin Michaiła Bakunina (in Polish). Szczecin: University of Szczecin. pp. 169–201. ISBN978-83-7972-056-9.
^Łaniewski, Aleksander (2016). "„Najwierniejsza z wiernych" - życie i poglądy Izy Zielińskiej (1863–1934)". In Skrycki, Radosław (ed.). Studia z dziejów anarchizmu (2) W dwusetlecie urodzin Michaiła Bakunina (in Polish). Szczecin: University of Szczecin. pp. 169–201. ISBN978-83-7972-056-9.
^Łaniewski, Aleksander (2016). "„Najwierniejsza z wiernych" - życie i poglądy Izy Zielińskiej (1863–1934)". In Skrycki, Radosław (ed.). Studia z dziejów anarchizmu (2) W dwusetlecie urodzin Michaiła Bakunina (in Polish). Szczecin: University of Szczecin. pp. 169–201. ISBN978-83-7972-056-9.
^Łaniewski, Aleksander (2016). "„Najwierniejsza z wiernych" - życie i poglądy Izy Zielińskiej (1863–1934)". In Skrycki, Radosław (ed.). Studia z dziejów anarchizmu (2) W dwusetlecie urodzin Michaiła Bakunina (in Polish). Szczecin: University of Szczecin. p. 186. ISBN978-83-7972-056-9.
^Łaniewski, Aleksander (2016). "„Najwierniejsza z wiernych" - życie i poglądy Izy Zielińskiej (1863–1934)". In Skrycki, Radosław (ed.). Studia z dziejów anarchizmu (2) W dwusetlecie urodzin Michaiła Bakunina (in Polish). Szczecin: University of Szczecin. p. 186. ISBN978-83-7972-056-9.