I 88 Perspectives from Poland ticular, Stachniuk. Members such as its first leader Maciej Czarnowski and other activists like Antony Wacyk had been disciples of Stachniuk even while he was still alive.27 Czarnowski’s successor Stanisław Potrzebowski wrote the agenda entitled Wyznanie Wiary Lechitów (“The Creed of the Lechites”).28 Rodzima Wiara has organisational ties to various political organisations, and several individuals are members of both the former and the latter. Particularly worthy of mention at this point is the Stowarzyszenie na rzecz Tradycji i Kultury “Niklot” (“‘Niklot’ Association for Tradition and Culture”),29 which advocates on its website the racist idea of ethnopluralism and rejects multiculturalism and what it sees as the “Americanisation” of Europe.30 Influenced by alt-right theories, it calls for the establishment of an Indo-European-Slavic civilisation and seeks to exert cultural influence in the meta-political debate.31 Many members of Rodzima Wiara are also members of “Niklot”.32 Rodzima Wiara also has links to the group known as Zakon Zadrugi “Północny Wilk” (the “‘Northern Wolf’ Zadruga Order”, or ZZPW), which is seen as bringing together the neoNazi black metal, skinhead and Slavic Neopagan scenes. Originally pro-Germanic and neo-Nazi, it went on to embrace a Slavic nationalist agenda aligned with the Zadruga doctrine.33 More closely linked to Rodzima Wiara is the Nacjonalistyczne Stowarzyszenie Zadruga (“Nationalist Zadruga Association”, or NS Zadruga).34 Established in Wrocław in 2006, it is – according to Agniezska Gajda – to be regarded as extremely nationalist and anti-Christian. She sees it as representing a racist, antisemitic and xenophobic agenda and combining nationalist, panSlavic and Slavic Neopagan views in its ideology.35 Its member Stanisław Grzanka, who was likewise a Zadruga activist in Stachniuk’s time, describes how the group sees itself as follows: “We reject everything that is alien to it [the Polish nation], that destroys it in parasitic fashion and that stifles its vital energies.”36 The community known as Fundacja na rzecz Kultury Słowiańskiej “Watra” (“‘Watra’ Foundation for Slavic Culture”, or “Watra” for short) was set up in 2009 by Rafał Merski and registered as a foundation four years later.37 He acts as the community’s Żerca (“priest”) and has put together the group’s agenda (fig. 2 and 3). He was previously an active member of another Slavic Neopagan community, Zachodniosłowiański Związek Wyznaniowy “Słowiańska Wiara” (the “‘Slavic Faith’ West Slavic Association of Believers”), which likewise emerged from the trail left by Rodzima Wiara.38 Merski is also involved in the ultranationalist organisation Ruch Narodowe (“National Movement”) and was a candidate for the radical right-wing party Kukiz’15.39 At the heart of Rodzima Wiara’s religious doctrine lies a pantheistic concept of God as a force that is immanent within the world. Its texts describe a “divine will” permeating the entire universe and striving for divine perfection: The world is evolving together with the Primordial Force immanent within it – The One. Everything that exists is developing and seeks to constantly improve, to increase its power and the range of possibilities open to it.40 It holds that pre-Christian Slavic religion emerged out of the fusion of Neolithic “pre-Aryan” and later “pre- Baltic Slavic” and “Aryan” ethnic groups into a single people with a shared culture living in the part of the world now populated by Slavs.41 Rodzima Wiara advocates the protection of “Aryan heritage” and a hierarchical model of society divided into estates of priests, warriors and farmers/growers.42 It aims to restore the unity of all Aryan peoples based on “the genetic kinship of the Aryan peoples and the Vedic sources of our civilisation and culture”.43 This collective identity is forged from close links between a community that is based on lineage, the environment surrounding it and a shared religion. The characters of individual peoples and nations are formed out of the overlap between inherited traits of upbringing, pressure from the natural environment and the impact of their surroundings. If their origin and faith share the same source and are compatible with each other, then the conditions are created for a harmonious and strong character to emerge.44 Converting to “alien” religions, by contrast, causes psychological damage: “If one’s genotype is at odds with one’s creed, an inner rift emerges. The character of a person and particularly of a nation is unstable and weak, prone even to self-harm.”45 The decadence of Ancient Greece and Rome is alleged to have paved the way for “Judeo-Christianity” and thus for “unculture”, with Christianity being a religion that destroys the
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