Some Economic Problems of Polish-American Relations in 1918-1920

Abstract

Postwar Polish historiography advanced two theses about Polish-American relations in 1918-1920: that the United States sought to make Poland a base for aggression against Soviet Russia, and that American capital sought to subordinate the Polish economy. These theses were widely accepted but had not been subjected to critical examination on the basis of Polish archival sources.
This article tests these theses by analyzing the main economic aspects of Polish-American relations from 1918 to 1920: the policy of isolationism in the United States, the food and financial aid granted to Poland, the attempts to obtain American credits and capital investments, and the real scope and limits of American economic engagement with Poland.
The study draws on unpublished archival sources from the Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (AMSZ-Wasz.) in Warsaw and the Archives of New Records (AAN), complemented by contemporary periodicals such as Przemysł i Handel and Bank, as well as earlier Polish studies by Kowalski, Atkins, Rojek, and Lapter.
The analysis shows that in 1918-1920 the policy of isolationism prevailed in the United States, making major economic engagement in Europe unlikely. American capital found more attractive placements on American markets. Aid to Poland took mainly the form of food assistance through the ARA mission and war credits for food purchases, not industrial investment. Polish attempts to obtain loans from American high finance failed: the Polish loan of 1920 raised only 20 million out of the 250 million dollars projected. Regular placements of American capital in Poland began only in 1924-1929, when capital entered the banking sector, heavy industry (Harriman in Upper Silesia), and electrification projects. The thesis that American capital sought to subordinate the Polish economy in 1918-1920 does not withstand archival scrutiny.