Aleksander Sulkiewicz

Aleksander Sulkiewicz - actually Iskander Mirza Huzman Beg Sulkiewicz, (conspiratorial name Michał, sometimes Czarny Michał (Black Michael)) (born December 8, 1867 in Skersabaliai, Lithuania, died September 18, 1916 near Sitowicze) - was a Polish politician of Tatar ethnicity, activist in socialist and independence movements and one of the co-founders of Polish Socialist Party.

Early life
Sulkiewicz was born to a Tatar family with a tradition of support for the cause of Polish independence. He was the son of a rotmistrz (rotamaster) in the Czarist army, Aleksander and Rozalia née Kryczyńska (feminine form of Kryczynski as in Prince Kryczynski; one of the few Tatar families officially acknowledge as princes by the Polish—Lithuanian Diet and the King—Grand Duke). He was related to Józef Bielak, a general in the Kościuszko Uprising and one of the most cherished family possessions was a letter from Tadeusz Kościuszko praising and thanking his grandfather for his service. As a child he attended a Turkish school in Istanbul, where he came into contact with the Polish emigre community. After the death of his father (around 1877) he came back with his family to Suwałki (in 1800) and later to Sejny, where he continued his studies.

Underground political activity
In Vilnius he was introduced into circles of socialist activists. He became an active member of the Social-Revolutionary Party Proletariat. In November 1892 he took part in the "Paris Convention" and creation of Związek Zagraniczny Socjalistów Polskich (Organization of Polish Socialists Abroad). Subsequently he came back to Poland where he participated in the organization of Polish Socialist Party groups in Vilna. Together with Józef Piłsudski, Stanisław Wojciechowski, Stefan Bielak and Ludwik Zajkowski he took part in the meeting in a forest near Vilna, which later was recognized as the First Congress of the Polish Socialist Party (PPS).

In 1890 he got a job in the treasury department in Suwałki, and later in the customs office in Władysławowo and Kiborty. Thanks to these positions he came to be in charge of smuggling operations of the underground socialist press (so called Bibuła) from Geneva and London into Congress Poland. He also helped Lithuanian nationalists smuggle in Lithuanian language publications from abroad which were banned by Russian authorities. He was able to carry out clandestine conspiratorial activity for so long without being detected, partly because the Russian authorities did not suspect a follower of Islam of pro-Polish independence activities. From 1895 to 1897, and then from 1899 to 1902 he was in the Central Committee of the PPS.

He finished his job as a bureaucrat in customs in 1900, and, on party orders, moved to Łódź where he set up the printing shop for the Robotnik newspaper. He composed and edited the first issue of the paper together with Piłsudski. The print shop was soon discovered by the Czarist police but Sulkiewicz managed to evade arrest. However, Józef Piłsudski was caught. Sulkiewicz with help from others (like Władysław Mazurkiewicz) began making plans for his escape. The escape occurred on on May 14, 1901, after Piłsudski feigned mental illness in order to get himself transferred from the Warsaw Citadel to a lower security mental hospital in Saint Petersburg. The escape might very well have saved Piłsudski's life as martial law applied and hence any conspiratorial activity was harshly punished.

Starting in 1903 he rejoined the Central Committee of PPS, this time in Kiev. He was caught by the police, but thanks to good recommendations from his previous places of work he was freed after a few months with a caution. Soon after there was a split in PPS, and Suwalkiewicz followed Piłsudski in joining the pro-independence (as opposed to the pro-internationalist) PPS-Revolutionary Faction, and in 1908 became a member of its Central Committee.

World War I and the Polish Legions
When World War I broke out, Sulkiewicz volunteered for the Polish Legions. After the creation of Polish National Organization (PON) he became its director in Wilno region. He traveled on diplomatic mission to Berlin, Copenhagen, Sweden and Kiev. Later he came back to Galicia and from there he was sent by Piłsudski back to German controlled Warsaw. There he was active in the Polish Military Organisation (POW, or Polska Organizacja Wojskowa) and PPS. He was arrested by Germans in November 1915 but eventually released. He moved to Austria-occupied Poland in order to take part in further fighting as part of the Polish Legions.

He was initially made an intendent (a manager) in May 1916 but, after being refused twice due to his age (he was 49 years old at the time) he was finally given a front line position as a sergeant in the first Brigade of the Polish Legion. On September 18, 1916, during the Battle of Sitowicze, while running to help the wounded chorąży, Adam Koc, he was mortally wounded himself. On November 8, 1925 his body was moved to Warsaw and buried in the Powązki Military Cemetery. Sulkiewicz was awarded the Order of Virtuti Militari. He was also posthumously awarded the Cross of Independence with Swords.