Patriotic Party

Patriotic Party (Polish "Stronnictwo Patriotyczne") was a Polish political movement during the Four-Year Sejm of 1788-1792 that sought reforms aimed at bolstering Poland's independence from Russia. The Patriotic Party worked to abolish the magnate- and Russian-dominated Permanent Council and enlarge the Polish Army. The Party's conservative wing, led by Ignacy Potocki and some progressive magnates such as Adam Kazimierz Czartoryski, sought alliance with Prussia and advocated opposing King Stanisław August Poniatowski. The Party's centrists, including Stanisław Małachowski, wished accommodation with the King. The liberals (Polish Jacobins), led by Hugo Kołłątaj, looked for support to the townspeople and populace of Warsaw.

In 1790 the King joined the reformers. During the "Great" or "Four-Year Sejm", the Patriotic Party secured adoption of the May 3rd Constitution of 1791 and formed an "Assembly of Friends of the Government Constitution" to defend the reforms already enacted and to promote further, including economic, ones.

After the Russo-Polish war of 1792, which was won by Russia and its allies, the Patriotic Party's principal leaders — Kołłątaj, Potocki, Małachowski — emigrated abroad, where they prepared the groundwork for the Kościuszko Uprising of 1794.