Combat Organization of the Polish Socialist Party

The Combat Organization of the Polish Socialist Party (Polish: Organizacja Bojowa Polskiej Partii Socjalistycznej, abbreviated OBPPS), also translated as Fighting Organization of the Polish Socialist Party; also known as bojówki (paramilitary units); Organizacja Spiskowo-Bojowa PPS (PPS Underground-Combat Organization); Koła Bojowe Samoobrony Robotniczej (Workers' Self-Defense Combat Circles) and Koła Techniczno-Bojowe (Combat-Technical Circles), was an illegal Polish guerrilla organization founded in 1904 by Józef Piłsudski.

Its operations reached their zenith about 1904–1908, when it numbered over 2,000 members, including over 700 paramilitary personnel, and carried out over 2,500 operations. The organization had over 5,000 members at the height of its power. Afterwards it declined and was dissolved in 1911. Its goal was to create an armed resistance movement against the Imperial Russian authorities in partitioned Poland. Its most notable operations included the Bloody Wednesday of 15 August 1906; the failed assassination attempt against the Governor-General of Warsaw, Georgi Skalon, 18 August 1906; and Bezdany raid, a major train robbery, 26 September 1908.

The first action of the Organizacja Bojowa took place soon after the PPS started to organize an increasing number of demonstrations (mostly in Warsaw). On October 28, 1904, Russian Cossack cavalry trampled the participants in one of the demonstrations; in revenge, on November 13 the 'Bojówki' opened fire on the Russian police and military during a new demonstration. First concentrating on fighting the spies and informants, in March 1905 'Bojówki' started using bombs to assassinate selected members of Russian police, both regular and secret (Okhrana) responsible for repression of Poles in the partitioned Poland. 'Bojówki' also assaulted Russian transports of money leaving the Polish territories. Among the most famous of these was the raid at Bezdany near Vilna in 1908, led by Piłsudski himself. The loot from that single raid (200,812 rubles–or approximately $100,000) was a virtual fortune in contemporary Eastern Europe and equaled the amount 'Bojówki' had looted in the two previous years.

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