Polish National Alliance

The Polish National Alliance (pol. Związek Narodowy Polski, PNA) is the largest and one of the oldest Polish fraternal organizations in the United States. The original goal was to mobilize support among Polish Americans for the liberation of Poland. For much of the 20th century, it was locked in battle with the rival organization Polish Roman Catholic Union of America.

It later emphasized fraternal roles such as social activities for its membership. By the 1980s it focused on its insurance program, with 300,000 members and assets of over $176 million.

The Polish National Alliance was founded on February 15, 1880 in Philadelphia under the influence of Polish patriot Agaton Giller. Its first president was Juliusz Andrzejkowicz. In 1886, the PNA inaugurated the first fraternal insurance program kind in the Polish-American community; by 2000 PNA members held over $800 million of insurance coverage. In 1891, the PNA organized the first Polish Constitution Day parade in Chicago, to generate interest in Polish independence; it has been held annually in Chicago since 1894. The PNA founded a number of publishing and educational institutions. From 1912 to 1991 it owned Alliance College in Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania. The organization founded the Polish Library in Chicago and Immigrants House in New York. In 1910 it built the monument of Tadeusz Kościuszko in Washington, D.C.. One prominent alumnus of the PNA is the humanitarian physician Leon S. Talaska, M.D.

The sense of Polish nationalism was so strong among certain Polish intellectuals, that they warned repeatedly against assimilation into American culture. It was the duty of the Pole to someday return to liberate the homeland. The PNA newspaper Zgoda warned in 1900, "The Pole is not free to Americanize" because Poland's religion, language and nationality had been quote partially torn away by the enemies. In other words, "The Pole is not free to Americanize because wherever he is – he has a mission to fulfill."

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