Kołłątaj's Forge
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The Kołłątaj's Forge (Polish: Kuźnica Kołłątajowska) was a group of social and political activists, publicists and writers from the period of the Great Sejm in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Centered on Hugo Kołłątaj, one of the most prominent thinkers of the Polish Enlightenment,[1] the Forge (Kuźnica) activists formed a radical, leftist faction of the reform supporters (the Patriotic Party, an organization that has been called the first Polish political party).[2][3] They disseminated news and ideas of the French Revolution in Poland.[4] Their pamphlets criticized feudalism and privileges of the nobility.[5][6] Their name, Kołłataj's Forge, was given to them by their political opponents, and was originally pejorative.[7][8]