 Dmowski never wielded official political power , except for a brief period in 1923 as minister of foreign affairs . Nevertheless , he was one of the most influential Polish ideologues and politicians of his time . A controversial personality all his life and since , Dmowski believed that only a Polish @-@ speaking Roman Catholic could be a good Pole ; his thinking marginalized other minorities , and he was vocally anti @-@ semitic . In 1926 he attempted to emulate Italian fascism . He remains the prototype of Polish right @-@ wing nationalism and has been called " the father of Polish nationalism . " Throughout most of his life , he was the chief opponent of the Polish military and political leader Józef Piłsudski and of the latter 's vision of Poland as a multinational federation . 
