Familia (political party)

After amassing immense fortune in 1731, he would start financing his family's political endeavours, with the main goal becoming reforming the Commonwealth.

From 1728 onwards, a fierce battle would rage between the Potockis and the Familia was fought to prevent Poniatowski from taking the mullet; according to the law in force, the King could only confer the office of Hetman at the Sejm, after the Marshal had been elected.

Well aware of the balance of power in Poland, the French resident Perteville appreciated the growing importance of the Familia and, from at least the beginning of 1731, worked to drag it into the camp France was building to elect Stanisław Leszczyński to the Polish throne after the death of August II.

During the next Polish interregnum (1763–1764) near the end of the "Seven Years' War" in Europe, an armed Russian intervention in Poland gave the Familia the opportunity to vanquish their opponents at home.

The Czartoryski family now stood at the forefront of the reform current, and decided to strengthen the central power in order to curb the supremacy of the magnates, introduced a standing army and enacted egalitarian reforms with aim to protect the poorer gentry who enlisted in the government offices and in the army.

Summarizing Familia's reforms, Polish historian Bolesław Limanowski concluded: "It was thus a state-democratic programme, so to speak, because it strove to make the social system more democratic, with the state's interests at the forefront.

At the infamous Repnin Sejm, they were obliged to repeal part of the recently introduced reforms for fear of further unwanted intervention.

[2] After the First Partition of Poland (February 17, 1772), the Familia became the core of magnate opposition to the King and the Permanent Council, while seeking support in Austria (only to shift in 1788 to a pro-Prussian stance).