[8] The term pogrom is contested by some sources, who are asserting that the word "riot" might be more suitable as the violence was unplanned and some Polish historians hold the opinion that the Jewish side might have started the disturbance.
[2] The Jews owned and operated credit union, power station, transportation companies, bakeries, slaughter houses, tailoring shops, breweries, tobacco manufacturing plants, and groceries.
[9] David Vital, a historian of Tel Aviv University, writes that local peasants were stirred by antisemitic propaganda spread by Endecja (National Democracy) politicians.
In mid-1935, Polish right-wing political activists in Radom County declared a general boycott of Jewish stores.
[12] In response, Jewish merchants begun flooding the market with their goods, pushing prices down so that newcomers couldn't compete with them.
[1] In December 1935, a group of some 20 young Jews created their own armed and illegal self-defense unit, headed by a former officer of the Polish Army, Icek Frydman.
Jewish merchants of Przytyk, a town with a 90% Jewish majority,[clarification needed] hoped that the early spring fair would help to improve their financial situation, but the armosphere in the town was tense, according to the official report of the voivode of Kielce: "We have to emphasize the fact that the idea of an economic boycott of Jews, put forward by the National Democracy, was embraced by the local peasantry, which feels hatred towards the Jews (...) The boycott itself leads [Jewish] merchants to despair, because the economic basis of their existence is threatened".
The consequence generated outrage amongst the Polish farmers, who encircled the police station, demanding the release of Strzałkowski.
When the police seemed to have settled the situation, a Jewish member of the Mizrachi movement, Szulim Chil Leska, began shooting at Poles from the window of a house.
On March 16 however, with the investigation still going on, three members of Jewish self-defence group were incarcerated: Icek Banda, Luzer Kirszencwajg and Chaim Świeczka.
Four days earlier, on March 12, Senator Moses Schorr publicly mentioned the riot, accusing local government and police of supporting the peasants.
As Piotr Gontarczyk claims, Schorr's words, in which he talked about three brutally killed Jewish victims, without mentioning that one of the victims was Polish, resulted in complete distortion of the description of the events, as his words were immediately repeated worldwide, resulting in a wave of anti-Polish feelings among Jewish diaspora.
Furthermore, Kraków daily "Nowy Dziennik" published an article of Sejm deputy Ozjasz Thon, in which he for the first time used the word pogrom, writing about "two human victims" at Przytyk.
[3] A one-day nationwide strike, supported by left-wing parties Bund and PPS was organized, and in other parts of the country, street fights took place.
According to Piotr Gontarczyk, collection of money for Jewish residents of the town resulted in a growing negative propaganda aimed at Poles.