Polish Committee of National Liberation in September 1944

The Polish Committee of National Liberation ( Polish: ''Polski Komitet Wyzwolenia Narodowego'', ''PKWN''), also known as the Lublin Committee, was an executive governing authority established by the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

-backed

communists Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, d ...

in Poland at the later stage of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

.. It was officially proclaimed on 22 July 1944 in

Chełm Chełm (; ; ) is a city in eastern Poland in the Lublin Voivodeship with 60,231 inhabitants as of December 2021. It is located to the south-east of Lublin, north of Zamość and south of Biała Podlaska, some from the border with Ukraine. The ...

, installed on 26 July in

Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...

and placed formally under the direction of the

State National Council Krajowa Rada Narodowa in Polish language, Polish (translated as State National Council or Homeland National Council, abbreviated to KRN) was a parliament-like political body created during the later stages of World War II in Nazi Germany, German- ...

(''Krajowa Rada Narodowa'', KRN). The PKWN was a provisional entity functioning in opposition to the London-based

Polish government-in-exile The Polish government-in-exile, officially known as the Government of the Republic of Poland in exile (), was the government in exile of Poland formed in the aftermath of the Invasion of Poland of September 1939, and the subsequent Occupation ...

, which was recognized by the Western allies.. The PKWN exercised control over Polish territory retaken from

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

by the Soviet

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

and the Polish People's Army. It was sponsored and controlled by the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and dominated by

Polish communists Communism in Poland can trace its origins to the late 19th century: the Marxist First Proletariat party was founded in 1882. Rosa Luxemburg (1871–1919) of the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania (''Socjaldemokracja Króle ...

Formation

At the time of the formation of the PKWN, the principal Polish authority in German-occupied Poland was the

Polish Underground State The Polish Underground State (, also known as the Polish Secret State) was a single political and military entity formed by the union of resistance organizations in occupied Poland that were loyal to the Government of the Republic of Poland ...

network of organizations loyal to the Polish government-in-exile, resident in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. As the Red Army, fighting

Nazi German Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

forces, entered Polish territory,

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

and Polish communists proceeded with the establishment of a rival executive authority, one that they could trust. The PKWN was formed in negotiations involving primarily the main Polish communist organizations, the

Union of Polish Patriots Union of Polish Patriots (''Society of Polish Patriots'', , ZPP, ) was a political body created by Polish communists in the Soviet Union in 1943. The ZPP, unofficially controlled and directed by Joseph Stalin, became one of the founding structur ...

(ZPP) and the

Polish Workers' Party The Polish Workers' Party (, PPR) was a communist party in Poland from 1942 to 1948. It was founded as a reconstitution of the Communist Party of Poland (KPP) and merged with the Polish Socialist Party (PPS) in 1948 to form the Polish United W ...

(PPR).. The Polish communist movement had been decimated during the Soviet purges in the 1930s, but revived under Stalin's auspices beginning in 1940.. The PPR was a new party organized in

occupied Poland ' (Norwegian language, Norwegian: ') is a Norwegian political thriller TV series that premiered on TV 2 (Norway), TV2 on 5 October 2015. Based on an original idea by Jo Nesbø, the series is co-created with Karianne Lund and Erik Skjoldbjærg. ...

, the ZPP originated during the war in the Soviet Union. The PPR had already established in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

a conspiratorial

(KRN), which they declared to be the wartime national parliament.. Because of war-related obstacles, the communist leaders arriving from Warsaw (the PPR delegation that included

Władysław Gomułka Władysław Gomułka (; 6 February 1905 – 1 September 1982) was a Polish Communist politician. He was the ''de facto'' leader of Polish People's Republic, post-war Poland from 1947 until 1948, and again from 1956 to 1970. Born in 1905 in ...

and

Bolesław Bierut Bolesław Bierut (; 18 April 1892 – 12 March 1956) was a Polish communist activist and politician, leader of History of Poland (1945–1989), communist-ruled Poland from 1947 until 1956. He was President of the State National Council from 1944 ...

) reached

only on 31 July, and attained full agreement with the group from

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

(ZPP) on 15 August. The documents they produced were antedated to 21 July to comply with the declarations issued as of 22 July. The

PKWN Manifesto The Manifesto of the Polish Committee of National Liberation, also known as the July Manifesto () or the PKWN Manifesto (), was a political manifesto of the Polish Committee of National Liberation (PKWN), a Soviet-backed administration, whi ...

, proclaimed on 22 July 1944, was outlined in advance in a

Radio Moscow Radio Moscow (), also known as Radio Moscow World Service, was the official international broadcasting station of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics until 1993, when it was reorganized into Voice of Russia, which was subsequently reorga ...

broadcast. The PKWN, located in Lublin, became known as the Lublin Committee. While the administrative authority in Poland was granted to the PKWN, many aspects of wartime governance were determined by the Soviet military surveillance. As the Red Army and the allied Polish Army moved into Polish territory, the PKWN expanded its authority within the liberated areas, except for

Kresy Eastern Borderlands (), often simply Borderlands (, ) was a historical region of the eastern part of the Second Polish Republic. The term was coined during the interwar period (1918–1939). Largely agricultural and extensively multi-ethnic with ...

(prewar eastern Poland), intended by the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...

to be incorporated into the Soviet Union (see

Tehran Conference The Tehran Conference (codenamed Eureka) was a strategy meeting of the Allies of World War II, held between Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill from 28 November to 1 December 1943. It was the first of the Allied World Wa ...

Yalta Conference The Yalta Conference (), held 4–11 February 1945, was the World War II meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union to discuss the postwar reorganization of Germany and Europe. The three sta ...

Membership

Among the members of the PKWN were politicians of various communist and leftist parties accepted by Stalin. Its chairman was Edward Osóbka-Morawski of the

Polish Socialist Party The Polish Socialist Party (, PPS) is a democratic socialist political party in Poland. It was one of the most significant parties in Poland from its founding in 1892 until its forced merger with the communist Polish Workers' Party to form ...

(PPS). His deputies were Wanda Wasilewska and Andrzej Witos of the Union of Polish Patriots (ZPP); Witos was a younger brother of

Wincenty Witos Wincenty Witos (; 21 or 22 January 1874 – 31 October 1945) was a Polish statesman, prominent member and leader of the Polish People's Party (PSL), who served three times as the Prime Minister of Poland in the 1920s. He was a member of the Pol ...

, a notable pre-war politician.. Andrzej Witos was later replaced by Stanisław Janusz. The fifteen members included those from the KRN and the ZPP. Officially, three were from the Polish Socialist Workers' Party (RPPS, a left-wing PPS faction), four represented the agrarian People's Party (SL), one the Democratic Party (SD), five the Polish Workers' Party (PPR) and two were unaffiliated.. Stanisław Radkiewicz was responsible for the security department and

Michał Rola-Żymierski Michał Rola-Żymierski (; 4 September 189015 October 1989) was a Polish high-ranking Polish United Workers' Party, Communist Party leader, communist military commander and NKVD secret agent. He was appointed as Marshal of Poland, and served in t ...

for the defense department. The Soviet side was represented by

Nikolai Bulganin Nikolai Alexandrovich Bulganin (; – 24 February 1975) was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 1955 to 1958. He also served as Minister of Defense (Soviet Union), Minister of Defense, following service in the Red Army during World War II. ...

, whose role was to provide support for the PKWN's administration and security apparatus, and who was charged with destruction of political and military groupings representing the Polish government-in-exile. The PKWN presented itself as a broad leftist and democratic coalition, but the major Polish political parties were not officially represented. According to historian

Norman Davies Ivor Norman Richard Davies (born 8 June 1939) is a British and Polish historian, known for his publications on the history of Europe, Poland and the United Kingdom. He has a special interest in Central and Eastern Europe and is UNESCO Profes ...

, most of the key positions in the PKWN were given to people who were essentially Soviet employees and not PPR members. Communists were in charge of the departments of military affairs, security, and propaganda.

Policies

The PKWN Manifesto promised radical agrarian reforms, westward expansion of Polish territory at the expense of Germany, and adherence to the 1921 March Constitution of Poland. It accused the Polish government-in-exile of being a "usurper" and called the 1935 April Constitution of Poland "fascist". At the outset, Polish communists had marginal support among the Polish population and the new regime was completely dependent on Moscow. The committee's early decrees granted the

Soviet secret police There were a succession of Soviet secret police agencies over time. The Okhrana was abolished by the Provisional government after the first revolution of 1917, and the first secret police after the October Revolution, created by Vladimir Leni ...

(the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

) authority over the Red Army's "rear areas" (which effectively meant all of Poland) and proclaimed the creation of a

Polish Army The Land Forces () are the Army, land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 110,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military histor ...

under Soviet leadership. The PKWN used a combination of repressive and co-optive measures. It appealed to patriotic sentiment, supported cultural events, and implemented a popular and long-overdue

land reform Land reform (also known as agrarian reform) involves the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership, land use, and land transfers. The reforms may be initiated by governments, by interested groups, or by revolution. Lan ...

. The newly recreated Polish army, largely staffed with Soviet officers (most of the Polish officer corps present in the east was eliminated in the

Katyn massacre The Katyn massacre was a series of mass killings under Communist regimes, mass executions of nearly 22,000 Polish people, Polish military officer, military and police officers, border guards, and intelligentsia prisoners of war carried out by t ...

or left the Soviet Union with Anders' Army), kept the appearance of a national army and participated in the Soviet offensive all the way to

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

.. At the end of December 1944, the PKWN was reconstituted as the

Provisional Government of the Republic of Poland The Provisional Government of the Republic of Poland (, RTRP) was created by the State National Council () on the night of 31 December 1944.Norman Davies, 1982 and several reprints, ''God's Playground'' 2 vols. New York: Columbia Univ. Press. a ...

(RTRP), which was formally recognized by the Soviet Union in January 1945. The government-in-exile retained for the time being the recognition of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, but in reality the Western powers no longer considered it relevant as an international settlement on the issue of Poland's government was sought..

Notes

''a.'' "The new Polish regime began to legislate as early as July, 1944. At that time the only existing Polish government was the Polish Government in Exile in London, which was internationally recognized". ''b.'' "In the summer of 1944 there were therefore two rival centres claiming authority in Poland. On one side, there was the non-communist Underground State with the AK, enjoying the support of most Poles, and owing allegiance to the legitimate Polish government in London, which was still recognized by the Western Allies; and on the other, the Soviet sponsored PKWN which, despite its feeble roots among the Polish population, enjoyed the full material support of the Red Army and of the Soviet security forces in the creation of structures of government behind the Soviet front line."

References

Bibliography

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