The Beginnings of Communist Rule in Poland: December 1943 – June 1945 (1980) by Antony Polonsky, Bolesław Drukier
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Overview: This study is based on previously unavailable documents brought to the west in 1972. It provides a detailed account of the problems faced by a communist party taking power in a country in which it was opposed by the great majority of the population. The period covered is from the establishment of the National Council for the Homeland (KRN) by the Polish Workers Party in December 1943, to the enlargement of the Polish provisional government by the entry into it of a number of non-communist politicians, led by Stanisław Mikołajczyk, and the granting to it of official recognition by the western powers in June-July 1945. These eighteen months were crucial for the establishment of communist rule in Poland. They saw the setting up of a governmental structure effectively dominated by the communists, and the emergence of a security apparatus which was already displaying an alarming degree of independence, controlled by the Soviet ‘advisers’ within it. The documents bring out clearly the conflicts within the Polish Workers Party over strategy and tactics, as well as the complexity of its relationship with its smaller coalition partners. They also reveal very dearly the way Soviet officials, above all Stalin himself, exercised close supervision and control over the situation in Poland. The work is thus significant not only because of the light it sheds on Polish politics in the last years of the Second World War, but also because of the way it illuminates the general characteristics of Soviet policy in these years. As well as the documents themselves, this book includes an introduction by Antony Polonsky, aglossary of organizations, a list of pseudonyms and biographical details of individuals. As such, The Beginnings of Communist Rule in Poland constitutes a major contribution to our understanding of how Soviet power was established in Eastern Europe, and will be essential reading for all those interested in the area and in the problem of the origins ofthe Cold War.
Genre: Non-Fiction > History
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