Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza
Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza Polish United Workers' Party |
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founding | December 15, 1948 |
resolution | 27.-30. January 1990 (self-dissolution) |
Headquarters | ul. Nowy Świat 6/12 00-497 Warszawa |
Alignment |
Communism Marxism-Leninism |
The Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza (short: PZPR ; German: Polish United Workers' Party , short: PVAP ) was a Marxist-Leninist party which, according to the constitution of the VR Poland of 1952 , which was amended in 1976, was the "leading political force of society when building socialism [...] "was. Throughout its existence it was the ruling power of the People's Republic of Poland in all areas of society (except the Catholic Church ) , which had the goal of socialist development in Poland with the long-term goal of communism .
history
Until 1989
The Polish United Workers 'Party was founded at a unification convention of the Polish Workers' Party ( Polska Partia Robotnicza , PPR ) and the Polish Socialist Party ( Polska Partia Socjalistyczna , PPS ) from December 15 to 21, 1948. This was due to the removal of functionaries of the PPS who opposed the association, which was actually a takeover by the PPR, as well as those from the PPR who were accused of " nationalistic deviating from the law". It is estimated that around 25% of socialists were “sidelined” or were pushed out of political life.
resolution
From January 1990 buildings of the party were occupied all over Poland in order to prevent the theft of property and the destruction of the archives. On January 29, 1990, the XI. PZPR party congress held, at which the transformation of the party should be advanced. Ultimately, it came to their self-dissolution. Some of the delegates decided to found two new, social democratic oriented parties. For this purpose the PZPR received one million dollars from the CPSU as a so-called “Moscow loan”.
Former functionaries of the PZPR founded the social democracy of the Polish Republic ( Socjaldemokracja Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej , SdRP ). Its main initiators were Leszek Miller and Mieczysław Rakowski .
The remaining part of the members founded the Social Democratic Union of the Republic of Poland ( Unia Socjaldemokratyczna Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej , USdRP ) which later renamed itself to the Polish Social Democratic Union (Polska Unia Socjaldemokratyczna) and the July 8th movement (Ruch 8 Lipca) .
Dealing with the assets of the PZPR
Among other things, the SdRP was supposed to take over all rights and obligations of the PZPR and to assist in the handling of the property of the former PZPR. At the end of the 1980s it had considerable income, mainly from its real estate property, as well as from the company " Prasa-Książka-Ruch " ( press-book movement ), which in turn received special tax breaks. At that time, membership fees only made up 30% of the total income of the PZPR.
Towards the end of 1990, an intense debate took place in the Sejm about the manner of taking over the assets of the former PZPR. This consisted u. a. from 3000 properties, about half of which were used without any legal basis. Proponents of the takeover of the PZPR's assets argued that this was created through robbery and payments from the state budget, and was therefore worked out by society as a whole. The opponents from the SdRP were of the opinion that the assets were created through membership fees and demanded that the SdRP, which was managing the assets at the time, should become the PZPR's legal successor. The movable property and accounts of the former PZPR were not controlled by the Sejm.
On November 9, 1990, the Sejm passed the "Law on the Takeover of the Assets of the Former PZPR". This should ultimately lead to the state taking over the PZPR's real estate assets. Part of the real estate was taken over by 1992, mostly in favor of local authorities . Legal disputes over the remainder continued into the year 2000. The movable property and financial assets of the PZPR have practically disappeared. According to the information provided by members of the SdRP, around 90–95% of the party's assets were used to pay severance payments to full-time employees and for social purposes.
Goals and structure
Until 1989 the PZPR was a state party with almost absolute power, which controlled society in the federal government with "friendly parties and organizations" and above all steered the security, foreign and economic policy of the country. The party was organized according to the principle of " democratic centralism ", according to which decision-making, the leadership of the party and the filling of leading positions within the party should take place democratically. In practice, the Central Committee ( Komitet Centralny , KC ), its Politburo (Biuro Polityczne) and its secretariat played the decisive role. The party itself and its organs were also closely monitored by the Soviet Union . They also intervened in important political and personal decisions (sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly), although these were actually exclusively a matter for the party congresses (Zjazd) , which took place roughly every five to six years. In the times between the party congresses, the meetings of the party organizations took place at the level of the voivodeships , powiats (districts), municipalities and companies.
The smallest organizational cell was the so-called base party organization ( Podstawowa Organizacja Partyjna , POP ), which was active in companies, universities, cultural institutions, etc. The most important role in the PZPR was played by professional politicians , the so-called “party active” (aktyw partyjny) . This group of people who have been trained to lead state institutions, social organizations, trade unions, etc. At the height of its development (late 1970s) the membership was over 3.5 million. The Politburo of the Central Committee, the Secretariat and the Voivodeship Committees decided on the allocation of key positions within the party, but also in any institutions that had the designation "state" in their names - from central authorities to even small state-owned companies and cooperatives . In some areas, however, posts were also assigned to parties allied with the PVAP, i.e. the United Peasants' Party ( Zjednoczone Stronnictwo Ludowe , ZSL ) (especially in the field of agriculture) and the Democratic Party ( Stronnictwo Demokratyczne , SD ) (especially in the craft sector , small business owners and some cooperatives).
Party leaders
Until 1954, the chairman of the Central Committee was at the head of the party.
- I. Secretary Bolesław Bierut (December 22, 1948– March 12, 1956; General Secretary until March 17, 1954 )
- I. Secretary Edward Ochab (March 20, 1956– October 21, 1956)
- I. Secretary Władysław Gomułka (October 21, 1956– December 20, 1970)
- I. Secretary Edward Gierek (December 20, 1970 - September 6, 1980)
- I. Secretary Stanisław Kania (September 6, 1980– October 18, 1981)
- I. Secretary Wojciech Jaruzelski (October 18, 1981– July 29, 1989)
- I. Secretary Mieczysław Rakowski (July 29, 1989– January 29, 1990)
Party congresses
- 1st (founding) party congress of the PZPR, 15. – 22. December 1948
- II. Party congress, 10. – 17. March 1954
- III. Party congress, 10. – 19. March 1959
- IV. Party Congress, 15. – 20. June 1964
- 5th party congress, 11. – 16. November 1968
- VI. Party congress, 6. – 11. December 1971
- VII. Party congress, 8.-12. December 1975
- VIII. Party Congress, 11-15. February 1980
- IX. (Extraordinary) party conference, 14. – 20. July 1981
- Xth Party Congress, June 29th – 3rd July 1986
- XI. (Last) party congress, 27. – 30. January 1990 (ends when the party dissolves itself)
Known members
Seat of the Central Committee
Until 1990, the decision-making center of the PZPR was located in a building erected between 1948 and 1952 with compulsory contributions from the entire population. This was officially called the House of the Party ( Dom Partii ), but colloquially it was called the White House (Polish: Biały Dom ). Since 1991 the center for finance and banking (Polish: Centrum Bankowo-Finansowe ) has been located in the building . In the period 1991–2000 the Warsaw Stock Exchange had its seat here. In the years 1918–1931 the building of the Ministry of Transport was located here and in front of that, 1831–1918, the Court of Auditors.
See also
- Parties in Poland
- Partisans (faction of the PVA)
- People's Republic of Poland
- History of Poland 1945 to 1989
- Poznan Uprising (1956)
- Polish October
- March 1968 riots in Poland
- December 1970 uprising in Poland
- Polish uprising in June 1976
- August 1980 strikes in Poland
- Martial law in Poland 1981–1983
- Round table (Poland)
literature
- Gerd Kaiser, Aleksander Kochański: "You can't get away with this scam ...". The reflection of the 1956 social crisis in the Politburo of the Polish United Workers' Party . In: Yearbook for research on the history of the labor movement . 5th year, issue 3, 2006, pp. 125-146.
- Tytus Jaskułowski: The political system of the People's Republic of Poland in the last decades of its existence. In: Uwe Backes , Günther Heydemann , Clemens Vollnhals (eds.): State socialisms in comparison. State Party - Social Policy - Opposition (= writings of the Hannah Arendt Institute for Totalitarianism Researchg . 64). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2019, ISBN 978-3-525-37077-3 , pp. 87-98.