Stronnictwo Pracy

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The Stronnictwo Pracy ( SP ) (German Labor Party ) was an originally Christian Democratic Polish party that became a block party in the People's Republic of Poland .

history

The SP in the Second Republic

The SP was formed on October 10, 1937 through the merger of the three predecessor parties Polskie Stronnictwo Chrześcijańskiej Demokracji ( Christian Democratic Peasant Party of Poland ), Narodowa Partia Robotnicza ( National Workers' Party ) and Związek Hallerczyków ( Haller Union , party leader was Józef Haller ) (see also Front von.) Morges ). Wojciech Korfanty became party leader . The strongholds of the party were Silesia and Pomerania .

The SP in exile

With the division of Poland between the National Socialist German Reich and the Soviet Union, Poland's independence as a state ended in 1939, and with it the possibility of political activity by the SP.

Its leading members went into exile and took part in the Polish government- in- exile in London . Party leader at this time was Karol Popiel . The party was represented in the government in exile by Cyryl Ratajski (1940–1942), Jan Stanisław Jankowski (1943–1945) and Jerzy Braun (1945).

Synchronization after the war

During the Second World War , Poland was occupied by the Soviet Union. Not the London government-in-exile, but the Moscow-loyal Lublin Committee took power in the conquered areas. This initially prevented the re-admission of the SP. According to the communist rulers, ideological parties had no place in Poland.

Instead, the communists raised a split from the SP, the Moscow- loyal Stronnictwo Zrywu Narodowego under Zygmunt Felczak and Feliks Widy-Wirski , into the world. A new approval of the SP made the Polska Partia Robotnicza dependent on a cooperation with this group. Karol Popiel refused this collaboration, as it would have meant submission of the SP to the control of the PPR. Therefore, not the SP, but the Zryw group was represented in the Krajowa Rada Narodowa and in the state administration.

Popiel's offer to renounce the traditional name of the party and allow the SP to appear under the name Chrześcijańskie Stronnictwo Pracy (German: Christian Labor Party, ChSP) was also rejected by the communists. In 1945 the SP gave in and was merged with the Zryw Group, but was again approved under the old name. After the Zryw group had seized the majority in the board in 1946, the freely elected previous board decided on July 18, 1946 to dissolve the party itself. Popiel renewed the application to obtain party approval from the ChSP. This request was again not granted and Popiel fled to London in the summer of 1947.

The control of the SP by the PPR was not yet comprehensive: In the massively falsified Sejm election in Poland in 1947 , the SP was able to stand as its own list and refuse to be forced to join the PPR-led electoral bloc. Josef Stalin assigned 4.7% of the vote and 12 seats to the SP in the election.

The synchronization of the SP could not be stopped. In the presidential election in Poland in 1947 , MPs from the SP supported Bolesław Bierut with the parties in the Bolesław Bloc . The party remained as a block party until 1950. Party leader was Tadeusz Michejda from 1946 to 1950 .

In exile

The members of the SP who had fled to the free west continued their work in exile. The leading activist of the party in exile was Hugon Hanke , who served as prime minister in the government in exile. However, he turned out to be an agent of the Polish secret service and fled to Poland after his exposure. With Zygmunt Muchniewski , the SP again provided the exiled prime minister from July 20, 1970 to July 13, 1972.

After the turn

On February 12, 1989, the labor party in the country (initially under the name "Christian Democratic Labor Party") was revived.

Party leader

  • 1937–1939: Wojciech Korfanty
  • 1939-1946: Karol Popiel
  • 1946–1950: Tadeusz Michejda

literature

  • Andrzej Kaluza: The Polish Party State and Its Political Opponents 1944-1956 , 1998, ISBN 3-465-02769-8 , p. 62