DOWN The Polish Upheavals of 1956, 1968, 1970, 1976, 1980 JAKUB KARPINSKI translated by Olga Amsterdamska and Gene M. Moore KARZ-COHL � NEW YORK PUBLISHERS, INC. The Polish Upheavals of 1956, 1968, 1970, 1976, 1980 JAKUB KARPINSKI translated by Olga Amsterdamska ana Gene M. Moore KARZ-COHL � NEW YORK PUBLISHERS, INC. CONTENTS Page CHAPTER 1. THE ORIGINS OF THE SYSTEM 3 The Underground State 3 The Other Current 10 Political Uniformization 13 CHAPTER 2. A MEASURE OF FREEDOM 23 Background 23 1953 27 1953/1954 30 The International Background 35 The Thaw 39 The Twentieth Party Congress 41 More Cultural Freedom 44 Rehabilitations * 46 The Press 48 Pozna� 49 Divergencies in the Party 53 The Eighth Plenary Meeting 59 The Hungarian Example 66 Changing Polish/Soviet Relations 72 The Economy 75 Culture 76 The State and the Church 80 Catholic Associations 82 New Youth Organizations 86 The Diet Elections 88 Poland and China 94 The Party and the People 96 The Origins of Change 100 CHAPTER 3. SHORT CIRCUIT 105 Foreshadowings 105 "Forefathers' Eve" 110 Three Weeks in March 116 Conclusion 137 UW^�j^y&J*-' Biblioteka WDiNP UW V* i t�! 1098007342 i /� /"") /-^ r^P A|65OT Copyright � 1982 by Karz-Cohl Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved under international and Pan-American copyright conventions. Printed in the United States of America Chapters 1, 2, and 3 of Countdown are adapted respectively from the following volumes: Ewolucja czy rewolucja Copyright � 1975 by Instytut Literacki, Paris Porcja wolno�ci: pa�dziernik 1956 Copyright � 1979 by Instytut Literacki, Paris Kr�tkie spi�cie: marzec 1968 Copyright � 1977 by Instytut Literacki, Paris Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Karpi�ski, Jakub. Countdown, the Polish upheavals of 1956, 1968, 1970, 1976, 1980. Selected compositions, translated from the Polish. Includes index. 1. Poland�History�1945- . I. Title. DK4430.K37 943.8'055 82-203 ISBN 0-918294-14-2 AACR2 ISBN 0-918294-15-0 (pbk.) published in the United States by KARZ-COHL PUBLISHERS, INC. 320 West 105th Street, New York, N.Y. 10025 I I vevooeoooe-4-j�i�i9\o\tntn -ji-*vooe4>>-i<ii-fkO-]5\-)-j w So ^ 6 vo vc CHAPTER 1 THE ORIGINS OF THE SYSTEM The Underground State The present social system in Poland was established primarily as a result of circumstances beyond Polish control: namely, the military situation in Europe at the end of the Second World War and a series of agreements between the Soviet Union, Great Britain, and the United States. Following the Polish defeat to the Germans in September 1939 and the internment of the former Polish government in Rumania, members of the prewar opposition quickly came to the fore. On September 9,1939, a National Council was convened in London to replace the Diet and Senate, with Ignacy Paderewski as president and with three vice-presi- dents�Stanis�aw Miko�ajczyk from the Peasants' Party (SL), Tadeusz Bielecki from the National Party (SN), and Herman Lieberman from the Polish Socialist Party (PPS). These three parties began to play a domi- nant role within the very first months of the German occupation not only in exile but also inside Poland. The dominant role of the prewar govern- ing faction, Sanacja, was finished. All this was taking place at a time when the Polish nation was suffering tremendous losses. In September 1939, Poland was divided between the Third Reich and the Soviet Union. The Germans incorporated into the Reich part of their occupied territory; the rest became known as the General Government. And in both those areas incorporated into the Reich and into the Soviet Union, there were mass deportations. Policies regarding the local populations varied somewhat in different areas at different times; but from the beginning, both the German and Soviet authorities directed their activities toward liquidating the Polish state, its offices and administration. ORIGINS 5 They also agreed that the so-called Curzon Line would mark the eastern border of Poland. In the spring of 1944, the Red Army entered the territory of the Polish Republic. It was felt by the Poles that it was necessary both to fight the Germans and to make the presence of the Home Army known to the Soviets. As a result, the underground Polish authorities created "Operation Storm." The goal of the operation conducted by the Home Army on eastern territory was to document the rights of Poles in this area. The govern- ment and the Home Army (AK) were committed to territorial integrity, one based on the eastern border established by the Soviet-signed peace treaty in Riga in March 1921 and reaffirmed in the Sikorski-Majski treaty of July 1941, hi which the Soviets repudiated "the German-Soviet trea- ties of 1939 concerning the territorial changes in Poland." But in 1943 the Soviet Union officially returned to its position as outlined in the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact (with minor corrections in favor of Poland, such as the eventual return of Bia�ystok). This Soviet position was re- flected in the attitude of the Red Army and the NKVD towards the Home Army and underground authorities. At the beginning of July 1944, the AK and Red Army joined forces in the capture of Vilno. After the city was taken, a briefing was held for Polish and Soviet officers; the briefing ended with the arrest of the Polish officers, and several thousand AK soldiers were deported to the interior of the Soviet Union. This was repeated in late July, after the AK had assisted the Red Army in the capture of Lvov: the Polish officers were arrested and their soldiers disarmed. Even on territory the Soviet authorities recognized as Polish, as with the left bank of the Bug River, Soviet commanders assumed jurisdiction over the Polish population, ordering them, for example, to surrender their arms and making arrests. Soviet military headquarters were estab- lished hi the cities. The Warsaw Uprising was a continuation of "Operation Storm." Militarily it was a Polish-German conflict; but politically it concerned Polish-Soviet relations. The question of aid for the Warsaw Fighters was a source of tension between the Soviet Union and Great Britain (and, to a lesser degree, with the United States). But in Teheran it was agreed among the Allies that Poland was to be an area controlled by Soviet troops. The desire to maintain good relations with the Soviet Union, expressed particularly by Roosevelt, limited the degree of effective help 4 COUNTDOWN With their time advantage, the Germans succeeded in virtually de- stroying the Polish economy, administration, and education. In the name of collective responsibility, they began rounding up innocent hostages. A passerby on the street could suddenly find himself in a concentration camp, or facing a firing squad. Participation in secret schools was punish- able by death, not to mention political or military activity. From the earliest months of the occupation, leaders of the political parties began their underground work, and military organizations con- nected with the various political parties sprang up: most important was a part of the Polish armed forces later called the Home Army (AK), which grew to an unprecedented size given its underground conditions. The exact number of Home Army members is difficult to establish, due to the nature of its activities. It is known that by the end of the war there were between 300 and 400 thousand soldiers. As early as 1940, the Socialist military organization (Peoples' Guard) accepted the leadership of the Home Army, then called the Union for Armed Struggle. The National party's National Military Organization joined the Home Army in 1942, as did the Peasant Battalions, which belonged to the peasant movement, in 1943. Diplomatic relations between Poland and the Soviet Union, which had been suspended following the Red Army invasion of September 17, 1939, were reestablished on July 30, 1941, shortly following the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, only to be broken again on April 25, 1943. The . immediate cause of the latter break was the discovery of the graves of four thousand Polish officers in Katyn Forest near Smolensk, which was announced by the German authorities in April 1943. On April 17, a delegate of the Polish Red Cross in Switzerland, acting on instructions from the Polish government, asked the International Red Cross for an investigation. The Soviet Union called this request a "treacherous blow," reflecting a "hostile attitude"; and Pravda referred soon afterwards to "Polish cronies of Hitler," and claimed that "the Polish nation con- demns the treacherous government of General Sikorski." On June 30, 1943, the Gestapo arrested the commander of the Home Army, General Rowecki. On July 4, the prime minister and commander- in-chief, General W�adys�aw Sikorski, was killed in a plane crash over Gibraltar. In Teheran, in November-December 1943, Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill decided that Poland would be within the operational sphere of Soviet troops, which were granted exclusive control of Polish territory. ORIGINS 7 to join the negotiations for creating a "reorganized government." They assumed that the "democratic leaders from within Poland" mentioned in the Yalta agreements would come from their institutions, which were active in Poland under the occupation. Early in March 1945, Anthony Eden supplied the Soviet government with the names and pseudonyms of the National Council of Ministers members. Further action in this regard was undertaken by the NKVD. In a matter of time, the NKVD, which enjoyed unlimited freedom of action in Poland, discovered the identities of all the leaders of political parties ...
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