Władysław Gomułka

Władysław Gomułka (February 6, 1905, Krosno – September 1, 1982) was a Polish Communist leader. He was a member of the Communist Party of Poland (Komunistyczna Partia Polski, KPP) starting from 1926.

In 1934 Gomułka went to Moscow, where he lived for a year. Upon his return to Poland he was arrested and spent most of his time in prison (with some breaks) till the beginning of the World War II. Gomułka became one of the most important Polish Communists and in 1943 he convinced Stalin that some kind of Polish Communist party was to be restored and subsequently took part in creating the Polish Workers' Party (Polska Partia Robotnicza). He was a Deputy Prime Minister in the Provisional Government of Republic of Poland - Rząd Tymczasowy Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej, from January to June 1945, and in the Provisional Government of National Unity - Tymczasowy Rząd Jedności Narodowej, from June 1945 to 1947. He was an important person of the Communist government at the time, helping Communists to manipulate and win the 3xTAK referenda of 1946 and the Polish legislative elections, 1947 and became, as he put it himself, "the hegemon of Poland".

However, between 1951–1954 due to skirmishes between various Party factions he was condemned as right-wing and reactionary and imprisoned, while expelled from the Polish United Workers' Party. In 1956, after the death of Bierut and the beginning of destalinization, he was rehabilitated and elected leader of the Party. Initially very popular for his reforms and seeking a "Polish way to socialism", he gradually softened his opposition to Soviet pressures.

In the 1960s he supported persecution of the Catholic Church and some party intellectuals (e.g., Kołakowski). He took part in the Warsaw Pact intervention in Czechoslovakia in 1968. At that time he was also responsible for persecuting students and intelligentsia as well as toughening censorship of the media. In 1968 he incited, however he later claimed not deliberately, the anti-Semitic propaganda campaign that was one of the outcomes of the Soviet bloc stand in aftermath of the Six-Day War (though his wife Liwa was Jewish).

In December 1970, a bloody clash with shipyard workers in which several dozen workers were shot to death forced his resignation. A dynamic younger man, Edward Gierek, took over the Party leadership. Gomułka was forced to retire. After his death in 1982, his negative image in the Communist propaganda was modified and some of his constructive contributions were recognized. His memoirs were first published in 1994.

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