The Polish United Workers' Party, commonly abbreviated to PZPR, was the communist party which ruled the Polish People's Republic as a one-party state from 1948 to 1989. The PZPR had led two other legally permitted subordinate minor parties together as the Front of National Unity and later Patriotic Movement for National Rebirth. Ideologically, it was based on the theories of Marxism-Leninism, with a strong emphasis on left-wing nationalism. The Polish United Workers' Party had total control over public institutions in the country as well as the Polish People's Army, the UB and SB security agencies, the Citizens' Militia (MO) police force and the media.
Bolesław Bierut was a Polish communist activist and politician, leader of communist-ruled Poland from 1947 until 1956. He was President of the State National Council from 1944 to 1947, President of Poland from 1947 to 1952, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party from 1948 to 1956, and Prime Minister of Poland from 1952 to 1954. Bierut was a self-educated person. He implemented aspects of the Stalinist system in Poland. Together with Władysław Gomułka, his main rival, Bierut is chiefly responsible for the historic changes that Poland underwent in the aftermath of World War II. Unlike any of his communist successors, Bierut led Poland until his death.
Edward Gierek was a Polish Communist politician and de facto leader of Poland between 1970 and 1980. Gierek replaced Władysław Gomułka as First Secretary of the ruling Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR) in the Polish People's Republic in 1970. He is known for opening communist Poland to the Western Bloc and for his economic policies based on foreign loans. He was removed from power after labor strikes led to the Gdańsk Agreement between the communist state and workers of the emerging Solidarity free trade union movement.
The interwar Communist Party of Poland was a communist party active in Poland during the Second Polish Republic. It resulted from a December 1918 merger of the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania (SDKPiL) and the Polish Socialist Party – Left into the Communist Workers' Party of Poland. The communists were a small force in Polish politics.
National Democracy was a Polish political movement active from the second half of the 19th century under the foreign partitions of the country until the end of the Second Polish Republic. It ceased to exist after the German–Soviet invasion of Poland of 1939. In its long history, National Democracy went through several stages of development. Created with the intention of promoting the fight for Poland's sovereignty against the repressive imperial regimes, the movement acquired its right-wing nationalist character following the return to independence. A founder and principal ideologue was Roman Dmowski. Other ideological fathers of the movement included Zygmunt Balicki and Jan Ludwik Popławski.
Edward Ochab was a Polish communist politician and top leader of Poland between March and October 1956.
The All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions is a national trade union center founded in 1984.
The United People's Party was an agrarian socialist political party in the People's Republic of Poland. It was formed on 27 November 1949 from the merger of the pro-Communist Stronnictwo Ludowe party with remnants of the independent Polish People's Party of Stanisław Mikołajczyk.
Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 20 January 1957. They were the second election to the Sejm – the unicameral parliament of the People's Republic of Poland, and the third ever in the history of Communist Poland. It took place during the liberalization period, following Władysław Gomułka's ascension to power. Although conducted in a more liberal atmosphere than previous elections, they were far from free. Voters had the option of voting against some official candidates; de facto having a small chance to express a vote of no confidence against the government and the ruling Communist Polish United Workers Party. However, as in all Communist countries, there was no opportunity to elect any true opposition members to the Sejm. The elections resulted in a predictable victory for the Front of National Unity, dominated by the PZPR.
Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 26 October 1952. They were the first elections to the Sejm, the parliament of the Polish People's Republic. The official rules for the elections were outlined in the new Constitution of the Polish People's Republic and lesser acts. The Front of National Unity received 99.8% of the vote and won every seat in the Sejm, a result that was to be repeated in parliamentary elections until 1989.
Front of National Unity or National Unity Front was a popular front supervising elections in the Polish People's Republic which also acted as a coalition for the dominant communist Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR) and its allies. It was founded in 1952 as National Front and renamed to Front of National Unity in 1956. It was the heir of the Democratic Bloc which ran in the elections of 1947 before the merger between communists and socialists.
Jan Dobraczyński was a Polish writer, novelist, politician and Catholic publicist. In the Second Polish Republic between the two world wars, he was a supporter of the National Party and Catholic movements. During the 1939 Nazi–Soviet invasion of Poland, he was a soldier of the Polish Army and member of Armia Krajowa until the end of World War II. Dobraczyński participated in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. After the war he supported the Polish communists. He was a member of parliament Sejms, as activist of the PAX Association and of the Patriotic Movement for National Rebirth from 1982 to 1985. He held the rank of general in the Polish military.
Patriotic Self-Defence was a minor political party in Poland. The party was founded in September 2006 by former members of the Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland, who left the party following an argument with the leader of Self-Defence Andrzej Lepper. The party ran in the 2007 Polish parliamentary election, where it tried to take votes from their former party by using a similar name, logo and political program. Ultimately, the party's electoral lists were only accepted in one electoral district. The party won 0.02% of the nationwide vote. It disbanded in 2013.
The National Radical Camp was an ultranationalist and antisemitic political movement which existed in the pre-World War II Second Polish Republic, and an illegal Polish anti-communist, and nationalist political party formed on 14 April 1934 mostly by the youth radicals who left the National Party of the National Democracy movement.
Pron or variation, may refer to:
Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 13 October 1985. According to the Constitution of 1952 the elections should have been held every 4 years, that is in the spring of 1984, but since the internal political situation was still considered "unstable" even after the repealing in 1983 of the Martial Law, the Sejm voted to extend its own term at first indefinitely and then until August 31, 1985, fixing the elections to be held not beyond the end of 1985. As was the case in previous elections, only candidates approved by the Communist regime were permitted on the ballot. The outcome was thus not in doubt, nevertheless the regime was hoping for a high turnout, which it could then claim as evidence of strong support for the government among the population. The opposition from the Solidarity movement called for a boycott of the elections. According to official figures 78.9% of the electorate turned out to vote. This turnout, while relatively high, was much lower than the nearly 100% turnout which was reported in previous elections.
A bloc party, sometimes called a satellite party, is a political party that is a constituent member of an electoral bloc. However, the term also has a more specific meaning, referring to non-ruling but legal political parties in a one-party state as auxiliary parties and members of a ruling coalition, differing such governments from pure one-party states such as Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, although such minor parties rarely if ever constitute opposition parties or alternative sources of power. Other authoritarian regimes may also have multiple political parties which are nominally independent in order to give the appearance of political pluralism, but support or act in de facto cooperation with the government or ruling party.
Bogdan Suchodolski was a Polish philosopher, historian of science and culture and teacher. He served as a senior marshal of the Sejm from 1985 to 1989.
The National Party was a political party in Poland which was reactivated in 1989 in Warsaw by Jan Ostoja Matłachowski, Leon Mirecki, Maciej Giertych, Bogusław Jeznach, Bogusław Rybicki and others as the successor to the pre-war National Party. Its first chairman was Stefan Jarzębski. The re-activated SN was officially registered on 21 August 1990.
