1918–1921 The origins The KPRP was founded on 16 December 1918. It joined the
SDKPiL (one of whose leaders was
Rosa Luxemburg) and the
PPS – Left. It followed the program of the former. Unification of the
trade union movement was a prime objective behind the merger. The members of the new party organized
Workers' Councils in Poland, which competed with the more popular
Polish Socialist Party (PPS) units for
working class support. The KPRP remained a small minority of the leftist movement, in part because of Luxemburg's position that Poland should remain a province of
Russia rather than regain independence. In March 1919, through its representative
Józef Unszlicht, the KPRP took part in the founding of the
Communist International (Comintern or the Third International) in Moscow.
The Polish-Soviet War The KPRP opposed Poland's
war against Soviet Russia of 1919–21. During the fighting, the KPRP's legal status was legislatively taken away; the communist party would remain an underground organization in Poland until its demise. Due to the support for the government provided by pro-independence
socialists of the PPS, efforts by the KPRP to agitate for workers' solidarity with the
Red Army were forestalled. However, at the height of the Red Army offensive the
Provisional Polish Revolutionary Committee was formed on 2 August 1920. It consisted of
Julian Marchlewski,
Felix Dzerzhinsky,
Feliks Kon,
Józef Unszlicht, and
Edward Próchniak. Its establishment brought no political gains for the party. The traditional
Marxist position on the land question as understood by the Polish Marxists was abandoned, in favour of
Vladimir Lenin's views.
1921–1926 The period of 1921–1926 saw relative political freedom in Poland and the KPRP took advantage of the opportunities. Gains in membership were initially made from the ranks of the reformist workers' organisations and in the late 1920s from a left-wing faction of the PPS, led by Stanislaw Lancucki and
Jerzy Czeszejko-Sochacki. They joined the KPRP, giving the party representation in the
Sejm (Polish legislature). Gains were also made from the
General Jewish Labour Bund in Poland when a faction led by Aleksander Minc joined and from two smaller Jewish socialist groups:
Poale Zion and the
United Jewish Socialist Workers Party (
Fareynikte). In the
eastern borderlands, the KPRP and then KPP operated as the autonomous
Communist Party of Western Ukraine (KPZU) and
Communist Party of Western Belorussia (KPZB); When railway workers went on strike, the PPS declared a
general strike. "Even the tiny and illegal Polish Communist Party announced support for what they termed Piłsudski's 'revolutionary armies'." The railway workers were vital, because during the fighting they blocked troop trains trying to deliver reinforcements for the government. On 14 May, the government leaders decided to stop resisting the coup and resigned. During Piłsudski's May coup, the KPP engaged in street battles with troops loyal to the government of
Wincenty Witos, which it called fascist. The KPP leaders directly aided the coup, for which they would pay a steep price. After the events Stalin sharply denounced the KPP leadership and they were eventually ousted for their "May error". The debate over the "May error" was getting increasingly venomous before and during the party's Fourth Congress in September 1927 in Moscow. In the aftermath, two representatives of the Comintern were placed on the Polish party's Central Committee: the
Finn Otto Wille Kuusinen and the
Ukrainian Dmitry Manuilsky; the KPP was no longer in a position to exercise any independence of thought and action. Despite the internal factional struggles, the party grew during this period, attracting support from the minorities and among the working class. It participated in the
1928 Polish legislative election. However, the removal of the Warski group from leadership resulted in the party plunged into isolation as it embarked on the "Third Period". Endorsed by the KPP's Fifth Congress in 1930, the Third Period saw the party routinely describing the PPS as fascist and revolution was claimed to be imminent. As the country was hit severely by the
Great Depression, the KPP became embroiled in a new internal struggle.
Polish communists in the 1930s The
popular front strategy was pursued by the KPP in the mid-1930s. The KPP pressed both the PPS and
Bund for unity, which both rebuffed. The communists tried to infiltrate organisations alien to the workers' movement, such as the
Peasant Party and even
Catholic groups. Unity of the Left remained an impossible goal, however. Many militants of the KPP joined the
International Brigades to fight the
Nationalists during the
Spanish Civil War. The
Dąbrowski Battalion, named for the hero of the
Paris Commune, was led by the KPP but counted among its members many PPS workers and other non-KPP volunteers.
The KPP liquidated by Stalin ,
Manuilsky,
Moskvin,
Kuusinen,
Florin,
Ercoli. Full original text of document. In the mid and late 1930s, the KPP became a victim of paranoia and suspicion that engulfed the communist movement led by
Joseph Stalin. It culminated in the
Moscow trials and purges. A number of KPP members were accused of being agents of institutions of
Sanation Poland and liquidated. Next almost the entire leading cadre of the party became embroiled in the purges and murdered. Many were summoned to Moscow for "consultations". Among those killed were: Albert Bronkowski, Władysław Stein-Krajewski,
Józef Unszlicht,
Adolf Warski,
Maria Koszutska,
Maksymilian Horwitz,
Julian Leszczyński,
Stanisław Bobiński, Jerzy Heryng, Józef Feliks Ciszewski,
Tomasz Dąbal, Saul Amsterdam,
Bruno Jasieński, and Witold Wandurski. The leaderless party was then accused of
Trotskyism among other "deviations"; on August 16, 1938, dissolved by the Comintern. Most of the KPP activists perished in the
Great Purge, but among those who survived were some of the future leaders of
communist Poland. ==Policies and positions==