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36-541: The KRN was established on the night of 31 December 1943 on the initiative of the Polish communist party , the Polish Workers' Party (PPR), then led by Władysław Gomułka . It was the implementation of the party's Central Committee decision of 7 November 1943. The council was declared to be the "actual political representation of the Polish nation, empowered to act on behalf of the nation and manage its affairs until

72-480: A vanguard party , the communist party guides the political education and development of the working class (proletariat). As a ruling party, the communist party exercises power through the dictatorship of the proletariat . Vladimir Lenin developed the idea of the communist party as the revolutionary vanguard, when the socialist movement in Imperial Russia was divided into ideologically opposed factions,

108-690: A few cases where the original sections of the Communist International have retained those names. But throughout the twentieth century, many parties changed their names. For example, following their ascension to power, the Bolshevik Party changed their name to the All-Russian Communist Party. Causes for these shifts in naming were either moves to avoid state repression or as measures to generate greater acceptance by local populations. An important example of

144-434: A top-down hierarchical structure, ideological rigidity , and strict party discipline . In contrast, other studies have emphasized the differences among communist parties. Multi-party studies, such as those by Robert C. Tucker and A. James McAdams, have emphasized the differences in both these parties' organizational structure and their use of Marxist and Leninist ideas to justify their policies. Another important question

180-608: Is why communist parties were able to rule for as long as they did. Some scholars have depicted these parties as fatally flawed from their inception and argue they only remained in power because their leaders were willing to use their monopoly of power and the state monopoly to crush all forms of opposition . In contrast, other studies have emphasized these parties' ability to adapt their policies to changing times and circumstances. Edward Os%C3%B3bka-Morawski Edward Bolesław Osóbka-Morawski ['edvart ɔˈsupka mɔˈrafskʲi] (5 October 1909 – 9 January 1997)

216-549: The Bolshevik faction ("of the majority") and the Menshevik faction ("of the minority"). To be politically effective, Lenin proposed a small vanguard party managed with democratic centralism which allowed the centralized command of a disciplined cadre of professional revolutionaries . Once a policy was agreed upon, realizing political goals required every Bolshevik's total commitment to the agreed-upon policy. In contrast,

252-451: The Bund , Communists and Zionists ), 26 non-aligned). The 1947 Polish legislative elections were rigged by the communists, who previously conducted the illegitimate Polish people's referendum of 1946. The unchallenged rule of the communists that followed, combined with extensive repressions and persecution, forced many opposition leaders to leave the country. The new Sejm , which replaced

288-734: The World Federation of Democratic Youth , International Union of Students , World Federation of Trade Unions , Women's International Democratic Federation and the World Peace Council . The Soviet Union unified many of the Comintern's original goals in the Eastern Bloc under the aegis of a new organization, the Cominform . Historically, in countries where communist parties were struggling to attain state power,

324-859: The "worker-peasant alliance" and on the alliance with the Soviet Union. The Armia Ludowa was established as the KRN's armed force. The exile government and the Polish Underground State, especially the Armia Krajowa command, were worried by this development and by the progressing social radicalization in Poland by Soviet strings. They accelerated the formation of the already planned Council of National Unity ( Rada Jedności Narodowej , RJN), their own parliament, created on 9 January 1944. The Soviet regime under Stalin , initially unaware of

360-543: The 107 parties with significant memberships, there were approximately 82 million communist party members worldwide. Given its worldwide representation, the communist party may be counted as the principal challenger to the influence of liberal-democratic , catch-all parties in the twentieth century. Following the collapse of the Eastern Bloc between 1989–1992, most of these parties either disappeared or were renamed and adopted different goals than their predecessors. In

396-756: The 21st century, only five ruling parties on the national level still described themselves as Marxist–Leninist parties: the Chinese Communist Party , the Communist Party of Cuba , the Communist Party of Vietnam , the Workers' Party of Korea and the Lao People's Revolutionary Party . As of 2023, the Chinese Communist Party was the world's second largest political party , having over 99 million members. Although

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432-622: The KRN delegation and the Union of Polish Patriots (ZPP), having deliberated in Moscow, took it upon themselves to form a new governmental structure, the Polish Committee of National Liberation ( Polski Komitet Wyzwolenia Narodowego , PKWN), which was officially established in the Lublin province. PKWN gave rise to communist-dominated governments, which later included some former members of

468-826: The KRN's base by absorbing other leftist and popular groups were unsuccessful. The left-wing of the Polish Socialist Party (PPS) had also in mind a future People's Republic of Poland, but of a different variety than the communists and Soviets. The KRN included some members of the PPS, the Polish People's Party (PSL), the People's Party (SL), the Democratic Party (SD), the Labour Party (SP), non-aligned and Jewish politicians. Bolesław Bierut of

504-525: The KRN, was totally dominated by the communists and their allies until the collapse of communism in Poland in 1989. Communist party Former parties Former parties Former parties A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism . The term " communist party" was popularized by the title of The Manifesto of the Communist Party (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels . As

540-754: The Menshevik faction, which initially included Leon Trotsky , emphasized that the party should not neglect the importance of mass populations in realizing a communist revolution . In the course of the revolution, the Bolshevik party which became the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) assumed government power in Russia after the October Revolution in 1917. With the creation of the Communist International (Comintern) in 1919,

576-605: The PPR became the KRN's chairman. Bierut was opposed to Gomułka's efforts to broaden the KRN's participation and a sharp conflict between the two ensued. Bierut believed in future communist rule based on the presence of the Soviet Red Army in Poland and did not want to dilute the PPR's identity and influence by the inclusion of too many other forces. The KRN's vice-chairmen were Wincenty Witos (PSL), Stanisław Grabski (nonaligned) and Stanisław Szwalbe (PPS). On 22 July 1944,

612-559: The PPS should support the communists while opposing the creation of a one-party state . The Communists, with Soviet support, played on this division and forced Osóbka-Morawski to resign in favour of Cyrankiewicz. Osóbka-Morawski would make his peace with the Communists, and gradually became a Stalinist . Nonetheless, in 1949 he was dismissed from his new post as the Minister of Public Administration, for " deviationist " tendencies. He

648-760: The Polish-government-in-exile, led by Stanisław Mikołajczyk , and represented a half-hearted attempt by the communists to meet the Yalta Conference requirements of forming a coalition government and carrying out free elections. On 31 December of that year, the KRN transformed the PKWN into the Provisional Government of the Republic of Poland ( Rząd Tymczasowy Republiki Polskiej , RTRP). Both early governments were headed by

684-556: The appearance of charismatic revolutionary leaders and their ultimate demise during the decline and fall of communist parties worldwide have all been the subject of investigation. A uniform naming scheme for communist parties was adopted by the Communist International. All parties were required to use the name 'Communist Party of ( name of the country )', resulting in separate communist parties in some countries operating using (largely) homonymous party names (e.g. in India ). Today, there are

720-476: The concept of communist party leadership was adopted by many revolutionary parties, worldwide. In an effort to standardize the international communist movement ideologically and maintain central control of the member parties, the Comintern required that its members use the term "communist party" in their names. Under the leadership of the CPSU, the interpretations of orthodox Marxism were applied to Russia and led to

756-471: The emergence of Leninist and Marxist–Leninist political parties throughout the world. After the death of Lenin, the Comintern's official interpretation of Leninism was the book Foundations of Leninism (1924) by Joseph Stalin . As the membership of a communist party was to be limited to active cadres in Lenin's theory, there was a need for networks of separate organizations to mobilize mass support for

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792-585: The establishment of the KRN because of the non-existent at that time communications, became critical of it until, according to the evolving international situation, the Soviets developed new ideas in respect to Poland and found the KRN to be a potentially convenient entity. A KRN delegation went to Moscow for talks with Stalin on 22 May 1944 and the body's existence was upheld. The KRN was installed and dominated by pro-Soviet and pro-communist activists from various Polish far-left prewar parties . Attempts to broaden

828-478: The formation of wartime alliances with non-communist parties and wartime groups was enacted (such as the National Liberation Front of Albania ). Upon attaining state power these Fronts were often transformed into nominal (and usually electoral) "National" or "Fatherland" Fronts in which non-communist parties and organizations were given token representation (a practice known as Blockpartei ),

864-437: The historical importance of communist parties is widely accepted, their activities and functions have been interpreted in different ways. One approach, sometimes known as the totalitarian school of communist studies, has implicitly treated all communist parties as the same types of organizations. Scholars such as Zbigniew Brzezinski and Francois Furet have relied upon conceptions of the party emphasizing centralized control,

900-683: The international communist movement was fragmented due to the Sino-Soviet split in the 1960s. Those who sided with China and Albania in their criticism of the Soviet leadership, often added words like 'Revolutionary' or ' Marxist–Leninist ' to distinguish themselves from the pro-Soviet parties. In 1985, approximately 38 percent of the world's population lived under "communist" governments (1.67   billion out of 4.4   billion). The CPSU's International Department officially recognized 95 ruling and nonruling communist parties. Overall, if one includes

936-613: The international level, the Communist International organized various international front organizations (linking national mass organizations with each other), such as the Young Communist International , Profintern , Krestintern , International Red Aid , Sportintern , etc. Many of these organizations were disbanded after the dissolution of the Communist International. After the Second World War new international coordination bodies were created, such as

972-499: The latter was the renaming of many East European communist parties after the Second World War, sometimes as a result of mergers with the local social democratic and democratic socialist parties. New names in the post-war era included " Socialist Party ", " Socialist Unity Party ", " People's (or Popular) Party ", " Workers' Party " and " Party of Labour ". The naming conventions of communist parties became more diverse as

1008-620: The most popular examples of these being the National Front of East Germany (as a historical example) and the North Korean Reunification Front (as a modern-day example). Other times the formation of such Fronts was undertaken without the participation of other parties, such as the Socialist Alliance of Working People of Yugoslavia and the National Front of Afghanistan , though the purpose was

1044-421: The party. Typically, communist parties built up various front organizations whose membership was often open to non-communists. In many countries, the single most important front organization of the communist parties was its youth wing . During the time of the Communist International , the youth leagues were explicit communist organizations, using the name ' Young Communist League '. Later the youth league concept

1080-472: The same: to promote the communist party line to generally non-communist audiences and to mobilize them to carry out tasks within the country under the aegis of the Front. Recent scholarship has developed the comparative political study of global communist parties by examining similarities and differences across historical geographies. In particular, the rise of revolutionary parties, their spread internationally,

1116-448: The socialist Edward Osóbka-Morawski . Until the elections to parliament ( Sejm ), the KRN held both legislative and executive powers, and Bolesław Bierut was the head of state. In July 1945, the KRN had 273 members (97 from PPR, 77 from PPS, 56 from SL, 17 from SD, 26 non-aligned). In October 1946 it was expanded to 444 members (135 from PPR, 111 from PPS, 62 from SL, 57 from PSL, 37 from SD, 4 from SP, 3 Jewish representatives (1 each from

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1152-406: The time of Poland's liberation from the occupation". From the beginning, the KRN viewed the prewar Sanation government and the contemporary Polish government in exile as illegitimate, based on the "elitist-totalitarian" April Constitution , "whose legality had never been recognized by the nation", and as representative of narrow reactionary interests. The new government formation would be based on

1188-585: Was a Polish activist and politician in the Polish Socialist Party (PPS) before World War II, and after the Soviet takeover of Poland, Chairman of the Communist-dominated interim government, the Polish Committee of National Liberation ( Polski Komitet Wyzwolenia Narodowego ) formed in Lublin with Stalin's approval. In October 1944, Osóbka-Morawski was given the role of Minister of Foreign Affairs and Agriculture. Several months later, in June 1945, he

1224-558: Was appointed Prime Minister of the Provisional Government of National Unity ( Tymczasowy Rząd Jedności Narodowej ), in office until February 1947. Osóbka-Morawski believed the PPS should join with the other non-communist party in Poland, the Polish Peasant Party , to form a united front against the Communist Polish Workers' Party . However, another prominent socialist, Józef Cyrankiewicz argued that

1260-462: Was broadened in many countries, and names like 'Democratic Youth League' were adopted. Some trade unions and students', women's, peasants', and cultural organizations have been connected to communist parties. Traditionally, these mass organizations were often politically subordinated to the political leadership of the party. After the fall of communist party regimes in the 1990s, mass organizations sometimes outlived their communist party founders. At

1296-666: Was readmitted to the Communist Party, now called the Polish United Workers' Party , during the Polish October revolution of 1956. He then worked as a party official throughout most of his life in the People's Republic of Poland prior to the Revolutions of 1989 , and in 1990 failed in his attempt to recreate the old Polish Socialist Party . He died in Warsaw in 1997. This biographical article about

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