The Communist Party of Poland [antikvár]

Preface to the Second Edition The first edition of this book, published in 1959 under the sponsorship of the Russian Research Center of Harvard University, was an extension of an introductory study of the Communist movement in Poland. The volume traced the evolution of leftist Marxist groups to the formation of the Communist Party of Poland in December 1918; the first edition covered the history of Polish Communism until the return of Gomulka to power, in October 1956, and the Sejm elections of January 20, 1957. This new edition is an expanded version of the first; it covers the entire era of Gomulka (October 1956-December 1970), and tries as well to cope with the first four years of Gierek's leadership of the Polish United Workers' Party. The subtitle of the book stresses that it is merely a beginning, an outline, and not a definitive work. No final treatment of the Communist movement in Poland can be possible until the archives of the party, and those of the Comintern and Cominform, are made accessible to independent scholars. My work is merely an attempt to gather and analyze the quintessential material available in the West, and to draw a preliminary sketch that can serve as a point of departure for further investigation of the subject. Circumstances made the rewriting of the book in the light of newly discovered sources and recent monographs impossible; nevertheless, the old text has been corrected of printing mistakes and factual errors. Otherwise the book remains unchanged, except for a few additions warranted by available space. I have tried to approach the origin and history of the Communist Party of Poland and its later transformations, the Polish Workers' Party and the Polish United Workers' Party, from the aspect of its effects on East European history, emphasizing cultural and even religious aspects when essential. Thus the book continues to focus on the Communist movement as a social and political force, and not upon the internal functioning of the party machinery as such. I did not feel qualified, nor did I have sufficient material, to cover