408 PARTIA
aspirations of a movement which did not gain control of its own destiny until
1956.^15
The rise of the PPR from its obscure wartime origins to a dominant position
in Polish politics by the end of 1948 was fraught with anxiety and alarms. No less
than the KPP before it, the Party had to steer a perilous course between the hos-
tility of popular opinion in Poland and the suspicions of its Soviet patrons. A neg-
ligible membership, which by the time of Liberation had barely reached four
figures, ruled out any possibility of free competition with the established demo-
cratic parties. Dependence on the USSR was unavoidable. At the same time, the
leadership had to contend with the fact that Stalin simply did not trust foreign
communists, and that the Soviet agencies preferred to work through people and
organizations more directly under their control. For most of 1943-4, there was
no effective communication between Warsaw and Moscow. Political control of
the Polish army in Russia was exercised through Wanda Wasilewska's Union of
Polish Patriots (ZPP). The purging of local government in Poland during the lib-
eration was conducted under the direct supervision of the NKVD. Most of the
key positions in the Lublin Committee, and its successors, fell to non-Party
Soviet employees, such as Edward Osobka-Morawski and Michal Rola-
Zymierski. At its first Congress in December 1945, the Party itself had to bear the
influx of numerous appointees of the NKVD, who proceeded to arrogate the key
ministries of state for themselves. Gomuika was surrounded by comrades fresh
from Russia - Berman, Bierut, Mine, Radkiewicz, Zambrowski, Zawadzki -
whose function was no less to keep him in line, than to follow his lead. Given
these conditions, the Party's progress was remarkable. Whilst the elimination of
the democratic Opposition was lamely left to the Soviet-run security organs, the
organizations of all potential rivals and allies were effectively destroyed by
the Leninist tactic of 'splitting from above and below'. In the process, the PRR's
own membership rose dramatically to over one million in 1948. The moment was
ripe for cementing the victory. On 15 December 1948, the PPR signed an agree-
ment with the rump PPS whereby both parties would merge their separate iden-
tities into a new 'Polish United Workers' Party' (PZPR); the Communists' other
allies in the Government Bloc, the SL and the SD, were permitted to survive on
terms of strict subordination. On paper, the process of manufacturing a domi-
nant tradition of the Communists had been married to the national Communist
party could boast almost complete success. In theory, the internationalist
tradition of the socialists, with a view to procreating a synthetic 'People's
Democracy'. In reality, the PZPR had a long way to go before it might be
regarded as truly Polish or truly united. Its position in Poland was unchallenge-
able; but its formal unity was quite artificial. The formal victory had been
achieved in a year when the Soviet stooges had forcibly suppressed the native
Communists and had prized the General-Secretary, Wladyslaw Gomuika, out of
office. The PZPR began its career in circumstances of agonizing humiliation.^16
The structure of the party system as formed in 1948 is officially described as
a 'hegemony' (partia hegemoniczna). This term correctly describes the party's