Polish Socialist Party – Freedom, Equality, Independence

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Polish. (August 2017) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
  • View a machine-translated version of the Polish article.
  • Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia.
  • Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 1,443 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization.
  • Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
  • You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Polish Wikipedia article at [[:pl:Polska Partia Socjalistyczna – Wolność, Równość, Niepodległość]]; see its history for attribution.
  • You should also add the template {{Translated|pl|Polska Partia Socjalistyczna – Wolność, Równość, Niepodległość}} to the talk page.
  • For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.
Symbol used by the WRN

The Movement of the Urban and Rural Working Masses – Freedom, Equality, Independence (Polish: Ruch Mas Pracujących Miast i Wsi – Wolność, Równość, Niepodległość), commonly known as Polish Socialist Party – Freedom, Equality, Independence (Polish: Polska Partia Socjalistyczna – Wolność, Równość, Niepodległość) and abbreviated as PPS-WRN or just WRN, was an underground organisation in occupied Poland during World War II set up by the activists of the Polish Socialist Party (PPS) and continuing its traditions. The party leadership used the name Central Leadership of the Movement (Polish: Centralne Kierownictwo Ruchu, CKR). Within the Political Consultative Committee, the organization used the code name "Koło" (lit.'Circle').[1]

The PPS had a long history of operating under underground conditions, primarily in the pre-1918 period, as part of the PPS Fighting Organization and the Polish Military Organization.[2] In light of the expected war, the party's authorities made the first preparations for underground activity as early as 1934, which were made more specific in 1938 for the German occupation.[2] The plan essentially called for the consolidation of all organizations affiliated with the PPS into the Union of Socialist Workers' Organizations.[2] To this end, in 1939 the Supreme Council transferred all prerogatives and the right to direct the movement to the Central Executive Committee.[2]

Tomasz Arciszewski, first chairman of the PPS-WRN, prime minister of Poland since 1944

The decision to freeze the activities of the PPS was made while the German invasion of Poland was still in progress. First, at the request of Zygmunt Zaremba by the Warsaw District of the Workers' Committee on September 26, 1939.[3] Then on October 2 by three members of the party's Central Executive Committee – Mieczysław Niedziałkowski, Kazimierz Pużak and Zygmunt Zaremba.[3] In reality, the party never intended to cease operations, only to go underground.[2]

In mid-October, without the participation of Niedziałkowski, but probably with the participation of Tomasz Arciszewski, the group decided to form a cadre underground organization – WRN. This decision was confirmed at a conference of activists from all over Poland, which took place on November 19, 1939 in Helenów, near Warsaw.[4] Despite the wide participation of activists from all over the country, only 3 of the 12 members of the Central Executive Committee (Arciszewski, Pużak and Zaremba) attended this meeting, although 6 others were still in the country, as were the chairman of the Supreme Council Zygmunt Żuławski, members of the Supreme Council Norbert Barlicki and Adam Próchnik, and a member of the Review Committee Stanisław Dubois. This state of affairs later became the basis for undermining the WRN's right to be the sole continuation of the PPS and sole representative of the labor movement.[5]

The movement's established leadership in Helenów consisted of:[1]

  • Tomasz Arciszewski – chairman.
  • Kazimierz Pużak – secretary.
  • Zygmunt Zaremba – member.

The following were co-opted without voting rights:

  • Bolesław Dratwa [pl] – treasurer
  • Józef Dzięgielewski [pl] – representative of Warsaw.
  • Józef Cyrankiewicz – representative of Kraków.
  • Aleksy Bień [pl] (since autumn 1940).

The activities of the WRN were based on centralism, i.e. the unquestionability of the leadership's decisions.[1] WRN activists organized themselves into five-person cells, which were subject to a hierarchical structure.[1] At the same time, a military organization called the People's Guard WRN was established, headed by Kazimierz Pużak as the main commander, and Józef Dzięgielewski as the organiser.[2] A separate formation was the Militia WRN, which had defensive tasks and was formed in workers' centers. The militia was commanded by Antoni Pajdak.[1]

At the end of World War II, the name PPS was contested by PPS-WRN and the pro-communist Workers Polish Socialist Party (Robotnicza Partia Polskich Socjalistów). Eventually in 1947, most top PPS-WRN activists were arrested by Polish secret police, Urząd Bezpieczeństwa; the remains ceased political activity, emigrated or joined the communist party.

Its military formations included Gwardia Ludowa WRN and the Workers' Militia PPS-WRN.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Duraczyński 1978, p. 109.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Żuczkowski 2014.
  3. ^ a b Duraczyński 1978, p. 107.
  4. ^ Duraczyński 1978, p. 108.
  5. ^ Duraczyński 1978, p. 108-109.

Bibliography

  • Ciesielski, Stanisław (1986). Niepodległość i socjalizm [Independence and Socialism] (in Polish). Warsaw.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Duraczyński, Eugeniusz (1978). "Socjaliści polscy 1939-1941 (próba charakterystyki postaw i tendencji politycznych)" [Polish Socialists 1939-1941 (attempt to characterise political attitudes and tendencies)]. Dzieje Najnowsze. 10 (2).
  • Żuczkowski, Maciej (2014). "Gwardia Ludowa Polskiej Partii Socjalistycznej i Oddziały Wojskowe Powstańczego Pogotowia Socjalistów w wojskowych strukturach Polskiego Państwa Podziemnego". Okupowana Europa. Podobieństwa i różnice.
  • v
  • t
  • e
Flag of PolandHourglass icon  

This Polish history–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

  • v
  • t
  • e
Stub icon

This article about a Polish political party is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

  • v
  • t
  • e
  • v
  • t
  • e
Represented in
the Sejm
Represented in
the Senate
Represented in the
European Parliament
Other existing parties
and
political movements
Defunct parties
Polish–Lithuanian
Commonwealth
Pre-war and
inter-war eras
Communist era
Modern era
italic font – electoral alliances and/or popular fronts
*: Zbigniew Ajchler
**: Piotr Adamowicz et al.,
***: Marek Biernacki
****: not currently registered as a party