1968 Polish Political Crisis - Political Purges

Political Purges

The Soviet Union withdrew all diplomatic relations with Israel on 10 June 1967 following the Six Day War, and quickly rebuilt the Arab forces. Leonid Brezhnev demanded condemnation of Israel from Gomułka at their joint meeting in Moscow. After his return to Warsaw, on June 19, 1967 Gomułka proclaimed at the Trade Union Congress, that the Israel's aggression had been "met with applause in Zionist circles of Jews – Polish citizens." His new "anti-Zionist" campaign was taken over by General Moczar from MSW (ethnic Ruthenian, b. Nikola Demko). The communist party appointed Tadeusz Walichnowski, an "anti-Zionist expert," the head of the minorities branch of the government, and by moving that department from social services to counter-intelligence. In the words of Polish scholar Włodzimierz Rozenbaum, the Six Day War: "provided Gomułka with an opportunity 'to kill several birds with one stone': he could use an "anti-Zionist" policy to undercut the appeal of the liberal wing of the PUWP; he could bring forward the Jewish issue to weaken the support for the nationalist faction and make his own position even stronger..." while securing political prospects for his own supporters.

The government-sponsored campaign of anti-Israel and anti-Zionist propaganda maintained – after the Prime Minister's speech – that there is a risk of "a fifth column to emerge in our country" thus suggesting that the "hidden Zionists" should relocate to Israel. The Communist party began a process of purging Jewish officials, primarily the moral supporters of the liberal opposition movement. Many Poles (irrespective of actual faith) were accused of being Zionists and expelled from the party.

In order to stir the attention of general public away from the Student movement and calls for social reform, which had a liberal background and was centred around freedom of speech for intellectuals and artists, the communist party came up with the idea of Nazi provenance. A leader of a hardline Stalinist faction within the Communist Party, Mieczysław Moczar, blamed the student protests on "Zionists" and used this affair as a pretext to launch a larger anti-Semitic campaign (although the expression "anti-Zionist" was officially used) to target Jews. In fact, despite the participation of a mix of Christian and Jewish Polish student activists in the protests, the relation of the protesting to Zionism was mixed if not negative. The national strike call from Warsaw opposed both anti-Semitism and Zionism. A banner hung at a Rzeszow high school on April 27 read: "We hail our Zionist comrades."

However, Gomulka warned that "Zionism and anti-Semitism are two sides of the same nationalist metal", and that Communism rejects all forms of nationalism. Gomulka rejected the allegations of anti-Semitism, saying, "Official circles in the United States had involved themselves in the dirty anti-Polish campaign by making statements accusing Poland of anti-Semitism. We propose that the ruling circles in the United States check whether American citizens of Polish descent have ever had or now have the same opportunities that Polish citizens of Jewish descent have for living conditions and education and for occupying responsible positions. Then it would clearly emerge who might accuse whom of national discrimination." Gomulka went on saying that "Western Zionist centers that today charge us with anti-Semitism failed to lift a finger when Hitler's genocide was exterminating Jews in subjugated Poland punishing with death Poles who hid and helped the Jews."