Polish Communism

Polish Communism

Communism in Poland can trace its origins to early 20th century, as is the case in geographically nearby countries. The first significant Polish Marxist was Stanisław Brzozowski (1878–1911).

During the interwar period in the Second Polish Republic, some Polish communists formed a political party, the Communist Party of Poland (Komunistyczna Partia Polski, KPP). Most of the original KPP members and leaders perished during Joseph Stalin's Great Purge.

In 1943, Stalin made efforts to rebuild Polish communist party. He created Union of Polish Patriots, to become an agent to aid the legitimization of puppet state he planned to set up in war-ridden Poland. This led to the creation of People's Republic of Poland and Polish United Workers' Party. Having little popularity, majority of Polish communists were dependent on support of the Soviet Union.

There were also repeated attempts by some Polish academics and philosophers, like Leszek Kołakowski, Tadeusz Kotarbiński, Kazimierz Ajdukiewicz and Stanisław Ossowski to develop, as a slowly eroding opposition, a specific form of Polish Marxism. While their attempts to create a bridge between Poland's history and Soviet Marxism ideology were mildly successful, especially in comparison to similar efforts in most other countries of the Eastern Bloc, they have been to much extent stifled by the regime's unwillingness to step too far and risk the wrath of Soviets for going too far from the Soviet party line.

In modern Poland, post-1989, communists have a minimal impact on political and economical life of the country. However some former communists, who were in their thirties during the fall of communism and took part in it, building the post-soviet political system, still remained active on the political scene. Their party, Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), is center-left and is one of the major political parties in Poland.