Polish Underground State - Political Representation

Political Representation

The Underground State represented most, though not all, political factions of the Second Polish Republic. The Political Consultative Committee (PKP) represented four major Polish parties: the Socialist Party (PPS-WRN), the People's Party (SL), the SN, and the Labor Party (SP). The SP joined the PKP in June 1940, four months after the PKP was created; and the PPS-WRN withdrew from the PKP between October 1941 and March 1943. Those parties, known as the Big Four, were also represented in the Home Political Representation (KRP). Compared to PKP and KRP, the Council of National Unity was much more representative, and included representatives of several smaller political groupings. Several other groups lacked significant representation in PKP and KRP, but nonetheless had supported the Underground State. Non-Polish ethnic minorities, primarily the Ukrainians and the Belarusians, were not represented in the Underground State; however the Jews were.

The most important groups that lacked representation in the Underground State included the communist (Polish Workers Party (PPR) and its military arm, the Gwardia Ludowa), and the far right (Group Szaniec and its military arm, the Military Organization Lizard Union). Both the extreme left (the communists) and the extreme right (the nationalists) saw themselves in opposition to the Underground State. Only the PPR, however, opposed to Polish independence and supporting full inclusion of Poland in the Soviet Union, was seen as completely outside the framework of the State; the other groups were seen as a legitimate opposition. In 1944 PPR would become part of the PKWN Soviet puppet government.