Metody tworzenia i etapy powstawania Komitetu Wojewódzkiego Polskiej Zjednoczonej Partii Robotniczej w Gdańsku w latach 1945–1949 (działacze, struktury, finanse)

The PPR (Polish Workers’ Party) and PPS (Polish Socialist Party) began their activities after the creation of the Gdańsk voivodeship in March 1945. The PPR was based on activists delegated to the Gdańsk Coast region by the Central Committee. The PPS, that had traditions extending back to the pre-war period, largely resorted to cadres composed of local activists. Party functionaries arrived from central areas of the country within Operational Groups. In 1948, implementing the strategy of establishing communist political monopolies in Europe, controlled by Stalin, the process of “unifying” both parties was launched. The purpose was to create the Polish United Workers’ Party (PZPR). The event was officially promoted as the crucial one of Poland’s history. Activists were presented who were democratically chosen as delegates to the Unification Congress and members of the new party’s leadership. Egalitarianism within the party was the subject of extensive discussion. Actually, “all roles” in the spectacle had been already attributed behind-the-scenes. “Unification deeds”, marches of support for the idea, decoration of cities and villages, or the “spontaneous” singing of revolutionary songs were staged. The leaders of the KW (Voivodeship Committee) of PZPR in Gdańsk had been appointed earlier in Warsaw, and the committee’s composition was well known to the party’s elite many weeks before “its election” by party members. The completion of the “unification” operation required tremendous funds, provided from PZPR’s own resources only in a tiny part. An analysis of PZPR’s finances makes evident that the party would not be able to function without subsidies from the state budget. The process of “unification” ended with the 1 st Reporting and Electoral Conference of the KW in June 1949. During that conference, the leadership of the committee was elected as democratically, as in the previous year. A symbolic act transmitting the “unification” to public space, consisted in naming streets and squares in the voivodeship’s cities to commemorate the inception of PZPR.