Władysław Gomułka

(b. Krosno, Austrian Galicia, 6 Feb. 1905; d. Warsaw, 1 Sept. 1982) Polish; First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR) 1956 – 70 As a young man, Gomułka worked first as a locksmith then in an oil refinery. He entered the socialist movement in 1921 at the age of 16 and organized youth groups. In 1926 he joined the illegal Polish Communist Party and was imprisoned twice in the 1930s for his trade union activities. In 1934 he went to Moscow to attend the International Lenin School, returning to Poland in 1935. During the Second World War he was a leader of the Communist resistance, often following a line somewhat independent of Moscow, and in 1943 became leader of the Polish Communist Party.

In January 1945 Gomułka was deputy premier in the interim Lublin government as well as Minister for the Territories taken from Germany as Poland's western border moved to the Oder-Neisse line. The patronage powers which this gave him were of great importance in building up the Communist Party. Gomułka led the campaign to destroy Mikołajczyk's Peasant Party and planned the merger between the Communists and the Socialists which took place in 1948. However, he incurred Stalin's displeasure for proposing a "Polish road to socialism". Gomułka successfully resisted the collectivization of agriculture and unsuccessfully opposed the formation of the Cominform in 1947. At the founding congress of the PZPR in December 1948 he was forced by Stalin's order to make a confession of his "errors". He was replaced as party leader by his old rival, Bierut, and in July 1951 was placed under house arrest.

In 1956 serious industrial unrest mounted in Poland, reaching a peak with the Poznań Rising in June. Gomułka was now a popular figure because of his resistance to Stalin. In August he was readmitted to the PZPR. In October 1956, despite initial Soviet objections, the PZPR leadership appointed him First Secretary of the party in order to avoid revolution. In 1957 he introduced limited political reforms, reducing the powers of the secret police, reducing the repression of the Catholic church and ending the collectivization of agriculture. However, he was true to his predecessors' policies of austerity and industrialization. His failure to improve living standards led to general popular disappointment with him. By 1968 Gomułka faced growing and cohesive opposition from workers and the intelligentsia. The poor state of the economy made it difficult to make economic concessions. On 20 December 1970 Gomułka resigned after riots against increases in food prices. He was succeeded as First Secretary by Gierek.

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Gomułka, Władysław (vwädĭs'wäf gəmʊ'kə) , 1905–82, Polish Communist leader. Long a Communist, he helped establish the Polish Workers' party and was (1943–49) secretary of its central committee. After World War II, he served (1945–49) as deputy premier of Poland. A Polish nationalist, he was purged in 1949 for alleged sympathy with the Yugoslav Communist leader, Josip Broz Tito, and was arrested in 1951. Freed in 1954, he was readmitted (1956) to the United Workers' (Communist) party. In Oct., 1956, on the wave of Polish resentment of USSR domination, Gomułka became first secretary of the party despite Soviet pressures. From this post he dominated the Polish government, continuing close ties with the USSR but establishing greater freedom of action for Poland and bringing some social and economic liberalization. He was replaced as first secretary by Edward Gierek in Dec., 1970, following widespread rioting by Polish workers in protest against food price increases announced by the government. In 1971 he was suspended from the party's central committee and removed from the council of state.