1 The ninth plenum of the Central Committee made the decision to convene a Party congress in December, 1957, and even appointed commissions to draft pre-congress theses and amendments to the PZPR statute. Radio Warsaw (May 20, 1957), 22:00 GMT. The stenographic report of the Third Congress proceedings was published as “III Zjazd Polskiej Zjednoczonej Partii Robotniczej,” Nowe drogi, XIII (April, 1959), 768 pp.; henceforth cited as III Zjazd PZPR..Google Scholar

2 A total of 200,161 individuals were purged, leaving 1,066,839 Party members. Zycie Warszawy (May 14, 1958). The purge figure for the period since the second congress in March, 1954, was 485,611. III Zjazd PZPR, p. 445. See also R. F. Staar, “New Course in Communist Poland” in Hallowell, John H., ed., Soviet Satellite Nations: A Study of the New Imperialism (Gainesville, Fla.: The Kallman Publ. Co., 1958), pp. 64–88.Google Scholar

3 Trybuna ludu (October 19, 1958). See also “Kierunek—III Zjazd” in the same issue of this newspaper. The minutes of the twelfth plenum were published “exclusively for the use of Party organizations” and given restricted circulation. A copy is in the library of Radio Free Europe, Munich, GermanyGoogle Scholar

4 See “Jak bedziemy wybierac delegatow na III Zjazd Partii,” Trybuna ludu (October 25, 1958).Google Scholar

5 III Zjazd PZPR, p. 97.

6 Actually the Communists have held four congresses since the war. The first took place on December 6-12, 1945; the second when the left-wing socialists were absorbed on December 15-21, 1948; the third during March 10-17, 1954; and the most recent on March 10-19, 1959. However, the “fusion” congress of 1948 is considered the first chronologically for the new “united” Party.Google Scholar

7 “It can be said that in the world workers’ movement, the Union of Communists of Yugoslavia has chosen for itself the position of an outsider. Revisionism led it to this position.” III Zjazd PZPR, p. 29.Google Scholar

8 “During the coming seven years, it is imperative that an increase of about 30%take place in agricultural production “ Ibid., p. 40. Compare the resolution of the congress which repeats Gomulka's words almost verbatim. Ibid., p. 686. See also the article by M. Mieszczankowski, “O masowym rozwoju kolek rolniczych,” Zycie gospodarcze (April 12, 1959) in which the author predicts that collectivization will be completed in Poland before 1970.Google Scholar

9 III Zjazd PZPR, p. 523. Italics added. It should be mentioned that in Gomulka's speech as monitored by Radio Free Europe, the exact words used were “administrative measures” which phrase has the connotation of governmental coercion in the Polish language.Google Scholar

10 Ibid., p. 430.

11 Ibid., p. 90.

12 Ibid., p. 93. Note the discrepancy between these figures and the percentage given in the note to Table 3Google Scholar.

13 III Zjazd PZPR, p.108.

14 Ibid., p. 148.

15 About 16,500 of these agricultural circles existed with some 450,000 members at the time of the congress. This represented 36%of all Polish villages and approximately 15%of all peasant farms in the country.Google Scholar

16 Trybuna ludu (March 24, 1959) published the new Party statute.Google Scholar

17 III Zjazd PZPR, p. 165. Radio Warsaw (October 28, 1958), 19:00 GMT carried a discussion of the submitted draft statute which had been approved by the twelfth plenum at that time. The changes were presented at meetings of Party organizations throughout the country before the congress.Google Scholar

18 III Zjazd PZPR, p. 220. Cf. also Staar, R. F., Military Potential of Communist “Poland,” Military Review, XXXVI (July, 1956), pp. 41–47. See Wiatr J.J. , “Socjologia wojska—proba wstepnej systematyzacji,” Biuletyn Wojskowej Akademii Politycznej, XI (January-February, 1958),pp. 3–30.Google Scholar

19 18 III Zjazd PZPR, Gomulka on p. 70 and Renke on pp. 232 ff. This latter figure represented a sizable drop in Communist youth membership which had attained a peak of 2,018,000. Trybuna ludu (February 2, 1955). The Union of Polish Pioneers, an organization in the scouting age-group, has only 550,000 members (III Zjazd PZPR, p. 480) compared with some 1,100,000 in 1951. Trybuna ludu (April 29, 1951). Cf. Staar, R. F., “Regimentation of Youth in Satellite Poland,” The Southwestern Social Science Quarterly, XXXVII (June, 1956), pp 7–19 Google Scholar.

20 III Zjazd PZPR, p. 416.

21 Ibid., p. 495.

22 Compare these “draft” pre-congress theses, adopted by the twelfth plenum, as published in Trybuna ludu (October 24, 25, and 26, 1958) with the resolutions passed by the congress, which appear in III Zjazd PZPR, pp. 664–744.Google Scholar

23 These eight include two generals, the Minister of Mining and Electric Power, three PZPR first secretaries from the provinces (note on Table 3 that the one from Szczecin is not on the Central Committee), a secretary from the Central Council of Trade Unions, and the chairman of the Miners’ Union.Google Scholar

24 For detailed studies of these three important Party organs, see Staar, R. F., “The Central Committee of the PZPR,” The Journal of Central European Affairs, XVI (January, 1957), pp. 371–83;Google Scholar “The Secretariat of the PZPR,” ibid., XV (October, 1955), pp. 272–85; and “Google Scholar “The Political Bureau of the PZPR,” The American Slavic and East European Review, XV (April, 1956),pp. 206–15.Google Scholar

25 Current biographic data on all fifteen of these individuals appears in Tomasic, D. A., The Communist Leadership in Eastern Europe, II (Munich: RFE Evaluation and Research Section, May 1959), pp. 9–77.Google Scholar

26 For the first major governmental reorganization, which affected Politburo members Morawski and Ochab among others and brought back into power several Stalinists, see Staar, R. F., “Poland Steps Backward,” The New Leader, XLII, no. 47 (December 21, 1959), pp. 12–14.Google Scholar