Polish Workers' Party in the context of "Gwardia Ludowa"

The Polish United Workers' Party (Polish: Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza [ˈpɔlska zjɛdnɔˈt͡ʂɔna ˈpartja rɔbɔtˈɲit͡ʂa], PZPR) was the communist party which ruled the Polish People's Republic as a one-party state from 1948 to 1989. The PZPR had led two other legally permitted subordinate minor parties together as the Front of National Unity and later Patriotic Movement for National Rebirth. The Polish United Workers' Party had total control over public institutions in the country as well as the Polish People's Army, the UB and SB security agencies, the Citizens' Militia (MO) police force and the media.

The falsified 1947 Polish legislative election granted the Communist Polish Workers' Party (PPR) complete political authority in post-war Poland. The PZPR was founded forthwith in December 1948 through the unification of the PPR and the Polish Socialist Party (PPS). From 1952 onward, the position of "First Secretary" of the Polish United Workers' Party was de facto equivalent to Poland's head of state. Throughout its existence, the PZPR maintained close ties with ideologically-similar parties of the Eastern Bloc, most notably the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Between 1948 and 1954, nearly 1.5 million individuals registered as Polish United Workers' Party members, and membership rose to 3 million by 1980.

Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 19 January 1947, the first since World War II. According to the official results, the Democratic Bloc (Blok Demokratyczny), dominated by the Polish Workers' Party (PPR) and also including the Polish Socialist Party (PPS), People's Party (SL), Democratic Party (SD), and non-partisan candidates officially received 80% of the vote and 394 of the 444 seats in the Legislative Sejm. The largest opposition party, the Polish People's Party, was officially credited with 28 seats; however, the elections were characterized by violence; anti-Communist opposition candidates and activists were persecuted by the Volunteer Reserve Militia (ORMO).

The elections were heavily manipulated, and the opposition claimed that it would have won in a landslide had the election been conducted in a fair manner. The election gave the Soviets, as well as the Communist-dominated Polish satellite government, enough legitimacy to claim that Poland was "free and democratic", thus allowing Poland to sign the charter of the United Nations.

The Polish Socialist Party (Polish: Polska Partia Socjalistyczna, PPS) is a democratic socialist political party in Poland.

It was one of the most significant parties in Poland from its founding in 1892 until its forced merger with the communist Polish Workers' Party to form the Polish United Workers' Party in 1948. Józef Piłsudski, founder of the Second Polish Republic, was a member of and later led the PPS in the early 20th century.

The Provisional Government of National Unity (Polish: Tymczasowy Rząd Jedności Narodowej, TRJN) was a puppet government formed by the decree of the State National Council (Krajowa Rada Narodowa, KRN) on 28 June 1945 as a result of reshuffling the Soviet-backed Provisional Government of the Republic of Poland established by the Polish Workers' Party (Polska Partia Robotnicza, PPR) through inclusion of politicians from the close political sphere of Stanisław Mikołajczyk, the former prime minister of the Polish government-in-exile based in London. Inclusion of the latter group provided an excuse for the Western allies to approve tacitly the fait accompli of Poland becoming part of the Soviet sphere of influence, and to legitimise the Warsaw government while withdrawing their recognition of the Polish government-in-exile. The puppet government became known as the "Lublin Committee" or the "Lublin Poles" or the "Lublin Government", and it garnered the recognition of all Allied governments at the time.

Bolesław Bierut ([bɔˈlɛswaf ˈbʲɛrut] ; 18 April 1892 – 12 March 1956) was a Polish communist activist and politician, leader of communist-ruled Poland from 1948 until 1956. He was President of the State National Council from 1944 to 1947, President of Poland from 1947 to 1952, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party from 1948 to 1956, and Prime Minister of Poland from 1952 to 1954. Bierut is believed to have worked as an NKVD informant or agent prior to 1945, although his relationship with the Soviet agency has been a subject of debate among historians. As communist leader, he implemented aspects of the Stalinist system in Poland. Together with Władysław Gomułka, his main rival, Bierut is chiefly responsible for the historic changes that Poland underwent in the aftermath of World War II. Unlike any of his communist successors, Bierut led Poland until his death.

Born in Congress Poland on the outskirts of Lublin, Bierut joined the Polish Socialist Party in 1912. Later he became a member of the Communist Party of Poland and spent some years in the Soviet Union. He was sentenced to a prison term in 1935 for conducting illegal labor activity in Poland by the anti-communist Sanation government and was later released in 1938. During World War II, Bierut was an activist of the newly founded Polish Workers' Party (PPR) and subsequently the chairman of the State National Council (KRN), established by the PPR. Trusted by Joseph Stalin, Bierut participated in the Potsdam Conference, where he successfully lobbied for the establishment of Poland's western border at the Oder–Neisse line.

The Jewish Combat Organization (Polish: Żydowska Organizacja Bojowa, ŻOB; Yiddish: ייִדישע קאַמף אָרגאַניזאַציע‎ Yidishe Kamf Organizatsie; often translated to English as the Jewish Fighting Organization) was a World War II resistance movement in occupied Poland, which emerged from the merger of five Jewish political and youth organizations: Hashomer Hatzair, the Polish Workers' Party, Habonim Dror, Poale Zion, and the Bund, and was central in organizing and launching the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. ŻOB took part in a number of other resistance activities as well.

The Information Bureau of the Communist and Workers' Parties (Russian: Информационное бюро коммунистических и рабочих партий, romanized: Informatsionnoye byuro kommunisticheskikh i rabochikh partiy), commonly known as Cominform (Коминформ), was a co-ordination body of Marxist–Leninist communist parties in Europe which existed from 1947 to 1956. Formed in the wake of the dissolution of the Communist International in 1943, it did not replace that body, but instead mainly served as an expression of solidarity and as a means of disseminating Stalinist propaganda. The Cominform initially included the communist parties of the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Yugoslavia (expelled in 1948), France, and Italy. The organization was dissolved in 1956, during de-Stalinization, largely replaced in function by the Warsaw Pact formed in 1955 and Comecon formed in 1949.