People of the Revolution and the USSR
Political and party leadership
Polish Workers' Party (PPR)
The Cold War and decolonization 1945–현재
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GlossaryPolish Workers' Party (PPR)
- Bolesław Bierut Bolesław Bierut Stalin's most trusted East European proxy, architect of Poland's Stalinist system and guardian of the Oder–Neisse border
- Aleksander Zawadzki Aleksander Zawadzki A communist leader who helped shape postwar Poland's state
- Władysław Gomułka Władysław Gomułka The national communist who returned in the Polish October of 1956 to test a 'Polish road to socialism'
- Edward Mieczysław Ochab Edward Mieczysław Ochab The transitional First Secretary of 1956 who turned Khrushchev's Secret Speech into a mass document and then yielded power to Gomułka
- Stefan Staszewski Stefan Staszewski The PZPR Warsaw first secretary whose unauthorized print run of 15,000 copies broke Khrushchev's Secret Speech out of party control
- Edward Gierek Edward Gierek First Secretary who led a decade of Western-credit modernisation: only for debt and Solidarity to bring the curtain down
- Wojciech Jaruzelski Wojciech Jaruzelski Poland's leader between martial law and the Round Table