Puławy and Natolin factions
푸와비파와 나톨린파
The Puławy and Natolin factions were informal political groupings that contended within the leadership of Poland’s Polish United Workers’ Party during the 1956 de-Stalinization crisis. The Puławy faction supported party reform and limited liberalization, while the Natolin faction resisted the thaw and advanced a harder, pro-Soviet line. Their conflict shaped the leadership realignment of October 1956 and faded as a distinct political division by the late 1950s.
In depth
The names referred to apartment buildings on Warsaw’s Puławska Street and the Natolin Palace. The groups were fluid coalitions rather than fixed party organizations, and the Puławy faction included many Jewish communists. Natolin’s nationalist language could turn this social difference into antisemitic attacks. Edward Ochab was presented as a compromise candidate by both sides and served as first secretary from March to October 1956.
Related historical events
Sources
- Wikipedia (EN) (Puławy faction's formation, reformist orientation, name, and opposition to Natolin faction)
- Wikipedia (EN) (Natolin faction's formation after the CPSU 20th Congress, hardline stance, name, and decline after October 1956)
- Marxists Internet Archive (Dariusz Stola, independent historical account of the Puławy-Natolin division, reformist and ethnicized political conflict)