Gomułka Władysław
Gomułka Władysław, alias Wiesław (6 February 1905, Białobrzegi Franciszkańskie, currently a district of Krosno – 1.09.1982, Warsaw), communist and national activist, trained steel fixer.
In October 1956, he was appointed First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers’ Party, a decision that had not been consulted with Moscow. He favoured a centrist approach within the party and was opposed to any attempt of creating factions, having particularly negative attitude towards the activities of the liberal and reform-oriented “Puławianie” group, which he referred to as “revisionists.” He fiercely fought against intellectuals seeking to promote democratic transformations, believing them to be irresponsible and harmful to the system. He was wary of any attempts to introduce reforms which could destabilise the existing economic mechanisms as he feared they would lead to total destabilisation and chaos. He believed the growing consumer aspirations of the society to be excessive and dangerous. He was gradually becoming a more and more anachronistic leader, basing his policies on social standards of the bygone era, inappropriate for more contemporary challenges and social expectations. Nonetheless, despite the numerous negative consequences of Gomułka’s internal policies, his rule was not marked by the return of the terror tactics of the security apparatus or any attempts to re-collectivise agriculture. Gomułka bears responsibility for the events of March 1968 (including repressions against students, anti-Semitic actions, intensified censorship) and for opening fire against the participants of the worker strike in December 1970.
Bibliography:
Andrzejewski J. (Paczkowski A.), Gomułka i inni. Dokumenty z archiwum KC 1948–1982, Londyn 1985, samidzat edition, Warsaw 1986.
Bethell N., Gomułka, his Poland and his Communism, London 1969.
Działalność Władysława Gomułki. Fakty, wspomnienia, opinie, ed. W. Namiotkiewicz, Warsaw 1985.
Machcewicz P., Władysław Gomułka, Warsaw 1995.
Ożóg M.E., Władysław Gomułka. Biografia polityczna, vol. 1, Warsaw 1989.
Ptasiński J., Gomułka u szczytu powodzenia: drugi zwrot, Warsaw 1988.
Rakowski M.F., Dzienniki polityczne 1967–1968, Warsaw 1999.
Rakowski M.F., Dzienniki polityczne 1969–1971, Warsaw 2001.
Werblan A., Władysław Gomułka. Sekretarz generalny PPR, Warsaw 1988.
The entry was written by Martyna Rusiniak-Karwat, Ph.D. on the basis of source materials of the PWN printing house
