Wladyslaw Gomulka Polish political leader. Date of Birth: 06.02.1905 Country: Poland

1. Biography of Vladislav Gomulka
2. Early Career and Imprisonment
3. Resistance during World War II
4. Challenges and Downfall
5. Return to Power
6. Leadership and Reforms
7. Gomulka passed away in Warsaw on September 1, 1982.

Biography of Vladislav Gomulka

Vladislav Gomulka was a Polish political leader, born on February 6, 1905, in Krosno, southeastern Poland. He was the son of a working-class oil worker. At the age of 14, after completing three years of schooling, Gomulka began working as a mechanic. He soon became an organizer of communist worker groups and later became a professional party activist and propagandist. Despite being arrested multiple times, he received conditional punishments.

Early Career and Imprisonment

From 1926 to 1932, Gomulka served as one of the leaders of the chemical industry workers' union. In 1932, he was arrested and sentenced to four years of imprisonment. However, he was released in 1934 due to illness. Gomulka studied at the Lenin School in Moscow from 1934 to 1935, managing to avoid Stalinist repressions when the Polish Communist Party elite was accused of Trotskyism. He remained imprisoned until the outbreak of World War II in 1939.

Resistance during World War II

When German fascist forces occupied Warsaw, Gomulka moved to Lviv, which was occupied by the Red Army in 1941. However, when Lviv was captured, he went underground and became a participant in the Resistance movement. In 1944, after the Soviet government established the Committee of National Liberation for Poland, Gomulka became a member of the Committee. After the liberation of Poland, he returned to Warsaw with the Lublin government as the Deputy Prime Minister. Due to his efforts to enforce Soviet policies, Gomulka was nicknamed "Little Stalin."

Challenges and Downfall

With the onset of the Cold War and after a conflict with Tito in 1948, Gomulka, who advocated for the "Polish way to socialism," found himself in a difficult position. In 1948, he acknowledged his mistakes but became a victim of another political purge that followed a change in party direction. He was replaced as the General Secretary by B. Berut and later expelled from the party. In August 1951, Gomulka was arrested and imprisoned.

Return to Power

Gomulka's second rise to power began three years after Stalin's death. On April 6, 1956, Warsaw Radio announced his release from prison, and on October 19, his positions in the Central Committee of the party were reinstated. On October 21, he was once again appointed as the First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party (PUWP).

Leadership and Reforms

Gomulka dissolved many collective farms in rural areas, reached a compromise with the Roman Catholic Church, and relaxed censorship. To strengthen the country's economic position, he sought loans and technological assistance from Western Europe. The agreement signed in December 1970 with West Germany, recognizing Poland's western borders along the Oder-Neisse line, marked the first step towards negotiations for economic assistance from the FRG. In an attempt to solve the country's economic problems, the government announced significant price increases for food and energy resources before Christmas in 1970. This led to worker unrest, and as a result, Gomulka was forced to resign. He was replaced by E. Gierek, the First Secretary of the Katowice Committee.

Gomulka passed away in Warsaw on September 1, 1982.