Editing Polish Workers' Party (section)

==Polish communist institutions in the Soviet Union==

Facilitated by Stalin, communist-controlled Polish civilian and military institutions were also formed in the Soviet Union. The leading roles in them were initially assumed by [[Wanda Wasilewska]], a daughter of [[Leon Wasilewski|former Polish minister]] and Piłsudski's associate, herself a friend of Stalin, and the Polish officer [[Zygmunt Berling]]. From October 1940, Berling led a group of Polish officers working to establish a Polish division within the Soviet [[Red Army]].<ref name="Brzoza Sowa 522"/> The [[Union of Polish Patriots]], proposed and organized from January 1943, had its founding congress in June 1943 and was led by Wasilewska. Berling, Alfred Lampe, [[Stefan Jędrychowski]], [[Andrzej Witos]] and [[Bolesław Drobner]] were among the communists and individuals of other political orientations active in the organization, people willing to participate in a communist-dominated undertaking. After the Soviet authorities closed the branches of the Polish government's delegation in Soviet controlled territories, the union, assisted by a Soviet agency, established a social welfare department to look after the Poles scattered throughout its range of operations.<ref name="Kochanski 372-376"/><ref name="Brzoza Sowa 534"/> The [[Polish 1st Tadeusz Kościuszko Infantry Division]], commanded by Berling, was formed beginning in May 1943. The division fought at the [[Battle of Lenino]] in October 1943. The Polish National Committee, intended to develop into a communist government, was organized under Wasilewska from December 1943, but its formation was abandoned when Moscow found out about the existence of the [[State National Council]] in Warsaw. The Polish civilian and military activities in the Soviet Union were managed from January 1944 by the [[Central Bureau Communists of Poland]]. Its important members were Chairman [[Aleksander Zawadzki]], Wasilewska, [[Karol Świerczewski]], [[Jakub Berman]], [[Stanisław Radkiewicz]], [[Roman Zambrowski]], [[Hilary Minc]] and [[Marian Spychalski]]. Some of them would later form the core of the [[Stalinism|Stalinist]] and strictly pro-Soviet ([[Proletarian internationalism|internationalist]] in outlook) faction of Poland's ruling communists, who worked closely with [[Bolesław Bierut]] and were opposed to the national PPR current led by Gomułka. On the military side, the First Polish Corps was formed from the Kościuszko Division and expanded into the [[First Polish Army (1944–1945)|First Polish Army]] in March 1944, still under command of General Berling. The army was incorporated into the [[1st Belorussian Front]].<ref name="Brzoza 360–362"/><ref name="Eisler siedmiu 16–17"/><ref name="Kochanski 371-372"/>