Editing Bolesław Bierut (section)

==Career==

===Youth and early career===
Bierut was born in Rury, [[Congress Poland]] (then part of the [[Russian Empire]]), now a part of [[Lublin]], to Wojciech and Marianna Salomea (Wolska) Bierut, [[peasant]]s from the [[Tarnobrzeg]] area, the youngest of their six children. In 1900, he attended an elementary school in Lublin. In 1905, he was removed from the school for instigating anti-[[Russian Partition|Russian]] protests. From the age of fourteen he was employed in various trades, but obtained further education through self-studies. Influenced by the [[left-wing politics|leftist]] intellectual Jan Hempel, who in 1910 arrived in Lublin, before [[World War I]] Bierut joined the [[Polish Socialist Party – Left]] (''PPS – Lewica'').<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 38–41">Jerzy Eisler, ''Siedmiu wspaniałych. Poczet pierwszych sekretarzy KC PZPR'' [The Magnificent Seven: first secretaries of the PZPR], pp. 38–41.</ref>

From 1915, Bierut was active in the [[cooperative]] movement. In 1916, he became trade manager of the Lublin Food Cooperative, and from 1918 was its top leader, declaring the cooperative's "[[social class|class]]-[[socialism|socialist]]" character. During World War I, he stayed at times at Hempel's apartment in [[Warsaw]] and took [[trade]] and cooperative courses at the [[SGH Warsaw School of Economics|Warsaw School of Economics]].<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 32–35"/><ref name="Eisler siedmiu 38–41"/> In Warsaw, he established contacts with [[Maria Koszutska]] and in December 1918 some form of association with the newly created [[Communist Workers' Party of Poland]] (KPRP), from which, according to his later testimony, he withdrew in fall 1919. Bierut kept assuming ever higher offices in the cooperative movement. In 1919 he and Hempel went to [[Prague]], where they represented the Polish cooperatives at the congress of their [[Czechoslovakia|Czechoslovak]] counterparts. Bierut's increasingly radical views, however, eventually hindered his cooperative career and caused his departure from the leadership of the movement, beginning in 1921. From 1921, he officially functioned as a member of the KPRP.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 38–41"/>

In July 1921 Bierut married Janina Górzyńska, a preschool teacher who had helped him a great deal when his illegal activities forced him to hide from the police. They were married by a [[Priesthood in the Catholic Church|priest]] at the [[St. John the Baptist Cathedral, Lublin|Lublin Cathedral]], even though the priest, according to Janina, excused them from the [[Confession (religion)|confession]] requirement. In February 1923 their daughter Krystyna was born, followed by son Jan in January 1925.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 38–41"/>

===Communist party activism until 1939===

[[File:Bolesław Bierut ok. 1927.jpg|thumb|left|160px|Bierut in around 1927]]

In 1922–25, Bierut was a member of the Cooperative Department of the KPRP [[Central Committee]]. He worked as an accountant and was active in Warsaw at the [[Polish Association of Freethinkers]]. In August 1923, he was sent for party work in the [[Dąbrowa Basin]], to manage the Workers' Food Cooperative. He lived in [[Sosnowiec]], where he brought his wife and daughter and where he experienced the first of his many arrests. Detained repeatedly in various parts of the country, in October 1924 he moved to Warsaw. He had become a full-time conspiratorial party activist and in 1925 was a member of the Temporary Secretariat of the Central Committee and then the head of the Cooperative Department there.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 41–48">Jerzy Eisler, ''Siedmiu wspaniałych. Poczet pierwszych sekretarzy KC PZPR'' [The Magnificent Seven: first secretaries of the PZPR], pp. 41–48.</ref>

Already trusted by the [[Soviets]] and knowing the [[Russian language]] well, from October 1925 to June 1926 Bierut was in the [[Moscow]] area, sent there for training at the secret school of the [[Communist International]].<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 41–48"/>

Arrested in Warsaw in January 1927, he was released on 30 April, based on personal assurances issued on his behalf by Stanisław Szwalbe and [[Zygmunt Zaremba]]. During the Fourth Congress of the [[Communist Party of Poland]] (KPP, the new name of the KPRP), which took place from 22 May to 9 August 1927, Bierut became a member of the Temporary Secretariat of the Central Committee again. In November, the party sent him to the [[International Lenin School]] in Moscow. He received positive evaluations there, except for not being entirely free of ideological [[right-wing politics|right-wing]] errors, characteristic, in the school's opinion, of the Polish communist party.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 41–48"/>

[[File:Bolesław Bierut policja 1933.jpg|260px|thumb|right|Bolesław Bierut in 1933, after his arrest by Polish Police]]

In 1930–31, Bierut was sent by the Comintern to [[Austria]], [[Czechoslovakia]] and [[Bulgaria]]. Many details of his activities are not reliably known, but from 1 October 1930 he was an instructor at the executive committee of the Comintern. He later claimed having lived in Moscow in 1927–32, except for a nine-month period in 1931, and having been enrolled at the Lenin School until 1930.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 41–48"/> [[Jerzy Eisler]] wrote: "... in light of the Soviet archival materials, in 1927–32 Bierut was a member of the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] ([[Bolsheviks]]), with his party seniority counted from 1921, the moment he formally joined the Polish communist party."<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 48–56"/> In Moscow he met [[Małgorzata Fornalska]], a KPP activist. They became romantically involved and had a daughter, named Aleksandra, born in June 1932. Soon afterwards Bierut left for Poland, leaving in Moscow for the time being also his legal family, whom he had brought there.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 41–48"/>

For several months Bierut was district secretary of the KPP organization in [[Łódź]]. After the regional organization was demolished by arrests, in 1933 he became secretary of the Central Committee of the Polish section of the [[International Red Aid]]. On 18 December 1933, Bierut was arrested and in 1935 sentenced to seven years in prison. In 1936, while imprisoned, he was excluded ''in absentia'' from the KPP for an "unworthy of a communist behavior during the investigation and the court trial". The decision was invalidated and reversed by the Comintern on 7 September 1940 (even though the KPP by that time no longer existed). Bierut was found to have been a member of the moderate "majority" faction of the KPP, and the factional infighting in which he participated was determined not to amount to acting against the party.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 41–48"/>

He was released from prison on 20 December 1938, based on an earlier amnesty. He lived with his wife and children and worked in Warsaw cooperatives until the [[Invasion of Poland|outbreak of war]]. The "[[Sanation]]" prison may have saved his life: while he was incarcerated, the KPP was disbanded by the Comintern and most of its leaders murdered in [[Great Purge|Stalin's purges]].<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 41–48"/>

===In the Soviet Union===

On 1 September 1939, [[Nazi Germany]] [[Invasion of Poland|attacked Poland]]. On 6 September the Polish military command issued a radio appeal for all able-bodied men to head east;<ref>
Compare:
{{cite book
 |last1                = Meade
 |first1               = Teresa A.
 |author-link         = Teresa Meade
 |series               = Palgrave Studies in Oral History
 |chapter              = The War Years in Warsaw and the Soviet Union 1939-1945
 |title                = We Don't Become Refugees by Choice: Mia Truskier, Survival, and Activism from Occupied Poland to California, 1920-2014
 |date = 26 November 2021
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=vmtREAAAQBAJ
 |location             = Cham, Switzerland
 |publisher            = Springer Nature
 |publication-date     = 2021
 |page                 = 129
 |isbn                 = 9783030845254
 |access-date          = 28 May 2022
 |quote                = [...] the Polish people who found themselves in the Soviet Union after the Polish government on September 6, 1939 issued an order (over the radio) for all able-bodied men to evacuate the city and start to join the 'regrouped' Polish army, because the government claimed that the city of Warsaw, already under constant bombing by the Nazis and completely surrounded by them, was not going to be defended and the government did not wish the men to fall into the invaders' hands.
}} 
</ref>
Bierut left Warsaw for Lublin, from where he proceeded to [[Kovel]]. Eastern Poland was soon occupied by the [[Red Army]] and Bierut was about to spend a part of [[World War II]] in the [[Soviet Union]]. From early October, he was employed by the Soviets in political capacities, including vice-chairmanship of a regional election commission before the [[Elections to the People's Assemblies of Western Ukraine and Western Belorussia]]. The two assemblies, once established, voted for the incorporation of the previously Polish territories into the respective [[Republics of the Soviet Union|Soviet republic]]s.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 48–56">Jerzy Eisler, ''Siedmiu wspaniałych. Poczet pierwszych sekretarzy KC PZPR'' [The Magnificent Seven: first secretaries of the PZPR], pp. 48–56.</ref>

Bierut spent the rest of 1939, 1940 and the first part of 1941 in the Soviet Union, in [[Kiev]] and Moscow, working, making efforts to sanitize his record as a communist and searching for Fornalska, whom he met in Moscow in July 1940 and again in May 1941 in [[Białystok]], where she had moved with Aleksandra. The mother and daughter were evacuated to [[Yershov, Saratov Oblast|Yershov]] in the Soviet Union after the June 1941 outbreak of the [[Operation Barbarossa|Soviet-German war]], but Bierut ended up in [[Minsk]].{{Ref label|a|a|none}} From November 1941, he was employed there by the [[Nazi Germany|German]] occupation authorities as a manager in the trade and food distribution department of the city government. In the summer of 1943, Bierut arrived in [[Occupation of Poland (1939–1945)|Nazi-occupied Poland]], likely dispatched there as a trusted Soviet operative. He came to join the leadership of the [[Polish Workers' Party]] (PPR), a new communist party founded in January 1942. He may have been recommended for the job by Fornalska; parachuted into the [[General Government]] in the spring of 1942, she was in charge of the PPR's radio communications with Moscow.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 48–56"/> Bierut became a member of the party Secretariat on 23 November 1943.<ref>
{{cite book
 |last1                = Brzoza
 |first1               = Czesław
 |title                = Polska w czasach niepodległości i II wojny światowej: 1918-1945
 |trans-title          = Poland in Times of Independence and World War II (1918–1945)
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=HGoqjwEACAAJ
 |series               = Volume 9 of ''Polska w czasach niepodległości i II wojny światowej'', Stanisław Grodziski, ISBN 8385719350, 9788385719359
 |year = 2001
 |publisher            = Fogra
 |publication-date     = 2001
 |pages                = 362–364
 |isbn                 = 9788385719618
 |access-date          = 28 May 2022
}} 
</ref>

While there are many accounts and stories relating to Bierut during the 1939–1943 period, not much is known with certainty about his activities and the accounts are often speculative or amount to hearsay.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 48–56"/>

===In occupied Poland from 1943===

Upon his arrival in Warsaw, Bierut became a member of the Central Committee of the PPR, which comprised several individuals. The Secretariat had three members: General Secretary [[Paweł Finder]], Franciszek Jóźwiak and [[Władysław Gomułka]], whom Bierut did not know, but who quickly became his principal rival. Bierut lost his first confrontation over the management of ''Trybuna Wolności'' ('The Tribune of Freedom'), the party's press organ.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 56–59">Jerzy Eisler, ''Siedmiu wspaniałych. Poczet pierwszych sekretarzy KC PZPR'' [The Magnificent Seven: first secretaries of the PZPR], pp. 56–59.</ref>

In a major blow to the re-emergent Polish communist party, Finder and Fornalska were arrested by the [[Gestapo]] on 14 November 1943. They were executed in July 1944. They were the only people with the knowledge of radio codes needed to communicate with Moscow and such communications were indeed interrupted for several months. On 23 November 1943, the PPR chose Gomułka as its general secretary.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 56–59"/>

On 31 December 1943, Bierut assumed an important office: chairmanship of the [[State National Council]] (''Krajowa Rada Narodowa'', KRN), a communist-led body established by Gomułka and the PPR. The KRN was declared to be a wartime parliament of Poland and some splinter [[Polish Socialist Party|socialist]] and [[People's Party (Poland)|agrarian]] activists were co-opted.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 56–59"/> Starting with the KRN post, with Gomułka and others, Bierut would play a leading role in the [[History of Poland (1945–1989)|establishment of communist Poland]].<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 17, 48–82">[[Jerzy Eisler]], ''Siedmiu wspaniałych. Poczet pierwszych sekretarzy KC PZPR'' [The Magnificent Seven: first secretaries of the PZPR], pp. 17, 48–82.</ref>

In May 1944, the KRN delegation flew into Moscow. They were officially received at the [[Moscow Kremlin|Kremlin]] by [[Joseph Stalin]]; supremacy of the KRN was recognized by the [[Union of Polish Patriots]], which operated in the Soviet Union under communist leadership.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 56–59"/>

In June 1944 Bierut wrote a letter, meant for the Soviet leadership and addressed to [[Georgi Dimitrov]] in Moscow. He accused his Polish communist rival Gomułka of dictatorial tendencies and numerous offenses contrary to [[Marxist–Leninist]] orthodoxy; if taken seriously, the accusations could have cost Gomułka his life but they were not, and Gomułka did not find out about the letter until 1948, when it was used against him in Poland.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 56–59"/>

In July 1944, the [[Polish Committee of National Liberation]] (PKWN) was established in liberated Lublin province. Just before the outbreak of the [[Warsaw Uprising]], on 31 July 1944, Bierut came to [[Świder, Lublin Voivodeship|Świder]]. The next day he crossed the front line and arrived in Lublin, the seat of the PKWN.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 56–59"/>

===In Soviet-dominated Poland===

Continuing as the KRN president, from August 1944 Bierut was secretly a member of the newly created [[Politburo]] of the PPR; he was officially presented to the public as a [[nonpartisanism|nonpartisan]] politician.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 59–71">Jerzy Eisler, ''Siedmiu wspaniałych. Poczet pierwszych sekretarzy KC PZPR'' [The Magnificent Seven: first secretaries of the PZPR], pp. 59–71.</ref>

After the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising, Bierut arrived in Moscow. On 6–7 August 1944, together with [[Wanda Wasilewska]] and [[Michał Rola-Żymierski]], he conducted negotiations with Prime Minister [[Stanisław Mikołajczyk]] of the [[Polish government-in-exile]]. Mikołajczyk refused their offer of the job of prime minister in a coalition government, which otherwise would be dominated by the communists.<ref name="Brzoza Sowa Historia Polski 1918–1945 545–546">Czesław Brzoza, Andrzej Leon Sowa, ''Historia Polski 1918–1945'' [History of Poland: 1918–1945], pp. 545–546. Kraków 2009, [[Wydawnictwo Literackie]], {{ISBN|978-83-08-04125-3}}.</ref> Bierut's daughter Krystyna participated in the uprising as a soldier of ''[[Armia Ludowa]]'' and was gravely wounded.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 59–71"/>

A KRN and PKWN delegation, led by Bierut, was summoned to Moscow, where it stayed from 28 September to 3 October. Stalin, assisted by Wasilewska, had two meetings with the leaders from Poland, during which he lectured them on a number of issues, but was especially displeased by the lack of progress in implementing the [[land reform]] decree passed by the PKWN on 6 September. Stalin urged them to proceed forcefully with the agrarian revolution and to eliminate the [[Polish landed gentry|great land owners class]] without further delay or undue legal concerns; Bierut felt that the remarks were addressed to him in particular.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 59–71"/>

On 12 October, the anniversary of the [[Battle of Lenino]], the KRN for the first time deliberated in Lublin. The proceedings were interrupted to allow the deputies (including Bierut), together with officials of the PKWN and [[Nikolai Bulganin]] representing the Soviet Union, to participate in a field [[mass (liturgy)|mass]] celebrated for the occasion and in the military parade that followed. Such participation in religious ceremonies by leading communist politicians continued for a while; it was one of the manifestations of the officially proclaimed after the war democratic and pluralistic policies, which included preservation of religious freedoms. Marshal Rola-Żymierski recalled kneeling together with Bierut before the altar at another field mass in May 1946, on the first anniversary of World War II victory. In conversations with Stanisław Łukasiewicz, his press secretary, Bierut expressed his support for moderate and liberal policies. His personal views were [[anti-clericalism|anti-clerical]] and he thought the reform proposals put forward by Mikołajczyk's [[Polish People's Party (1945–1949)|Polish People's Party]] (PSL), the legally existing opposition, would be abandoned in the event of PSL victory.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 59–71"/>

[[File:Bierut na Krajowym Zlocie ZWM.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Bolesław Bierut inspecting members of the [[Union of Polish Youth]], 1946]]

A military department of the PPR Central Committee was created on 31 October 1944 and included Bierut and Gomułka, in addition to three generals. Its goal was to politicize the armed forces, currently fighting the war, and to establish a politically reliable officer corps. According to Eisler, Bierut and Gomułka are both responsible for the post-war persecution of many former [[Home Army]] soldiers and other groups and individuals. The terror policies, particularly brutal in the 1944–48 period, were directed against declared opponents of the regime, including the legally functioning PSL, and had nor yet involved society as a whole.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 59–71"/><ref name="Eisler siedmiu 75–82">Jerzy Eisler, ''Siedmiu wspaniałych. Poczet pierwszych sekretarzy KC PZPR'' [The Magnificent Seven: first secretaries of the PZPR], pp. 75–82.</ref>

In February 1945, the [[Yalta Conference]] took place in [[Crimea]]. At that time Bierut, together with the PPR leadership and government departments, moved to the capital city of Warsaw. The city was in ruins and its rebuilding and expansion became a major concern and preoccupation for Bierut during the years that followed.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 59–71"/>

In June 1945, the [[Provisional Government of National Unity]] was established in Moscow. In July, Bierut and other Polish leaders participated in the [[Potsdam Conference]], where, together with Stalin, they successfully lobbied for the establishment of Poland's western border at the [[Oder–Neisse line]]. The Polish administration in the formerly German lands was to continue until the final delimitation of the frontier in the (future) peace settlement.<ref name="Kochanski 537-541">[[Halik Kochanski]] (2012). The Eagle Unbowed: Poland and the Poles in the Second World War, pp. 537–541. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-674-06814-8}}.</ref> Poland's newly acquired "[[Recovered Territories]]" had thus reached their maximum attainable size.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 59–71"/>

===Referendum and election, Bierut's presidency===

[[File:Bolesław Bierut przodownicy pracy Most Poniatowskiego.jpg|thumb|left|251px|Bierut decorating the [[Udarnik|most productive workers]] on the rebuilt [[Poniatowski Bridge]] in [[Warsaw]], 1946]]

On 30 June 1946, the [[1946 Polish people's referendum|Polish people's referendum]] took place. It was done in preparation for the [[Yalta Conference|Yalta]]-mandated national elections; affirmative answers to the three questions given were supposed to demonstrate public support for the issues promoted by the communists. The results were falsified.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 71–75">Jerzy Eisler, ''Siedmiu wspaniałych. Poczet pierwszych sekretarzy KC PZPR'' [The Magnificent Seven: first secretaries of the PZPR], pp. 71–75.</ref>

On 22 September 1946, the KRN passed the electoral rules and in November set the date; the delayed [[1947 Polish legislative election|legislative elections]] were held on 19 January 1947. The PPR-led coalition, running as the [[Front of National Unity|Democratic Bloc]], was opposed by Mikołajczyk's PSL.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 71–75" /> 

Mikołajczyk's Peasant Party, although it also had progressive overtones, had grown to be publicly associated with the traditional Polish right, which had engaged in antisemitic and anti-communist [[Sanation|repressions]] before the war. The government dissolved the explicitly [[Antisemitism|antisemitic]] right-wing parties still active after the war, but many of their supporters joined PSL since it was the only remaining legal opposition.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Albert Szymanski |url=https://archive.org/details/ClassStruggleInSocialistPoland/page/n51/mode/2up |title=Class Struggle in Socialist Poland: With Comparisons to Yugoslavia}}</ref> The long-standing trope of the "Judeo-Bolshevik", or ''[[Żydokomuna]]'', was used by the far-right in anti-communist propaganda to cast Polish communism as a plot to control Poland by Russian Jews.<ref name=":0" /> 

The government also engaged in heavy interference with the election. Due to the electoral rules passed in September, 1 million people, or about 8% of the electorate, were disqualified on the grounds that they collaborated with the German Nazis during occupation or with underground fascist organizations still active in the country. Additionally, Peasant Party lists in 10 of the 52 districts were disqualified on the basis that they were composed of rightists. In places where Peasant Party observers were not allowed to oversee the election process, results were directly falsified.<ref name=":0" /> Lastly, peasant participation was limited by the fact that the elections were set in January, when most rural roads were covered in snow.<ref name=":0" /> The falsified results saw the Democratic Bloc receiving 80.1% of the vote, and Mikołajczyk only getting 10.3%.<ref name=":0" /> The PSL was practically eliminated as the legal opposition.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 71–75" /><ref name=":0" />

The newly elected ''[[Sejm]]'' convened on 4 February 1947 and on the following day it elected Bierut [[President of Poland|President of the Republic of Poland]]. The installation ceremony was done in a traditional format and ended with the new president uttering the words "so help me God".<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 71–75"/>

[[File:Bolesław Bierut - Film nr 55-56 - 1948-12-23.JPG|thumb|right|Bierut in 1948]]

On 16 November 1947, during the opening ceremony of the [[Polskie Radio|Polish Radio]] broadcasting station in [[Wrocław]], President Bierut made a speech entitled ''For the dissemination of culture''. "The artistic and cultural creative process should reflect the great breakthrough that the nation is experiencing. It should, but so far it isn't", he said. Bierut called for greater centralization and planning in culture and art, which, according to him, should form, educate and engross society. The speech was a harbinger of the upcoming norm of [[socialist realism]] in Poland.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 75–82"/>

Sometimes, Bierut on his own undertook special interventions with Stalin. He repeatedly and at different times asked Stalin and [[Lavrentiy Beria]] about the whereabouts of the missing Polish communists (former members of the disbanded KPP), many of whom were murdered in the [[Great Purge]] in the 1930s, but others may have survived. He also kept looking for the missing family of Fornalska.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 71–75"/><ref name="Jestem córką Jakuba 64–65">Lucyna Tychowa and Andrzej Romanowski, ''Tak, jestem córką Jakuba Bermana'' [Yes, I'm the Daughter of Jakub Berman], pp. 64–65. UNIVERSITAS, Kraków 2016, {{ISBN|97883-242-3013-6}}.</ref> While Stalin and Beria discouraged and ridiculed Bierut's efforts, in some cases his exertions brought positive results.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 71–75"/> Besides the communists, mostly surviving women, Bierut was able to bring back to Poland many other Poles, including former Home Army soldiers exiled in the Soviet Union.<ref name="Jestem córką Jakuba 115–117">Lucyna Tychowa and Andrzej Romanowski, ''Tak, jestem córką Jakuba Bermana'' [Yes, I'm the Daughter of Jakub Berman], pp. 115–117.</ref>

Bierut was a gallant man, well-liked by women. His wife Janina did not live with him and was not known to many of his associates. She occasionally visited him in his offices and seemed intimidated by the surroundings and her husband's position. On the other hand, his son and two daughters had seen Bierut frequently; they spent with him holidays and vacations and he appeared to genuinely enjoy their company. Bierut's actual female partner, after Fornalska's arrest, was Wanda Górska. She worked as his secretary and in other capacities, controlled access to him and visitors often thought of her as Bierut's wife.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 59–71"/>

===Top leader of Stalinist Poland===

[[File:Bolesław Bierut 1949.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Bolesław Bierut, [[President of Poland]] and [[General Secretary of the Communist Party|General Secretary]] of the [[Polish United Workers' Party|PZPR]]]]

Gomułka, general secretary of the PPR (and until that time the principal figure in post-war Polish communist establishment),<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 31–38"/> was accused of a "right-wing nationalistic deviation" and removed from his position during a plenary meeting of the Central Committee in August 1948. The move was Stalin-orchestrated and Stalin's choice to fill the vacated job was President Bierut, who had thus become both the top party leader and top state official.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 71–75"/>

The historic PPS was practically taken over by the PPR at the Unification Congress, held in Warsaw in December 1948. The resulting "[[Marxism–Leninism|Marxist–Leninist]]" [[Polish United Workers' Party]] (PZPR) was nearly synonymous with the state and Bierut became its first general secretary.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 71–75"/> The [[Three-Year Plan]] of post-war rebuilding and economic consolidation ended in 1949 and was followed by the [[Six-Year Plan]], which intensified the [[industrialisation]] process and brought extensive [[urbanization]] of Poland.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 75–82"/>

In November 1949, Bierut asked the Soviet government to make available Marshal [[Konstantin Rokossovsky]], a Polish-Soviet politician and famous World War II commander, for service in the government of Poland. Rokossovsky subsequently became a [[Marshal of Poland]] and [[Ministry of National Defence (Poland)|Minister of National Defense]].<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 75–82"/>

[[File:BM OderNeisse.jpg|thumb|1951 [[East Germany|East German]] stamp commemorative of the [[Treaty of Zgorzelec]], which established the [[Oder–Neisse line]] as a "border of peace"; presidents [[Wilhelm Pieck]] ([[East Germany|GDR]]) and Bolesław Bierut are featured shaking hands over the border]]

In early August 1951, Bierut had his main rival Gomułka arrested. Gomułka, though imprisoned, refused to cooperate with his accusers and displayed remarkable ability to defend himself, while Bierut's people bungled the prosecution.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 75–82"/> According to [[Edward Ochab]], though, Stalin and Beria ordered the arrest and trial of Gomułka, while Bierut and [[Jakub Berman]] tried to protect him and caused delays in the proceedings.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 115–116">Jerzy Eisler, ''Siedmiu wspaniałych. Poczet pierwszych sekretarzy KC PZPR'' [The Magnificent Seven: first secretaries of the PZPR], pp. 115–116.</ref> Informal political reforms, slow to take hold after Stalin's death, eventually materialized and in December 1954 Gomułka was released.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 75–82"/>

During the lifetime of Stalin, Bierut was strictly subservient to the Soviet leader. Bierut routinely received instructions from Stalin over the telephone or was summoned to Moscow for consultations.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 24–25">Jerzy Eisler, ''Siedmiu wspaniałych. Poczet pierwszych sekretarzy KC PZPR'' [The Magnificent Seven: first secretaries of the PZPR], pp. 24–25.</ref> Bierut still had far more power in Poland than any of his successors as First Secretary of the PZPR. He ruled jointly with his two closest associates, Berman and [[Hilary Minc]].<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 31–38">Jerzy Eisler, ''Siedmiu wspaniałych. Poczet pierwszych sekretarzy KC PZPR'' [The Magnificent Seven: first secretaries of the PZPR], pp. 31–38.</ref> Security issues he also consulted with [[Stanisław Radkiewicz]], head of the [[Ministry of Public Security (Poland)|Ministry of Public Security]].<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 75–82"/>

===Bierut's 60th birthday, constitution of the Polish People's Republic===

[[File:Bolesław Bierut wśród dziatwy 1951.jpg|thumb|left|180px|Bierut was often photographed with children, which was meant to contribute to his cult of personality]]

The apogee of Bierut's [[Cult of personality|cult]], promoted by the authorities over a number of years, was the celebration of his sixtieth birthday on 18 April 1952. It included various industrial and other production or accomplishment commitments undertaken by institutions and individuals. The [[University of Wrocław]] and some state enterprises were named in his honor. The History Department of the party's Central Committee prepared a special book about Bierut and his life, while Polish poets, including some notable ones, generated a book of poems dedicated to the leader. Many [[postage stamp]]s dedicated to Bierut were issued.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 82–85">Jerzy Eisler, ''Siedmiu wspaniałych. Poczet pierwszych sekretarzy KC PZPR'' [The Magnificent Seven: first secretaries of the PZPR], pp. 82–85.</ref>

As the PZPR leadership felt ready to sanction its rule in a fundamental legal document, a new constitution was being worked on. On 26 May 1951, the ''Sejm'' passed a statute concerning the preparation and passing of the constitution. The Constitutional Committee, led by Bierut, commenced its deliberations on 19 September. In the fall of 1951, a Russian translation of the draft constitution was examined by Stalin, who inserted dozens of corrections, subsequently implemented in the Polish text by Bierut. The officially proclaimed national public discussion resulted in hundreds of other proposed changes. After all the delays and the necessary extension of the term of the ''Sejm'', the [[Constitution of the Polish People's Republic]] was officially proclaimed on 22 July 1952.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 82–85"/>

The [[Polish People's Republic]] (''Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa'') was the new name of the state. The ''Sejm'' was designated as the highest national authority; it represented "the working people of towns and villages". The office of the president was eliminated and replaced with the collegial [[Polish Council of State|Council of State]], elected by the ''Sejm'' from its members. The first chairman of the new council was [[Aleksander Zawadzki]]. Bierut replaced [[Józef Cyrankiewicz]] as prime minister in November 1952. The constitution, amended many times, remained in force until a new [[Constitution of Poland]] came into effect in October 1997, in what was then the Republic of Poland.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 82–85"/>

===Bierut's last years===

[[File:Bierut2.jpg|thumb|right|180px|Bierut reading ''[[Trybuna Ludu]]'' ('The People's Tribune'), the official newspaper of the [[Polish United Workers' Party]]]]

In March 1953, Bierut led the Polish delegation for [[Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin|Stalin's funeral]] in Moscow.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 85–88">Jerzy Eisler, ''Siedmiu wspaniałych. Poczet pierwszych sekretarzy KC PZPR'' [The Magnificent Seven: first secretaries of the PZPR], pp. 85–88.</ref>

The regime's relations with the [[Catholic Church]] kept deteriorating. The authorities imprisoned Bishop Czesław Kaczmarek and interned Poland's [[primate (bishop)|primate]], Cardinal [[Stefan Wyszyński]].<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 85–88"/>

In the Soviet Union, changes were initiated by the new leader of the communist party, [[Nikita Khrushchev]]. The collective leadership concept, promoted first in the Soviet Union, made its way to other [[communist countries]], including Poland. It meant, among other things, giving top party and state functions to different officials.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 85–88"/>

The Second Congress of the PZPR deliberated from 10 to 17 March 1954 in Warsaw. Bierut's party chief's title was changed from general secretary to first secretary. Because of the separation of functions requirement, Bierut remained only a party secretary and Cyrankiewicz returned to the post of prime minister. The Six-Year Plan was modified and some of the heavy industrial investment resources were shifted toward production of consumer articles.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 85–88"/>

When Khrushchev, a guest at the congress, inquired about the reasons for the continuing imprisonment of Gomułka, Bierut professed his own ignorance on that issue.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 85–88"/>

===Death and funeral===

[[File:Funeral of Bierut.jpg|thumb|left|251px|Bierut's funeral bier attended by [[Józef Cyrankiewicz]], [[Edward Ochab]] and [[Aleksander Zawadzki]]]]

The [[20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] deliberated on 14–25 February 1956. Afterwards, Bierut did not return to Poland with the rest of the Polish delegation, but remained in Moscow, hospitalized with bad [[influenza]], which turned into [[pneumonia]] and heart complications.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 88–93">Jerzy Eisler, ''Siedmiu wspaniałych. Poczet pierwszych sekretarzy KC PZPR'' [The Magnificent Seven: first secretaries of the PZPR], pp. 88–93.</ref>

On 3 March, during a conference of PZPR activists in Warsaw, [[Stefan Staszewski]] and others severely criticized the contemporary party leadership, including the absent Bierut.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 88–93"/>

Bierut died of a [[myocardial infarction|heart attack]] on 12 March 1956, having read the text of [[Nikita Khrushchev]]'s "[[On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences|Secret Speech]]", in which Khrushchev criticized Stalin's [[cult of personality]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fitzpatrick |first1=Sheila |title=On Stalin's Team: The Years of Living Dangerously in Soviet Politics |date=2015 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=9781400874217 |page=246 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HAIACQAAQBAJ&pg=PA246 |language=en}}</ref>

Bierut, however, would not die until sixteen days after that speech and four members of the delegation of Polish students who studied in Moscow, who met him on 25 February 1956, told Eisler that the first secretary showed signs of physical distress already at that time.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 88–93"/>
[[File:Powazki Bierut.JPG|thumb|right|Bierut's tomb at [[Powązki Military Cemetery]]]]
The deceased leader was given a splendid funeral in Warsaw. A period of national mourning was declared. Catholic bishops conceded to the demand that church bells ring all over the country on the day of the funeral.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 88–93"/>

In a radio address on 14 March, Helena Jaworska, chairperson of the board of the [[Union of Polish Youth]], eulogized Bierut on behalf of the Polish youth. She recalled Bierut's war and post-war activities and declared that "the beloved friend of the youth has departed". She spoke of the "great son of the Polish nation" and "a beautiful, loved person".<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 88–93"/>

The funeral, which took place on 16 March, was transmitted by the Polish Radio over many hours. Warsaw residents were given a day-off from work to be able to participate. Large crowds of people gathered and joined the funeral procession, which began at the [[Palace of Culture and Science]] and proceeded toward the [[Powązki Military Cemetery]], where the burial took place and where, for logistic reasons, only invited guests and delegations could enter.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 88–93"/>