Editing Poland (section)

=== Post-war communism ===
{{Main|History of Poland (1945–1989)|Polish People's Republic|History of Solidarity|Polish Round Table Agreement}}
[[File:Solidarity poster 1989.jpg|thumb|upright|left|''At [[High Noon]], 4 June 1989''—political poster featuring [[Gary Cooper]] to encourage votes for the [[Solidarity (Polish trade union)|Solidarity]] party in the [[Contract Sejm|1989 elections]]]]
At the insistence of [[Joseph Stalin]], the [[Yalta Conference]] sanctioned the formation of a new provisional pro-Communist coalition government in Moscow, which ignored the [[Polish government-in-exile]] based in London. This action angered many Poles who considered it a [[Yalta betrayal|betrayal]] by the Allies.<ref>The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Yalta Conference". Encyclopedia Britannica, 20 Mar. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/event/Yalta-Conference. Accessed 21 April 2025</ref> In 1944, Stalin had made guarantees to [[Winston Churchill|Churchill]] and [[Franklin D. Roosevelt|Roosevelt]] that he would maintain Poland's sovereignty and allow democratic elections to take place. However, upon achieving victory in 1945, the elections organised by the occupying Soviet authorities were falsified and were used to provide a veneer of legitimacy for Soviet hegemony over Polish affairs.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Institute of National Remembrance |url=https://eng.ipn.gov.pl/en/digital-resources/articles/7193%2CRigged-elections-19-January-1947.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Staar |first=Richard F. |date=1958 |title=Elections in Communist Poland |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2108857 |journal=Midwest Journal of Political Science |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=200–218 |doi=10.2307/2108857 |issn=0026-3397}}</ref><ref>[[Dieter Nohlen]] & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1491 {{ISBN|978-3-8329-5609-7}}</ref> The Soviet Union instituted a new [[communist state|communist]] government in Poland, analogous to much of the rest of the [[Eastern Bloc]]. [[Anti-Communism in the Communist Bloc|As elsewhere in Communist Europe]], the Soviet influence over Poland was met with [[Cursed soldiers|armed resistance]] from the outset which continued into the 1950s.<ref>{{Cite web |title=ARTICLE by Karol Nawrocki, Ph.D.: The soldiers of Polish freedom |url=https://ipn.gov.pl/en/news/9332,ARTICLE-by-Karol-Nawrocki-PhD-The-soldiers-of-Polish-freedom.html |access-date=6 March 2022 |archive-date=12 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220512143630/https://ipn.gov.pl/en/news/9332,ARTICLE-by-Karol-Nawrocki-PhD-The-soldiers-of-Polish-freedom.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Despite widespread objections, the new Polish government accepted the Soviet annexation of the pre-war eastern regions of Poland<ref name="Lane 1948" /> (in particular the cities of [[Wilno]] and [[Lwów]]) and agreed to the permanent garrisoning of [[Red Army]] units on Poland's territory. Military alignment within the [[Warsaw Pact]] throughout the [[Cold War]] came about as a direct result of this change in Poland's political culture. In the European scene, it came to characterise the full-fledged integration of Poland into the brotherhood of communist nations.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Warsaw Pact: Definition, History, and Significance |url=https://www.thoughtco.com/warsaw-pact-4178983 |access-date=6 March 2022 |archive-date=31 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220531072214/https://www.thoughtco.com/warsaw-pact-4178983 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The new communist government took control with the adoption of the [[Small Constitution of 1947|Small Constitution]] on 19 February 1947. The [[Polish People's Republic]] (''Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa'') [[Constitution of the People's Republic of Poland|was officially proclaimed in 1952]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Constitutional history of Poland |url=https://constitutionnet.org/country/poland |access-date=2025-04-21 |website=ConstitutionNet |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Lasok |first=Dominik |title=The Polish Constitutions of 1947 and 1952: a historical study in constitutional law |date=1954 |degree=phd |publisher=London School of Economics and Political Science |url=https://etheses.lse.ac.uk/112/ |language=en}}</ref> In 1956, after the death of [[Bolesław Bierut]], the régime of [[Władysław Gomułka]] became temporarily more liberal, freeing many people from prison and expanding some personal freedoms. [[Collectivization in the Polish People's Republic|Collectivisation in the Polish People's Republic]] failed. A similar situation repeated itself in the 1970s under [[Edward Gierek]], but most of the time persecution of [[Anti-communist resistance in Poland (1944–1989)|anti-communist opposition]] groups persisted. Despite this, Poland was at the time considered to be one of the least oppressive states of the Eastern Bloc.<ref name="PWN" />

Labour turmoil in 1980 led to the formation of the independent trade union "[[Solidarity (Polish trade union)|Solidarity]]" ("''Solidarność''"), which over time became a political force.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Staff |first=TIME |date=2020-03-05 |title=Anna Walentynowicz: 100 Women of the Year |url=https://time.com/5793658/anna-walentynowicz-100-women-of-the-year/ |access-date=2025-04-21 |website=TIME |language=en}}</ref> Despite persecution and imposition of [[Martial law in Poland|martial law in 1981]] by General [[Wojciech Jaruzelski]], it eroded the dominance of the [[Polish United Workers' Party]] and by 1989 had triumphed in Poland's first [[Contract Sejm|partially free and democratic parliamentary elections]] since the end of the Second World War. [[Lech Wałęsa]], a Solidarity candidate, eventually [[1990 Polish presidential election|won the presidency in 1990]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lech Walesa Is Elected President of Poland {{!}} EBSCO Research Starters |url=https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/lech-walesa-elected-president-poland |access-date=2025-04-21 |website=www.ebsco.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2010-02-09 |title=Lech Walesa elected president of Poland {{!}} December 9, 1990 |url=https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/december-9/walesa-elected-president-of-poland |access-date=2025-04-21 |website=HISTORY |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Lech Wałęsa – Biographical |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1983/walesa/biographical/ |access-date=2025-04-21 |website=NobelPrize.org |language=en-US}}</ref> The Solidarity movement heralded the [[Revolutions of 1989|collapse of communist regimes and parties across Europe]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 2020 |title=Solidarity Movement– or the Beginning of the End of Communism |url=https://argumentum.al/lajmi/2020/09/solidarity-movement-or-the-beginning-of-the-end-of-communism/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220328012855/https://argumentum.al/lajmi/2020/09/solidarity-movement-or-the-beginning-of-the-end-of-communism/ |archive-date=28 March 2022 |access-date=6 March 2022 |url-status=dead }}</ref>