Editing Bolesław Bierut (section)

===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"/>