{{Politics of Poland}} The '''Polish legislative election, 1947''' was held on [[January 19]], [[1947]] in the [[People's Republic of Poland]]. The [[anti-communist]] opposition candidates and activists were brutally persecuted and the eventual results were falsified [Wrona, 1999]. According to the official results, the [[communist]]-controlled "[[Democratic Bloc (Poland)|Democratic Bloc]]" (''Blok Demokratyczny''), composed of the [[Polska Partia Robotnicza|Polish Workers Party]] (PPR), [[Polska Partia Socjalistyczna|Polish Socialist Party]] (PPS), [[Stronnictwo Ludowe|Popular Party]] (SL), and [[Stronnictwo Demokratyczne|Democratic Party]] (SD) and non-partisan candidates, gained 80.1% votes (390 out of 444 seats). In fact, the "Democratic Bloc" gained only about 50% of the votes [http://www.konstytucje.pl/pub/t024.htm]. The elections were not free, as opposition candidates were discriminated against and the votes were rigged [Eley, 2002]. Nonetheless, the election gave the [[Soviet Union]] and its Polish [[satellite state|satellite]] communist government[http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/lo/countries/pl/pl_overview.html] enough legitimacy to claim that Poland was 'free and democratic', and allowing Poland to sign the [[charter of the United Nations]] [Schlesinger 2003]. The 1947 elections would mark the beginning of the 'election farce': every single Polish election until the [[fall of communism]] in 1989 would be falsified in a similar way.[Wrona, 1999] == Background == By 1946, Poland was mostly under the control of the [[Soviet Union]] and its proxies, the [[Polish communists]]. In 1946 the communists already tested their strength by falsifying the [[Polish people's referendum, 1946]] ("3xYES Referendum") [Buchanan 2005] and banning all [[right-wing]] parties (under the pretext of their pro-[[Nazi]] stance). By 1947 the only remaining legal opposition was the [[Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe]] (Polish Peasant Party) of [[Stanisław Mikołajczyk]], which refused to join the communist alliance[http://www.bartleby.com/65/po/Poland.html] [http://info-poland.buffalo.edu/classroom/longhist6.html]. Although the [[Yalta agreement]] called for [[free elections]] in Poland, those held in January 1947 were controlled by the [[Polish communists]][http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2875.htm]. The [[election law]], introduced before the elections, allowed the government - which [[PKWN|since its estabilishment in 1944]] was controlled by the communists - to remove over half a million people from the list of those eligible for voting, under false accusations of [[collaboration]] with the [[Nazi]]s or 'anti-government bandits' (i.e. [[Armia Krajowa]] and other [[Polish resistance movement in World War II|Polish resistance]] movements loyal to the [[Polish government in exile]]). Over 80,000 members of the Polish Peasant Party were arrested under various false charges in the month preceding the election, and around 100 of them were murdered by the Polish Secret Police ([[Urząd Bezpieczeństwa]], UB)[http://www.ipn.gov.pl/biuletyn/12/biuletyn01_2.html]. 98 opposition parliamentary candidates were also crossed from the registration lists under these accusations. Finally, in some regions - especially those known to be strongholds of the Polish Peasants Party - the entire electoral list of that party was disqualified for various technical and legal reasons.[http://www.ipn.gov.pl/biuletyn/12/biuletyn01_2.html] The entire falsification action was organized and closely monitored by specialists from Polish secret police, worked closely with their [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] counterparts like [[Aron Pałkin]] and [[Siemion Dawydow]], both high-ranking officers from the Soviet [[Ministry for State Security (USSR)|Ministry for State Security]]. The Soviet assistance was asked for before the referendum of 1946 by a prominent Polish communist, [[Bolesław Bierut]], head of the provisional Polish parliament ([[State National Council]])[http://www.wprost.pl/ar/?O=88365]. Over 40% of the members of the electoral commisions who were supposed to monitor the voting were recruited by the UB [http://wiadomosci.polska.pl/kalendarz/kalendarium/article.htm?id=79742]. == The elections == The opposition candidates and activists were brutally persecuted until the very election day and the publicized results were falsified [Wrona, 1999], with the official results known to selected government officials long before the actual elections took place.[http://www.konstytucje.pl/pub/t024.htm] The real results were not known to anyone, as in the areas government control was high enough, some of the [[ballot box]]es were simply destroyed even before being counted [http://www.ipn.gov.pl/biuletyn/12/biuletyn01_2.html] or exchanged with the boxes filled with prepared votes[http://www.wprost.pl/ar/?O=88365]. Where possible, government officials simply filled in the numbers in the relevant documets as per instructions from the communist officials without bothering to count the real votes. [http://www.wprost.pl/ar/?O=88365] In his report to [[Stalin]], after the 1947 results, Pałkin estimated that the real results (i.e. votes cast) gave communists about 50%.[http://www.konstytucje.pl/pub/t024.htm] The opposition itself estimated that it should have received about 80% of the votes[http://www.wprost.pl/ar/?O=81483&C=57] if the elections were not rigged and the voters were not terrorised. A [[TIME Magazine]] article covering the elections noted in its lead paragaph: ''In a spirit of partisan exuberance tempered with terror, Poland approached its first nationwide popular election, ten days hence. By last week most of the combined opposition (Socialist and Polish Peasant Party) candidates had been jailed, and their supporters more or less completely cowed by the secret police, by striking their names from voting lists and by arrest. The Communist-dominated Government ventured to predict an "overwhelming" victory.''[http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,855579,00.html] == Aftermath == Many members of opposition parties, including Mikołajczyk - who would have likely become the [[Prime Minister of Poland]] if the elections were not rigged [Cockburn, 1997] - saw no hope in further struggle and, fearing for their lives, left the country [Buchanan 2005]. Western governments issued only token protests, if any, which led many anti-Communist Poles to speak of postwar "[[Western betrayal]]". In the same year, the new [[Legislative Sejm]] voted for the [[Small Constitution of 1947]], and [[Bolesław Bierut]], a Pole who was a Communist and a citizen of the USSR, was elected president of Poland by the parliament. Over the next two years, the Communists would ensure their rise to power by monopolizing political power in Poland under the PZPR[http://www.poloniatoday.com/history13.htm]. The Communists admitted in the last year of their rule that they had resorted to systematic vote rigging, both in a referendum in June 1946 and in the 1947 parliamentary elections. == Results == {| class="prettytable" align="center" style="margin:auto;" ! rowspan="2" | Party/Coalition (C) ! colspan="2" | Votes ! colspan="2" | Number |- ! Number ! % ! Number ! % |- | [[Polska Partia Robotnicza]] | align="right" | - | align="right" | - | align="right" | 114 | align="right" | - |- | [[Polska Partia Socjalistyczna]] | align="right" | - | align="right" | - | align="right" | 116 | align="right" | - |- | [[Stronnictwo Ludowe]] | align="right" | - | align="right" | - | align="right" | 109 | align="right" | - |- | [[Stronnictwo Demokratyczne]] | align="right" | - | align="right" | - | align="right" | 41 | align="right" | - |- | [[Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe]] | align="right" | - | align="right" | - | align="right" | 27 | align="right" | 10.3% |- | [[Stronnictwo Pracy]] | align="right" | - | align="right" | - | align="right" | 15 | align="right" | 4.7% |- | Independents | align="right" | - | align="right" | - | align="right" | 10 | align="right" | - |- | [[Polskie Stronnitctwo Ludowe-Nowe Wyzwolenie]] | align="right" | - | align="right" | - | align="right" | 7 | align="right" | 3.5% |- | [[Grupy katolickie]] | align="right" | - | align="right" | - | align="right" | 5 | align="right" | 1.4% |} == References == *[http://www.elisanet.fi/daglarsson/dokumentit/polval1.htm Results of the 1947 elections] *Janusz Wrona (ed.), ''Kampania wyborcza i wybory do Sejmu Ustawodawczego 19 stycznia 1947'' (Elections campaign and the elections to the Legislative Sejm of 19 January 1947), Wydawnictwo Sejmowe, 1999 ISBN 8370593224; * Geoff Eley, ''Forging Democracy the History of the Left in Europe, 1850-2000'', Oxford University Press, 2002, ISBN 0195044797 "In January 1947, manifestly rigged Polish elections gave Communists 80.1% of the vote..."[http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0195044797&id=PrWkrL_nYiMC&pg=PA300&lpg=PA300&dq=Polish+elections+1947&sig=jWiRkIUgFhGHOASYrEL6vk8Lfv0 Google Print, p.300] * Stephen Schlesinger, ''Act of Creation: The Founding of the United Nations'', Westview Press, 2003, ISBN 0813333245 "On January 19, 1947, the first Polish elections were held. They were widely seen as fraudulent." [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0813333245&id=nV8zLFKglf4C&pg=PA225&lpg=PA225&dq=Polish+elections+1947&sig=wR1vJAX4NXJ2P25QOLP_8nXgXic Google Print, p.225] * Alexander Cockburn, ''The Golden Age Is in Us: Journeys and Encounters, 1987-1994'', Verso, 1997, ISBN 0860916642 "By January [1947...] the fixed Polish election that sent the Peasant Party leader Stanisław Mikołajczyk, who probably should have won, into exile."[http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0860916642&id=PJfUHb7mB9UC&pg=PA157&lpg=PA157&dq=Polish+elections+1947&sig=Zc3SCYJHA7NNF7gisPY-ni-ktKM Google Print, p.157] * Tom Buchanan, ''Europe's Troubled Peace, 1945-2000: 1945-2000'', Blackwell Publishing, 2005, ISBN 063122162X, "...the elections of January 1947 [...] were clearly rigged."[http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN063122162X&id=gRRj4Vr46IkC&pg=RA1-PA84&lpg=RA1-PA84&dq=Polish+elections+1947&sig=k52neb8NaD8oW7QbHCwcsaiDiXY Google Print, p.84] == Further reading == *Michał Skoczylas, ''Wybory do Sejmu Ustawodawczego z 19 stycznia 1947 roku w świetle skarg ludności'' (Elections to the Legislative Sejm on 19 January 1947 in the light of citizens complains), TRIO, 2003, ISBN 8388542435 [[Category:1947 elections]] [[Category:Elections in Poland]] [[Category:History of Poland (1945–1989)]]