Przed akcją „Wisłą” spacyfikowano PSL na Ziemi Łowickiej. „Zabezpieczanie wyborów” do Sejmu Ustawodawczego w pow. Łowicz przez 36 Pułk Piechoty
Before Operation ‘Vistula’: The Suppression of the Polish People’s Party (PSL) in the Łowicz Region and ‘Securing’ of the 1947 Legislative Sejm Elections in Łowicz County by the 36th Infantry Regiment

Summary/Abstract: This article addresses the falsification of the 1947 Legislative Sejm elections in Łowicz County. Based on archival materials, the author demonstrates the coordinated actions of the 36th Infantry Regiment of the Polish Army (Wojsko Polskie, WP) and the Security Office (UB), aimed at weakening and marginalising the Polish People’s Party (Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe, PSL) and consolidating the authority of the Polish Workers’ Party (Polska Partia Robotnicza, PPR). As a result, the PSL, previously the strongest political organisation in the county, was marginalised, and its membership declined sharply. The scale of the involvement of WP soldiers in the electoral fraud suggests that, during this period, the formation effectively functioned as the “armed wing of the party”. Significantly, the pacification operations in Łowicz County were carried out by the WP regiment which, had previously and subsequently been engaged in operations against the Ukrainian underground. This supports the conclusion that the suppression of the Ukrainian Uprisnig Army was, in practice, regarded by the authorities as a secondary objective. The primary objective was the elimination of the Polish independence underground and political opposition, as they alone posed a genuine threat to the consolidation of communist power in Poland.

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