Odwilż w Fabryce. Warszawscy robotnicy i struktury Polskiej Zjednoczonej Partii Robotniczej w przemyśle w czasie kryzysu 1955–1957
The Thaw in the Factory. Warsaw Workers and Structures of the Polish United Workers’ Party in Industry during the Crisis of 1955–57

Summary/Abstract: This article attempts to present the attitudes of Warsaw workers between 1955 and 1957 and the functioning of party organisations in the industry during crisis time. The source base for the study, apart from the literature on the subject, was the archival material of the Polish United Workers’ Party (PZPR) of various levels, from factory units to voivodeship ones, mainly of ten large Warsaw factories (kept in the State Archives in Warsaw, branch at Milanówek). The subject of research was the behaviour and opinions of workers and the functioning of basic party cells and their evolution in the wake of the most important political events. The analysis also focused on the factors shaping the situation in Warsaw factories, the main stages of the crisis and the post-October ‘normalisation’ of workplace party cells, and the main models of attitudes of their members. The bottom-up perspective also made it possible to formulate conclusions about the sources of the crisis inside the PZPR, the course of factional fights, and the post-October PZPR leadership policy.

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