Weryfikacja członków Polskiej Zjednoczonej Partii Robotniczej w województwie katowickim w latach 1957–1958 (na tle ogólnopolskiej kampanii)
Verification of Members of the Polish United Workers’ Party in Katowice Voivodeship Between 1957–1958 (Against the Background of the Nationwide Campaign)

Summary/Abstract: In 1957, intra-party discussions in the PUWP ended, and the party leadership focusedon integrating the organization around the doctrine established in October 1956. The party’s centralauthorities began to fight activists questioning the new “party line” – dogmatists attacking it as departingfrom communism, and revisionists expecting further reforms. In the fall of 1957, the PUWPleadership also decided to conduct a campaign against activists in conflict with the law, corruptionand demoralization. A general verification of members according to ideological and moral criteriabegan. The verification campaign lasted until the first months of 1958 and ended with the removal ofless than 20 percent from the PUWP members. In Katowice Voivodeship, the purge lasted the longest,and, as a result, over 30,000 people left the party, i.e. over 20 percent of the members. The dataindicate that less than 10 percent of activists were deprived of their ID for ideological reasons, andjust over 3 percent were in conflict with the law. The highest percentage of those removed from theranks – almost 72 percent, were passive members or removed at their own request.

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