Edward Próchniak (; 4 December 1888 in

Puławy Puławy (, also written Pulawy) is a city in eastern Poland, in Lesser Poland's Lublin Voivodeship, at the confluence of the Vistula and Kurówka Rivers. Puławy is the capital of Puławy County. The city's 2019 population was estimated at 47,417 ...

– 21 August 1937) was a leading

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

communist activist and one of the founders of the

Communist Party of Poland The interwar Communist Party of Poland ( pl, Komunistyczna Partia Polski, KPP) was a communist party active in Poland during the Second Polish Republic. It resulted from a December 1918 merger of the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland a ...

. He joined the

Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania The Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania ( pl, Socjaldemokracja Królestwa Polskiego i Litwy, SDKPiL), , LKLSD), originally the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland (SDKP), was a Marxist political party founded in 1893 and ...

in 1903. After the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...

he headed a department in the Polish Commissariat of the People's Commissariat for Nationalities in Russia and was a member of the Polish Section of the

Bolshevik Party " Hymn of the Bolshevik Party" , headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow , general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first)Mikhail Gorbachev (last) , founded = , banned = , founder = Vladimir Lenin , newspaper ...

. From 1921 to 1924 he represented the Communist Party of Poland (KPP) Central Committee on the executive of the

Communist International The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to "struggle by a ...

, and was a member of the

Comintern The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet Union, Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to ...

executive 1922–37, and of its Presidium in 1925–30. As a member of the politburo of the KPP in 1936–37, Próchniak was summoned from Paris to Moscow in July 1937 and arrested on 8 July 1937 by the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

. He was imprisoned initially in the Lubyanka prison, and then interrogated in Butyrek, where he had been a prisoner in Czarist times. Despite severe torture, he allegedly denied accusations of being an agent of the

Polish Military Organization The Polish Military Organisation, PMO ( pl, Polska Organizacja Wojskowa, POW) was a secret military organization which formed during World War I (1914-1918). Józef Piłsudski founded the group in August 1914; it adopted the name ''POW'' in Novem ...

(POW). Próchniak was sentenced to death on 21 August 1937 and shot the same day. He was posthumously rehabilitated on 7 May 1955.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prochniak, Edward 1888 births 1937 deaths People from Puławy 20th-century Polish politicians Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania politicians Communist Party of Poland politicians Polish people executed by the Soviet Union Great Purge victims from Poland Soviet rehabilitations Executed people from Lublin Voivodeship Soviet people of Polish descent