Provisional Polish Revolutionary Committee ( pl, Tymczasowy Komitet Rewolucyjny Polski, Polrewkom; russian: Польревком) (July–August 1920) was a revolutionary committee created under the patronage of

Soviet Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

with the goal to establish a Soviet republic within

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

, or a

Polish Soviet Socialist Republic The Polish Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated to Polish SSR, was a proposition by the Provisional Polish Revolutionary Committee to establish a Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republic of the Soviet Union for the Poles, Polish popula ...

constituent in the

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

History

Polrevkom was created on 23 July 1920, in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

by the Polish Bureau of

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

s, with chairman

Julian Marchlewski Julian Baltazar Józef Marchlewski (17 May 1866 – 22 March 1925) was a Polish communist politician, revolutionary activist and publicist who served as chairman of the Provisional Polish Revolutionary Committee. He was also known under the alia ...

. The decision was made during the initial successes of the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

during the Polish-Soviet War with the goal of providing administration of the Polish territories. The committee was declared "provisional", because it was assumed that after a Soviet victory the power would be transferred to the Polish Communist Workers' Party. The Polrevkom was assembled on 24 July in

Smolensk Smolensk ( rus, Смоленск, p=smɐˈlʲensk, a=smolensk_ru.ogg) is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest c ...

, with its headquarters in an armored train, which quickly proceeded to

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

(25 July),

Wilno Vilnius ( , ; see also #Etymology and other names, other names) is the capital and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the munic ...

(27 July), and arrived to

Białystok Białystok is the largest city in northeastern Poland and the capital of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is the tenth-largest city in Poland, second in terms of population density, and thirteenth in area. Białystok is located in the Białystok Up ...

on 30 July 1920. It set up permanent headquarters in the Branicki Palace and issued public proclamations. For their efforts they received from Moscow over 2 billion

ruble The ruble (American English) or rouble (Commonwealth English) (; rus, рубль, p=rublʲ) is the currency unit of Belarus and Russia. Historically, it was the currency of the Russian Empire and of the Soviet Union. , currencies named ''rub ...

s. It is seen, like many other Bolshevik revolutionary committees, as a Bolshevik

puppet government A puppet state, puppet régime, puppet government or dummy government, is a state that is ''de jure'' independent but ''de facto'' completely dependent upon an outside power and subject to its orders.Compare: Puppet states have nominal sovere ...

Evan Mawdsley Evan Mawdsley (born 1945) is a British historian and former Professor of International History at the University of Glasgow's School of Humanities. He is currently a Professorial Research Fellow. He specializes in Russian history and the histor ...

, ''The Russian Civil War'', Pegasus Books, 2007
Google Print, p.255
/ref> The committee consisted of the following members: * Julian Baltazar Marchlewski (Chairman) *

Feliks Dzierzynski Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky ( pl, Feliks Dzierżyński ; russian: Фе́ликс Эдму́ндович Дзержи́нский; – 20 July 1926), nicknamed "Iron Felix", was a Bolshevik revolutionary and official, born into Polish nobility ...

(de facto leader) *

Feliks Kon Feliks Yakovlevich Kon (18 May 1864 – 30 July 1941) was a Polish communist activist, politician, ethnographer, publicist and journalist. He was the editor-in-chief of the Soviet satirical magazine, '' Krokodil''. Life and career Born in ...

(Education) *

Edward Próchniak Edward Próchniak (; 4 December 1888 in Puławy – 21 August 1937) was a leading Polish communist activist and one of the founders of the Communist Party of Poland. He joined the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania in 1903. ...

(Secretary) *

Józef Unszlicht Józef Unszlicht or Iosif Stanislavovich Unshlikht (russian: Ио́сиф Станисла́вович У́ншлихт; nicknames "Jurowski", "Leon") (31 December 1879 – 29 July 1938) was a Polish and Russian revolutionary activist, a Soviet go ...

(Party) *

Bernard Zaks Bernard (''Bernhard'') is a French and West Germanic masculine given name. It is also a surname. The name is attested from at least the 9th century. West Germanic ''Bernhard'' is composed from the two elements ''bern'' "bear" and ''hard'' "brave ...

(Industry) * Stanisław Bobiński (Agriculture) * Tadeusz Radwański (Propaganda) The Polrevkom activity was related to the

North-Western Front The Northwestern Front (Russian: ''Северо-Западный фронт'') was a military formation of the Red Army during the Winter War and World War II. It was operational with the 7th and 13th Armies during the Winter War. It was re-cre ...

of the Red Army. The South-Western front of the Red Army supported a similar Galician Revolutionary Committee (''Galrevkom''), seated in

Tarnopol Ternópil ( uk, Тернопіль, Ternopil' ; pl, Tarnopol; yi, טאַרנאָפּל, Tarnopl, or ; he, טארנופול (טַרְנוֹפּוֹל), Tarnopol; german: Tarnopol) is a city in the west of Ukraine. Administratively, Ternopi ...

in Eastern Galicia. The TKRP was met with relative enthusiasm in Białystok which had about 75% Jewish and working class majority. However, as the Red Army moved on towards Warsaw, it and Polrewkom had little support from the Polish population.

Ronald Grigor Suny Ronald Grigor Suny (born September 25, 1940) is an American historian and political scientist. Suny is the William H. Sewell Jr. Distinguished University Professor of History at the University of Michigan and served as director of the Eisenberg In ...

, ''The Soviet Experiment: Russia, the USSR, and the Successor States'', Oxford University Press,
Google Print, p.106
/ref> On 22 August 1920 the Polrevkom moved out of Białystok to Minsk with the defeat of the Red Army, and was dissolved soon afterwards. A significant number of the key persons involved were later instrumental in creation of the

Polish Autonomous District Polish National Districts (called in Russian "полрайоны", ''polrajony'', an abbreviation for "польские национальные районы", "Polish national raions") were in the interbellum period possessing some form of a na ...

within the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

Notes

References

* Davies, Norman, ''White Eagle, Red Star: the Polish-Soviet War, 1919-20'', Pimlico, 2003, . (First edition: St. Martin's Press, inc., New York, 1972) * {{Authority control Polish–Soviet War

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

Poland–Soviet Union relations Provisional governments

Communism in Poland