Edward Bolesław Osóbka-Morawski (5 October 1909 – 9 January 1997) was a Polish activist and politician in the Polish Socialist Party (PPS) before World War II, and after the Soviet takeover of Poland, Chairman of the Communist-dominated interim government, the

Polish Committee of National Liberation The Polish Committee of National Liberation ( Polish: ''Polski Komitet Wyzwolenia Narodowego'', ''PKWN''), also known as the Lublin Committee, was an executive governing authority established by the Soviet-backed communists in Poland at the la ...

(''Polski Komitet Wyzwolenia Narodowego'') formed in

Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...

with Stalin's approval. In October 1944, Osóbka-Morawski was given the role of Minister of Foreign Affairs and Agriculture. Several months later, in June 1945, he was appointed Prime Minister of the

Provisional Government of National Unity The Provisional Government of National Unity (, TRJN) was a puppet government formed by the decree of the State National Council (, KRN) on 28 June 1945 as a result of reshuffling the Soviet-backed Provisional Government of the Republic of Pola ...

(''Tymczasowy Rząd Jedności Narodowej''), in office until February 1947. Osóbka-Morawski believed the PPS should join with the other non-communist party in Poland, the Polish Peasant Party, to form a united front against the Communist Polish Workers' Party. However, another prominent socialist, Józef Cyrankiewicz argued that the PPS should support the communists while opposing the creation of a

one-party state A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system or single-party system is a governance structure in which only a single political party controls the ruling system. In a one-party state, all opposition parties are either outlawed or en ...

. The Communists, with Soviet support, played on this division and forced Osóbka-Morawski to resign in favour of Cyrankiewicz. Osóbka-Morawski would make his peace with the Communists, and gradually became a Stalinist. Nonetheless, in 1949 he was dismissed from his new post as the Minister of Public Administration, for " deviationist" tendencies. He was readmitted to the Communist Party, now called the Polish United Workers' Party, during the

Polish October The Polish October ( ), also known as the Polish thaw or Gomułka's thaw, also "small stabilization" () was a change in the politics of the Polish People's Republic that occurred in October 1956. Władysław Gomułka was appointed First Secretar ...

revolution of 1956. He then worked as a party official throughout most of his life in the

People's Republic of Poland The Polish People's Republic (1952–1989), formerly the Republic of Poland (1947–1952), and also often simply known as Poland, was a country in Central Europe that existed as the predecessor of the modern-day democratic Republic of Poland. ...

prior to the

Revolutions of 1989 The revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, were a revolutionary wave of liberal democracy movements that resulted in the collapse of most Communist state, Marxist–Leninist governments in the Eastern Bloc and other parts ...

, and in 1990 failed in his attempt to recreate the old Polish Socialist Party. He died in Warsaw in 1997. Edward Osóbka-Morawski.
''The Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland.'' Warsaw, 2011.

Awards and decorations

Grand Cross of

Order of Polonia Restituta The Order of Polonia Restituta (, ) is a Polish state decoration, state Order (decoration), order established 4 February 1921. It is conferred on both military and civilians as well as on alien (law), foreigners for outstanding achievements in ...

(19 July 1946) * Cross of Grunwald, 3rd Class (30 April 1944) * Partisan Cross (12 June 1946) * Medal for Warsaw 1939–1945 * Medal of Victory and Freedom 1945 * CZE Rad Bileho Lva 3 tridy BAR

Grand Cross of Order of the White Lion (Czechoslovakia, 1947) * Order of the National liberation Rib

Order of People's Liberation (Yugoslavia, 1946)

Notes and references

1909 births 1997 deaths People from Skarżysko County People from Radom Governorate Polish Socialist Party politicians Polish United Workers' Party members Prime ministers of Poland Ministers of foreign affairs of Poland Members of the State National Council Members of the Polish Sejm 1947–1952 Diplomats of the Polish People's Republic Grand Crosses of the Order of Polonia Restituta Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Grunwald, 3rd class Burials at Powązki Military Cemetery People from wartime administrations in Poland (1939–1947) {{Poland-Sejm-politician-stub

Awards and decorations

See also

Notes and references