„Skrywana potęga”. Gospodarka finansowa Komitetu Wojewódzkiego Polskiej Zjednoczonej Partii Robotniczej w Gdańsku. Od zorganizowania komitetu do reformy finansów partyjnych w październiku 1950 roku

• Authors: Marcin Żukowski

Title variants

EN

“Hidden power”. Financial policy of the Regional Committee of the Polish United Workers’ Party in Gdańsk. From establishing the committee down to the reform of the party’s finances in October 1950

• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

The Polish United Workers’ Party was a mass political organization which controlled many aspects of social life in Poland. It tended to be a “superb supervisor” of the life of the whole society. To be able to manage the country and its own personnel (full-time workers), the party had to have its own finances. The budget of the Polish United Workers’ Party was constructed from the perspective of expenses. Budget income was adjusted to spending. Throughout all the period of the party’s existence, its finances remained beyond the state and social control. It is important as it would have been impossible to cover all the expenses of the party without using the state’s financial resources. The aim of the article is to make the reader familiar with unknown facts connected with the finances of the Polish United Workers’ Party. The article deals with the formation of finances of the Regional Committee of the Polish United Workers’ Party in Gdańsk in the first years of its existence. It describes the first budget (1949) until the “reform” of the state’s finances in 1950. The starting point for research is the analysis of the condition of the finances of the Regional Committee of the Polish United Workers’ Party and the Regional Committee of the Polish Socialist Party in Gdańsk in 1948. In the process of “unification” the assets of the Polish Socialist Party were taken over by the Polish United Workers’ Party. Next, I describe the structure of expenses and revenues of the party. Expenses connected with the personnel of the Regional Committee are particularly interesting, as is the fact that the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers’ Party (in fact – the state’s budget) partly financed the needs of Gdańsk’s party organization. Subsequently, I show that the hierarchy of the importance of individual committees affected their staff ’s remuneration. It concerned mainly the most important people in the committee, but also technical workers. In order to present the actual material condition of full-time employees in the Polish United Workers’ Party I listed salaries of various professions. The analysis allowed me to state that the party’s establishment belonged to the best-paid people in Poland. If we add to it an easier access to luxurious goods, it turns out that working for the Polish United Workers’ Party was very gainful.

Keywords

EN

finances of the Polish United Workers’ Party; the financial policy of the Polish United Workers’ Party; the party’s funds; the Polish United Workers’ Party; the Regional Committee of the Polish United Workers’ Party in Gdańsk; expenses and revenue of the Polish United Workers’ Party; Gdańsk

• Publisher: Towarzystwo Naukowe w Toruniu
• Journal: Zapiski Historyczne
• Year: 2012
• Volume: 77
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 57-78

Contributors

author

Marcin Żukowski

• Instytut Historii UG
• Instytut Pamięci Narodowej Oddział Gdańsk