1956 1.7: Soviet Sickles

When Diplomacy Fails Podcast

Zack Twamley

19th Century, 20th Century, International Relations, Politics, Thirty Years' War, Korean War, 18th Century, First World War, Phd, 17th Century, European History, History, War

4.8 • 773 Ratings

🗓️ 1 February 2024

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

1956 Episode 1.7 examines the continuing deterioration of the Polish situation, as Polish citizens dared to ask more and more questions, and to criticise the Soviet order, on their lips was one figure above all – Vladislav Gomulka (pictured).

Gomulka was one figure among many who had been disgraced and imprisoned during Stalin’s numerous purges. Gomulka, it was said, was too vocal a critic, and too independent or nationalistically inclined to rule Poland in Moscow’s name. Now though, the Polish people were calling for him, and they were demonstrating on the streets in increasing numbers to do so.

Here we detail how the Soviets dealt with this challenge in one of their most sensitive satellites, and what the major concerns of Polish citizens were in light of the revelations of the secret speech. The story involved a face-off between Gomulka and Khrushchev, as the latter made a stormy visit to Warsaw to see for himself in late October exactly what had gone down in Poland. Khrushchev left not with Gomulka’s head, but with a tacit acceptance of that man’s leadership. The question of why this occurred holds several fascinating answers, so make sure you join us here as we attempt to unpack this incredible episode in Soviet-Polish relations.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome history friends, patrons all to 1956, episode 1.7.
0:29.2	Last time we looked at how the fallout from the secret speech destabilized one Soviet satellite in particular, Poland.
0:36.6	This was only logical, considering the fractious,
0:39.3	often murderous relationship between Poland and Russia in previous centuries.
0:44.3	To say Poland had a bad time during the 20th century is a little bit like saying atomic weapons are
0:50.3	dangerous, but as we saw, the Poles had more than a few reasons to be peeved about the
0:54.8	situation. When a factory demonstration in the medieval city of Potsnan escalated far out of
1:00.7	the control of the Soviet authorities, resulting in the entry of the Red Army, a big ugly scene
1:06.1	and the loss of nearly 100 lives, it was clear something needed to be done about Poland.
1:12.7	Potsnann had merely been the latest in a long line of actions,
1:16.4	and there was only so much the Soviets could take before they felt their security undermined
1:20.5	and their position threatened.
1:22.6	While not all demonstrators called for a total removal of the Soviet influence,
1:27.1	and most simply wanted a communist message that would actually benefit Poland.
1:31.8	A sizable number of those that protested did wish to break with Moscow.
1:36.4	In any event, it's unlikely the Soviet leadership could tell the difference.
1:40.8	Descent was dissent, and it had to be crushed either way.
1:44.1	In this episode, we'll see
1:45.2	how the Soviets attempted to do that, as for a few months, Poland became the talk of the world.
1:56.5	Stalin was Poland's executioner, came the voice, a small voice, but strong enough in its content to further up the ante and put everyone on edge.
2:07.1	Was all this too far?
2:08.4	It was late March, 1956, and after attending the funeral of Bolaslav Beirut,
	...

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