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This Forlorn Adventure’: British Policy Towards Poland, 1944- 1947

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This Forlorn Adventure’: British Policy Towards Poland, 1944- 1947 The London School of Economics and Political Science ‘This Forlorn Adventure’: British Policy Towards Poland, 1944- 1947 Andrea Grace Mason A thesis submitted to the Department of International History of the London School of Economics for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, London, June 2014 1 Declaration I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the MPhil/PhD degree of the London School of Economics and Political Science is solely my own work other than where I have clearly indicated that it is the work of others (in which case the extent of any work carried out jointly by me and any other person is clearly identified in it). The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without my prior written consent. I warrant that this authorisation does not, to the best of my belief, infringe the rights of any third party. I declare that my thesis consists of 97,832 words. I have followed the Chicago Manual of Style, 16th edition, for referencing. I followed the conventions of British spelling and punctuation except in cases of quoted text that originally appears in American English. To refer to the names of towns and cities in areas which were in the process of being transferred from Germany to Poland, I have used the Polish with the German equivalent indicated in brackets. Statement of use of third party for editorial help I can confirm that my thesis was copy edited for conventions of language, spelling and grammar by Janet Mason, Matéo Celi-Cadieux, and Vladimir Unkovski-Korica 2 Abstract This thesis offers a study of British policy towards Poland from 1944 to 1947. It traces the British attempt to negotiate a postwar political settlement for Poland that would meet the expectations of both the Polish government-in-exile, to which Britain had committed its support in return for Poland’s substantial wartime military contribution, and the Soviet Union. During the last year and a half of the war, British policymakers struggled to mediate between the two sides and accommodate their competing demands. Ultimately, a compromise was reached, which saw the former prime minister of the exile government, Stanisław Mikołajczyk, return to Poland at the end of the war to join the provisional government. Mikołajczyk agreed to return on the basis of a British commitment to provide ongoing support in reconstituting a sovereign Polish state and establishing a democratic government. This thesis charts the outcome of that commitment, from the negotiations for the formation of the new Polish government under the auspices of the Three Power Commission in the summer of 1945, to the Polish referendum of June 1946, and the elections in January 1947. It shows that British policymakers struggled to meet the commitment to Poland within the changing context of the postwar international system. In the circumstances of the emerging Cold War, as the reality of the Soviet resolve to absorb Poland into its sphere grew clearer, Britain’s political promises to the Polish democratic opposition became increasingly difficult to fulfil. Not all sections of the British policymaking establishment were immediately prepared to accept their dramatically circumscribed power to influence the shape of the Polish political settlement. Whereas the foreign secretary, Ernest Bevin reconciled himself to the new circumstances with pragmatic speed, the Warsaw embassy, and many of the Foreign Office Northern Department officials, were less willing to abandon the original terms of the British commitment. Thus, while some diplomatic and Foreign Office officials continued to lend support to the democratic Polish opposition parties, Bevin increasingly sought to limit Anglo-Polish relations to bilateral issues, including negotiations for financial and trade agreements, the repatriation of former members of the Polish armed forces, the final demarcation of Poland’s western frontier, and the transfer of the German population from western Poland to the British occupation zone. The result of these different priorities was a lack of uniformity in British policy. Much of the scholarship on Britain’s early postwar policy towards Poland takes one of two approaches: either it assumes that Britain understood immediately in 1945 that Poland was ‘lost’ to the Soviet Union, or it sees a reprehensible cynicism in the British approach, without due acknowledgement of the limits which constrained British policy options. This thesis offers a different interpretation; it argues that Britain adjusted much more slowly and unevenly to its diminished position after the war, and that its limited capacity to shape the Polish political settlement was understood only gradually, and at different times in different parts of the policymaking establishment, creating an overall inconsistency in policy. 3 Table of Contents Abstract 3 Table of Contents 4 List of Abbreviations 5 Acknowledgements 7 Introduction 9 Chapter One 33 Britain and the Polish government-in-exile January 1944-June 1945 Chapter Two 78 From the Three Power Commission to the Moscow Council of Foreign Ministers June-December 1945 Chapter Three 116 From the Electoral Bloc to the Referendum January-June 1946 Chapter Four 148 From the Referendum to the Elections June 1946 - January 1947 Chapter Five 192 Mikołajczyk’s Escape January - November 1947 Conclusion 237 Bibliography 242 4 List of Abbreviations AK Armia Krajowa (Home Army) GOP Grupy Ochronno Propagandowe (Protection-Propaganda Groups) KRN Krajowa Rada Narodowa (National Council of the Homeland) MBN Ministerstwo Bezpieczeństwa Narodowego (Ministry of National Security) NIK Najwyższa Izba Kontroli (Supreme Chamber of Control) NKVD Narodovy Komisariat Vnutrich Dyel (Soviet People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs) PKWN Polski Komitet Wyzwolenia Narodowego (Polish National Committee of Liberation) PLP Parliamentary Labour Party PPR Polska Partia Robotnicza (Polish Workers’ Party) PPS Polska Partia Socjalistyczna (Polish Socialist Party) PSL Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe (Polish Peasant Alliance) RPPS Robotnicza Partia Polskich Socjalistów (Polish Socialist Workers’ Party) SD Stronnictwo Demokratyczne (Democratic Alliance) SL Stronnictwo Ludowe (Peasant Alliance) SN Stronnictwo Narodowe (National Alliance) SP Stronnictwo Pracy (Labour Alliance) TRJN Tymczasowy Rząd Jedności Narodowej (Provisional Government of National Unity) UB Urząd Bezpieczeństwa (Security Office) WiN Wolność i Niezawisłość (Freedom and Independence) 5 WRN Wolność Równość i Niepodległość (Freedom, Equality and Independence) ZPP Związek Patriotów Polskich (Union of Polish Patriots) 6 Acknowledgements I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my supervisor, Professor Anita Prażmowska, who has been unfailingly generous with her guidance, suggestions, time and support throughout the completion of this work, always finding just the right measure of persuasion and insistence to propel me forward. I would like to thank the staff at the UK National Archives (Public Record Office), the Churchill Archives Centre (especially Natalie Adams for her helpful suggestions), the British Library, the Archiwum Akt Nowych, the Ministerstwo Spraw Zagranicznych and the Hoover Institution for their assistance. For their endless patience, I am particularly grateful to Dr Andrzej Suchcitz and Jadwiga Kowalska at the Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum. A number of organisations provided the financial assistance which made the completion of this work possible: the Department of International History at LSE, the Universities UK Overseas Research Scheme and the Fondation Desjardins, (Montréal, Québec, Canada). I am grateful to Professor Paul Preston for helpful comments at an early stage of this project, to Dr Heather Jones for insightful suggestions at the midway point, and to Dr Vladimir Unkovski-Korica for his valuable advice in the final stage. I would also like to thank Professor Jan Toporowski for his gentle encouragement throughout this doctorate. I have been lucky to have the help of good friends and colleagues: Karolina Zamorska, Anna Burigana, and Tadeusz Janecki were immensely helpful with translations; Demetra Frini, Nayna Bhatti, Mathew Betts, and Milada Fomina at the LSE Department of International History provided support and encouragement; Maria Chen, Sue Dawson and Wes Ullrich saw me through some particularly difficult moments along the way. I would like to extend a particular thank you to my very dear friend, Susana Sinfrónio Carvalho for her unflagging enthusiasm, and for being the best viva coach anyone could hope to have. I have had the privilege to teach many wonderful students over the last few years but I would like to extend a particular thank you to my 2013-14 HY116 class at LSE – the most brilliant, animated, and engaged group I have ever taught. Our anarchic Friday classes gave me a much-needed shot of energy at the end of some very long weeks over the last year. Thank you to my dearest friend, Jessica Lim, who always somehow manages to convey exactly the right proportion of admonishment and encouragement. There could be no better friend. I am deeply grateful to both my parents, Robert and Janet Mason, for their steadfast support and love – my father for his quiet certainty, my mother for her inimitable ability to quell doubts and for her meticulous proofreading. Thank you to my sister, Cari, for her messages of encouragement in the final, difficult stretch. I would also like to thank my grandparents, Douglas
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