Provisional Polish Revolutionary Committee (Polish: Polrewkom; Russian: Польревком) (July-August 1920) was a revolutionary committee created under the patronage of Soviet Russia with the goal to establish a Polish Soviet Socialist Republic. Polrevkom was decided to be created on July 23, 1920, in Moscow by the "Polish Bureau" of Bolsheviks, with chairman Julian Marchlewski. The decision was made during the initial successes of the Red Army during the Polish-Soviet War with the goal to provide 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 July, 24 in Smolensk, with its headquarters in an armoured train, which quickly proceeded to Minsk (July 25), Wilno (July 27), and arrived to Bialystok on July 30, 1920. It set up permanent headquarters in the Pałac Branickich and issued public proclamation about itself. For their efforts they received from Moscow over 2 billion of rubles.[1] The committee consisted of the following members:
- Julian Baltazar Marchlewski (chairman)
- Feliks Dzierzynski (de-facto leader)
- Feliks Kon
- Edward Próchniak (secretary)
- Józef Unszlicht
The Polrevkom activity was related to the North-Western front of the Red Army. The South-Western front of the Red Army supported a similar Galician Revolutionary Committee (Galrevkom), seated in Tarnopol in Eastern Galicia. On 22 August 1920 the Polrevkom moved out of Bialystok to Minsk, with the defeat of the Red Army, and dissolved soon afterwards.
References
- (English) Davies, Norman, White Eagle, Red Star: the Polish-Soviet War, 1919-20, Pimlico, 2003, ISBN 0-7126-0694-7. (First edition: St. Martin's Press, inc., New York, 1972)
- (Polish) Przemysław Sieradzan (2005). Julian Marchlewski i Krótka Historia PolRewKomu. Komunistyczna Partia Polski 1918-1938. Retrieved on 2007-01-25.
