Provisional Polish Revolutionary Committee


Provisional Polish Revolutionary Committee was a revolutionary committee created under the patronage of Soviet Russia with the goal to establish a Soviet republic within Poland.

History

Polrevkom was created on 23 July 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 of providing 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 24 July in Smolensk, with its headquarters in an armored train, which quickly proceeded to Minsk, Wilno, and arrived to Białystok on 30 July 1920. It set up permanent headquarters in the Branicki Palace and issued public proclamations. For their efforts they received from Moscow over 2 billion rubles. It is seen, like many other Bolshevik revolutionary committees, as a Bolshevik puppet government.
The committee consisted of the following members:
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, seated in Tarnopol in Eastern Galicia.
The TKRP was met enthusiastically in Białystok which had about 75% Jewish majority. However as the Red Army moved on towards Warsaw, it and Polrewkom had little support from the ethnic Polish population.
On 22 August 1920 the Polrevkom moved out of Białystok to Minsk with the defeat of the Red Army, and was dissolved soon afterwards. A significant number of the key persons involved were later instrumental in creation of the Polish Autonomous District within the Soviet Union.