860C.01/8–1044: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Harriman) to the Secretary of State
[Received 4 p.m.]
2923. For the President and the Secretary. Mikolajczyk and his party left Moscow early this morning. Mikolajczyk accompanied by Romer called on me late yesterday afternoon and I saw him again after midnight. In the meantime he had had his final talk with Stalin.
Mikolajczyk leaves Moscow much more hopeful of the possibility of settlement than when he arrived. He was impressed by his cordial reception and his frank discussions with Stalin and Molotov. At the meeting last night Stalin agreed to undertake to drop arms in Warsaw for the underground forces. A communications officer will first be parachuted to the Polish headquarters with ciphers in order to establish direct communication to facilitate this operation. Stalin at last admitted that his information agreed with Mikolajczyk’s that all Poles were united for resistance in Warsaw under the leadership of the commanding general of the underground forces69 at whose headquarters there is now a Red Army observer. Stalin told him that he had expected to take Warsaw on August 6 but that because the Germans had brought in four new Panzer divisions and two other divisions [Page 1309] to hold the bridgehead, the taking of the city had been delayed but he was confident that the new difficulties could be overcome.
Mikolajczyk is at least partially convinced that it is not the objective of the Soviet Government to communize Poland. He is however still suspicious that this is the objective of the majority of the members of the Council of Liberation.70 He believes that the Soviets realize that they cannot attain their objective in having a united Polish people behind the Red Army without the cooperation of Mikolajczyk and his government.
He believes further that the Committee for Liberation has found that they are not getting the full support of the Polish people and that they realize that they cannot set up competent governmental machinery without the cooperation of himself and the leaders in his government. This situation gives him confidence that some arrangements can be worked out through which all factions can unite. He has however not been able to agree with the Committee on a plan.
The Committee proposed that Mikolajczyk and three members of his government come to Warsaw and join the Committee in establishing a government, Mikolajczyk to head this new government, under the authority of the Polish National Council in Warsaw. This new government would have 18 members of which 14 would be drawn from the present Committee of Liberation or those associated with the Council. The 1935 Constitution71 would be repudiated and the 1921 Constitution accepted. Mikolajczyk pointed out that this government would have no constitutional basis. He proposed that they continue to work under the 1935 Constitution, much as he himself disliked its provisions. The President should be retained and a new Cabinet formed consisting of the representatives of the four established democratic parties (eliminating the Sanacja72) and adding representatives of the Workers Party and, if desired, of the Communists.
After lengthy arguments between the Poles, a meeting was held at which Molotov presided. Molotov listened to the arguments of both sides. It was Mikolajczyk’s feeling that Molotov was impressed with his position and appreciated lack of clarity and practicability of the approach of the Committee. Mikolajczyk hopes that he can work out some plan with his colleagues when he returns to London, perhaps finding a way to install a new individual as President. He intends to submit this proposal to Moscow by telegraph and hopes that it will become a basis for discussion which will permit him and some of his [Page 1310] associates to return to Warsaw, when taken, to work out the details, including the reaching of an agreement on individuals to be selected to make up the new Cabinet. His primary interest is to join all factions at this time in a government which will have a legal basis and which can hold the country together until such time as a truly free general election can be held to establish a new constitution and government. He is satisfied that the Committee of Liberation has not the standing with the Polish people to take control of Poland without the force of the Red Army, but is fearful that if it once gets control, there will not be a free election.
He was much impressed with the ability of this mysterious figure, Bierut. He cannot figure out who he is or his background. Bierut talks sensibly about the social and economic program for Poland, but admits he has had no experience in politics and wants to leave that to Mikolajczyk. Bierut is impatient with Mikolajczyk when the latter speaks of the necessity of bringing in the party leaders, saying that parties are a thing of the past and that he and his associates represent the Polish masses. His governmental ideas are revolutionary and the question of the authority of the new government does not bother him. Mikolajczyk, on the other hand, lays first importance on the development of a basis for authority of the government and is unwilling to dissociate himself from the constitutional basis of his present government, although he is willing to have complete reorganization of the membership of the government in any reasonable way to meet the wishes of the Committee.
An unsuccessful attempt was made among the Poles to agree on a joint communiqué, but it was verbally agreed that public recriminations should cease. Mikolajczyk doubts that the Committee will live up to this.
I will cable further giving more details of the conversation and background.
- Lt. Gen. Tadeusz Komorowski, commander in chief of the Polish Home Army, the “General Bor” of the Warsaw uprising in 1944.↩
- The Polish Committee of National Liberation.↩
- The Polish Constitution of April 23, 1935; for text, see Constitution of the Republic of Poland (Warsaw, Polish Commission for International Law Cooperation, 1935).↩
- The prewar ruling party in Poland from about 1926, often called the party of “the Colonels”.↩