Osóbka Morawski's Notes of a Conversation with Stalin in Sochi Held by PPR and PPS Delegations

Osóbka Morawski's Notes of a Conversation with Stalin in Sochi

Held by PPR and PPS Delegations on 24 November 1946

November 24, 1946

I am reconstructing a trip to Moscow and the situation of calling on Generalissimus Stalin for an arbitration in a dispute between the PPR and PPS. An attempt to reconstruct the conversation with Stalin from November 1946.

The trip took place on the PPS initiative to entrust to Stalin the role of an arbiter between the PPS and PPR regarding an Agreement. From the PPR side there were: Gomulka, Berman and Zambrowski, from the PPS: Szwalbe, Cyrankiewicz and myself.

On the first day we arrived in Moscow and spent the night. On the second day we flew to the Caucasus, to Sochi, where Stalin was vacationing. We flew not by our plane, but by a proven one, as we had been told. In Sochi it's very beautiful, and while in Moscow the temperature was over twenty degrees below zero, in Sochi at the same time it was several degrees plus. We settled in a mountain villa, right over the see. It seems to me that com. Wiesław was making contacts in some way before our visit to Stalin. Towards the evening at 8 p.m. of the Moscow time Stalin received us in his villa in the mountains. We were driving up the hill along the serpentines for about half an hour.

Cyrankiewicz began with his report. He did it very aptly. Then Wiesław took the floor. His report was a collection of assaults at the PPS, otherwise using trifle and not serious arguments. He charged us with: 1) a pro-western orientation,  2) pro-PSL sympathies, 3) liquidation of leftist elements in the party and introduction of WRN-elements, etc.

After Wiesław I took the floor, refuting point by point those charges. And since some of the Wiesław's arguments had been weak and unproven, it seems to me that the impression had eventually been totally different than intended. Berman and Szwalbe didn't speak. Zambrowski come up in Wiesław's support, trying to lay down more or less the same theses, inventing just new arguments. Cyrankiewicz (and partly me) presented the so-called Matuszewski's "memorial" problem and the case of Skowroński. This crushed our adversaries totally. Stalin did not get involved in the merits of our dispute at all and was interested merely in our demands toward the PPR (percentages). He said he didn't want to be an arbiter, but could advise us in a friendly manner. With the exception of a "key" in the military, which he didn't share, not to make the military party-oriented - he shared our other demands. He advised not to give to the PSL and others, running outside of the bloc, more than 25 percent. He defended the SL and on his advise we have decided to add them 2 more point to 27. He gave a low rating to the SD, suggested even lower than our estimate (8 percent); he said it was not a party of the future and after the elections it should rather disappear. After that evening the PPR members were easier to talk to. The second day we spent at the porch, working out conditions of an agreement. There were controversies, but it wasn't difficult to close the gaps. The essence of the agreement came down to: 1) PPR members have finally recognized the principle of our parity; 2) we have come to an agreement for the post-election period, besides of what the PPS is to gain currently.

Before the elections: vice minister of Foreign Affairs and the same position in the Ministry of State Security. Regarding the first position we agreed right away on the person (Leszczycki), regarding the second one - no. After the elections the PPS is about to receive additionally: the Ministry of Public Administration, assuming after a certain period the Ministry of the Recovered Territories is to be eliminated; the Ministry of Shipping and Foreign Trade and the Supreme Chamber of State Control. The PPR is to receive the Ministry of Education, the SL - Ministry of Agriculture and the Speaker of the Sejm (PPS will have the I deputy speaker). Among the negative points of the agreement are constraints on my independence in allocating subsidies from the Council of Ministers (as politics is being made through money). We have agreed that we will decide collectively about subventions.

On the second evening we were received by Generalissimus Stalin in a second wonderful villa, built in stone overlooking the sea. Mountains, the sea and forest - what a wonderful setting: Stalin received us very warmly, he was joking about a "cock-fighting" between the PPS and PPR, was telling about differences among the big powers over Germany. Stalin is of the opinion that Germany should be a single entity, that they cannot be replaced as a production force and that it would not be good to leave America alone in this area. He called Szwalbe a "Talleyrand of the PPS". He didn't agree with the PPR that Daszyński should not be glorified. He gave Shevchenko as an example that the Ukrainians • are using him now. He said jokingly: "I am for Daszyński". All in all we considered ourselves winners all along. But Stalin kissed Wiesław. For a return trip Stalin gave us tangerines and was very friendly. He promised to come to Poland after the elections.

We were flying back to Warsaw with adventures. At Rostov we were tanking fuel, but right beyond Rostov we had to make a tum towards Moscow because of bad weather. The following day we couldn't fly by our own plane because it turned out, after checking, that it had only ... 12 defects. So, we took the Soviet plane. But the weather was poor. The pilot wanted to tum back, but we didn't agree. Neither Warsaw, nor Poznań, Bydgoszcz, Wrocław, Szczecin or Kraków would receive us. Finally we flew to Lodz and there we landed safely.