Discussion of the Polish Question in the US Congress in 1956-57

This article examines the position of the US Congress on the Polish question in 1956-7. Today, the study of this issue allows for a more detailed look at the various points of view that existed in the American ruling class with regard to the US policy towards Eastern European countries. Congress Records were used as the main source in the work. The changes that occurred in Poland during this period, connected with the coming to power of Vladislav Gomulka and his reforms, caused the American elite to think about revising the policy towards the official Warsaw. The great interest of the congressmen was caused by the unrest that took place in Poznan. The mass actions of the workers were perceived as another symptom of the inevitable future collapse of the socialist regimes opposing the "free world". A few months later, when the excitement around the Poznan events began to fade, the first trials of the participants of the uprising began. The main demand of American politicians was partly fulfilled by Warsaw. The trials were open, so they could be attended by Western correspondents, lawyers and individual politicians. The sentences against the defendants turned out to be rather mild, at least in comparison with the previous period of Stalinism. All this largely contributed to a decrease in the interest of the West in the content of the trials, but interest in the political situation in the country persisted. Gomulka's coming to power in October 1956 was perceived in different ways. The State Department considered the new Polish leader as the "second Tito", inclined to hold a policy independent of the USSR. Such a policy, in the opinion of the State Department officials, was in full accordance with the interests of the United States, and had to be supported by Washington. However, not everyone in Congress agreed with such an assessment. Many senators and members of the House of Representatives expressed great doubt about the expediency of supporting the Gomulka regime, as of any other Marxist regime. Their fears were based on the fact that Warsaw could use US funds to support communist governments in other countries. On the other hand, many congressmen agreed with the position of the State Department, and the Polish diaspora supported Poland's economic assistance. When the delegation of the Polish People's Republic, headed by Director General of the Ministry of Finance Henry Kotlitsky, arrived in Washington in late February 1957 to hold negotiations, the interest in this issue increased significantly. The debate broke out in Congress with renewed vigor and continued with varying degrees of intensity for several months. In the end, the point of view of the supporters of activating US-Polish relations prevailed, and the agreement on economic cooperation was supported by the Congress. At the end of the work, the author comes to the conclusion that the US Congress was able to play an important role in developing new foreign policy approaches of the Eisenhower administration.

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