The Social Composition of Polish United Workers’ Party Leadership

Marcin Wronski () and Olga Zaleska ()
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Marcin Wronski: SGH Warsaw School of Economics, Warszawa, Poland
Olga Zaleska: SGH Warsaw School of Economics, Warszawa, Poland

Proceedings of the Centre for Economic History Research, 2025, vol. 10, 52-66

Abstract: In this article, the authors discuss the social standing of the members of central party bodies and regional leaders of the Polish United Workers Party. For this purpose, a database was created, including 1677 individuals holding 3148 offices. The communist elite was strongly positively selected on the basis of genealogical ties to the prewar social elite, as well as occupation and education. The central authorities of the PZPR were most “elite” during the Stalinist period, while their ties to the prewar elite weakened in the 1970s. Kinship ties between the democratic opposition leaders and the pre-war social elite were more pronounced than those observed among the communist party leadership.

Keywords: state socialism; social mobility; elite; genealogy; Polish People's Republic (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N34 N44 P30 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ceh:journl:y:2025:v:10:p:52-66

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