The elections and legitimation of Communist rule in Poland after the Second World War

The article discusses the significance of elections to the process of legitimation of the communist rule in Poland after the Second World War. The main research question is whether the elections gave the totalitarian/authoritarian rule real legitimacy and if they did (or didn’t), then why. The author draws broader conclusions from the example of Poland, which is his focus. The departure point of his analysis is the discussion of the circumstances in which the communist rule was established in Poland in the years 1944–1947, when the first two post-war general votings took place: the referendum and the elections to the Legislative Sejm. Further discussed are the first elections to the Sejm of the People’s Republic of Poland in 1952, during which practices used in the Soviet Union were implemented to the greatest extent, unsurpassed in entire the history of the communist rule in Poland. Presenting the characteristics of the Sejm elections in the following years, the author concentrates on their social perception, with a view to its connection to the article’s central issue of legitimation. In the final section, the influence of the elections on the legitimation of communist authorities is juxtaposed with the classical theories of legitimation by Max Weber and David Beetham. In the conclusion the author points out that the legitimation imparted on the communist rule by the elections was just as illusory as the choice presented to the voters.