Open Letter to the Party

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Open Letter to the Party was a short document written in March 1965 by Jacek Kuroń and Karol Modzelewski, two history students at the University of Warsaw. They criticized the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR) and argued that the party bureaucracy had become a new elite that harmed the interests of ordinary workers.

Before the letter, there was growing dissatisfaction with reform efforts after 1956. Kuroń and Modzelewski had formed a small discussion group at the university to study Marxist ideas, which drew unwanted attention from the authorities. The group was shut down in 1963, and both men faced arrests and the end of their early political activity within the party. They were expelled from the PZPR after their 1964 troubles.

In March 1965 they released the Open Letter to the Party, distributing it among students, the university’s PZPR committee, and a university administrator, Aleksander Gieysztor. The letter described how bureaucrats had come to dominate the state and argued that these reforms were blocked by an elite connected to Poland’s weak economy, the presence of the Red Army, and the influence of Soviet bureaucracy.

Kuroń and Modzelewski were jailed for about three years as a result of the case, along with three other co-defendants who were tried in secret. The letter and the trials drew international attention, with figures like Isaac Deutscher speaking out in protest. Historians disagree about how much the letter itself influenced later events, but many see it as helping to inspire the student protests of 1968 and the broader Polish opposition that followed.

Over time, the Open Letter inspired further open letters and debates, showing how intellectual critique could challenge the ruling party and contribute to later movements in Poland.