Bohlen Collection
British Revised Proposal on the Polish Government 1
British Revised Formula Submitted at the Meeting of Foreign Secretaries After the Plenary Session of February 9, 1945
“A new situation has been created by the complete liberation of Poland by the Red Army. This calls for the establishment of a fully representative provisional Polish Government which can be more broadly based than was possible before the recent liberation of Western Poland. This Government should be based upon the Provisional Government now functioning in Poland and upon other democratic Polish leaders from within Poland and from abroad. This new Government should be called the Polish Provisional Government of National Unity.
“Mr. Molotov, Mr. Harriman and Sir A. Clark Kerr should be authorized to consult in the first instance in Moscow with members of [Page 871] the present Provisional Government and with other democratic leaders from within Poland and from abroad with a view to the reorganization of the present Government along the above lines. This “Provisional Government of National Unity” would be pledged to the holding of free and unfettered elections as soon as practicable on the basis of universal suffrage and secret ballot. In these elections, all democratic parties would have the right to take part and to put forward candidates.
“When a Polish Provisional Government of National Unity has been formed, which the three Governments can regard as fully representative of the Polish people, the three Governments will accord it recognition. The Ambassadors of the three powers in Warsaw, following such recognition, would be charged with the responsibility of observing and reporting to their respective Governments on the carrying out of the pledge in regard to free and unfettered elections.”