The Polish United Workers' Party was the Communist party which governed the Polish People's Republic as a one-party state from 1948 to 1989. Ideologically it was based on the theories of Marxism-Leninism, it controlled the armed forces, the Polish People's Army. Until 1989, the PUWP held dictatorial powers, controlled an unwieldy bureaucracy, the military, the secret police, the economy, its main goal was to help to propagate Communism all over the world. On paper, the party was organised on the basis of democratic centralism, which assumed a democratic appointment of authorities, making decisions, managing its activity, yet in fact, the key roles were played by the Central Committee, its Politburo and Secretariat, which were subject to the strict control of the authorities of the Soviet Union. These authorities decided about the composition of the main organs. Between sessions, party conferences of the regional, county and work committees were taking place; the smallest organizational unit of the PUWP was the Fundamental Party Organization, which functioned in work places, cultural institutions, etc.
The main part in the PUWP was played by professional politicians, or the so-called "party's hard core", formed by people who were recommended to manage the main state institutions, social organizations, trade unions. In the crowning time of the PUWP's development it consisted of over 3.5 million members. The Political Office of the Central Committee and regional committees appointed the key posts not only within the party, but in all organizations having ‘state’ in its name – from central offices to small state and cooperative companies, it was called the nomenklatura system of the economy management. In certain areas of the economy, e.g. in agriculture, the nomenklatura system was controlled with an approval of the PUWP and by its allied parties, the United People's Party, the Democratic Party. After martial law began, the Patriotic Movement for National Rebirth was founded to organize these and other parties; the Polish United Workers' Party was established at the unification congress of the Polish Workers' Party and Polish Socialist Party during meetings held from 15 to 21 December 1948.
The unification was possible because the PPS activists who opposed unification had been forced out of the party. The members of the PPR who were accused of "rightist – nationalistic deviation" were expelled. Thus, for all intents and purposes, the PUWP was the PPR under a new name. "Rightist-nationalist deviation" was a political propaganda term used by the Polish Stalinists against prominent activists, such as Władysław Gomułka and Marian Spychalski who opposed Soviet involvement in the Polish interior affairs, as well as internationalism displayed by the creation of the Cominform and the subsequent merger that created the PZPR. It is believed that it was Joseph Stalin who put pressure on Bolesław Bierut and Jakub Berman to remove Gomułka and Spychalski as well as their followers from power in 1948, it is estimated that over 25 % of socialists were expelled from political life. Bolesław Bierut, an NKVD agent and a hard Stalinist, served as first Secretary General of the ruling PUWP from 1948 to 1956, playing a leading role in the Sovietization of Poland and the installation of one of its most repressive regimes.
He had served as President since 1944. After a new constitution abolished the presidency, Bierut took over as Prime Minister, a post he held until 1954, he remained party leader until his death in 1956. Bierut oversaw the trials of many Polish wartime military leaders, such as General Stanisław Tatar and Brig. General Emil August Fieldorf, as well as 40 members of the Wolność i Niezawisłość organisation, various Church officials and many other opponents of the new regime including Witold Pilecki, condemned to death during secret trials. Bierut signed many of those death sentences. Bierut's mysterious death in Moscow in 1956 gave rise to much speculation about poisoning or a suicide, symbolically marked the end of Stalinism era in Poland. In 1956, shortly after the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the PUWP leadership split in two factions, dubbed Natolinians and Puławians; the Natolin faction - named after the place where its meetings took place, in a government villa in Natolin - were against the post-Stalinist liberalization programs and they proclaimed simple nationalist and antisemitic slogans as part of a strategy to gain power.
The most well known members included Franciszek Jóźwiak, Wiktor Kłosiewicz, Zenon Nowak, Aleksander Zawadzki, Władysław Dworakowski, Hilary Chełchowski. The Puławian faction - the name comes from the Puławska Street in Warsaw, on which many of the members lived - sought great liberalization of socialism in Poland. After the events of Poznań June, they backed the candidature of Władysław Gomułka for First Secretary of party, thus imposing a major setback upon Natolinians. Among the most prominent members were Leon Kasman. Both factions disappeared towards the end of
Homa Bay Airport known as Kabunde Airstrip, is an airport located 6 km from the town of Homa Bay in Homa Bay County, Kenya. It was modernised in 2015 and received its first commercial flights in January 2016. In May 2015, the Kenya Airports Authority started to upgrade the airstrip, one of three airstrips across Kenya to be modernised, the others being Migwena Airstrip and Kisii Airport; the upgrade was carried out to improve air service in the area, as residents had to travel to the distant Kisumu International Airport. The modernisation was contracted to Glanack Investment Ltd Co.. The runway was extended to 1.2 km and an apron was constructed. In addition, fencing around the airport was reinforced. In late January 2016, the airport was cleared to receive commercial flights, a final inspection was carried out on 27 January; the first passenger flights landed at Homa Bay on 28 January 2016. Homa Bay Airport includes an apron and runway 14/32, which in 2015 was extended from 790 m to the present 1,200 m to accommodate for larger aircraft.
Kenya Airports Authority Kenya Civil Aviation Authority List of airports in Kenya Location of Homa Bay Airport At Google Maps Website of Kenya Airports Authority List of Airports In Kenya Airport information for HKHB at Great Circle Mapper
Stefansson Island is an uninhabited island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago in the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut, Canada. It has a total area of 4,463 km2, making it the 128th largest island in the world, Canada's 27th largest island; the island is located with M'Clintock Channel to the east. It lies just off Victoria Island's Storkerson Peninsula, separated by the Goldsmith Channel. Stefansson Island's highest mount is 267 m. An automated weather station is located on the northern part of the island at Lat: 73.8 Lon: -105.3. The first European sighting of the island was in 1917 by Storker T. Storkerson, travelling with Canadian explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson, for whom the island was named