Trybuna Ludu

Creation

On 16 December 1948, Poland's two largest communist parties, the Polish Socialist Party and the Polish Workers' Party, were combined to form the Polish United Workers' Party. The parties' respective newspapers, Robotnik, and Głos Ludu, were merged as well, forming the Trybuna Ludu.^[2]

Significance

Through the 20th century, the media in Poland were entirely controlled by the PZPR and newspapers were no exception. Trybuna Ludu and its smaller competitors promoted the party line.^[1] This newspaper had a significant role in spreading Communism during the communist domination in the Polish People's Republic.^[3] It was also responsible for "rewriting history".^[4]

As the official party newspaper, Trybuna Luda dominated the market. By the end of 1981, circulation topped 1 million.^[5] Despite growing opposition to the party, the number of Trybuna Ludu subscribers continued to grow and reached nearly 1.9 million by the time the communist state was dissolved.^[1]

Party dissolution and aftermath

The break-up of the PZPR began on 28 January 1990, just hours after the final issue of Trybuna Ludu was printed. Despite an attempted relaunch as Trybuna Kongresowa, the paper was unable to survive the fall of communism in Poland.^[6]

After 1990, much of its editorial was taken over unofficially by Trybuna, a newly-created left-wing newspaper. Even at its peak, Trybuna had just 50,000 readers, and could not make money. Printing was halted in late 2009.^[7]