Summary/Abstract: Polish policy towards Yugoslavia under the rule of Władysław Gomułka was a function of Moscow's relations with Belgrade. Yugoslavia was the only communist country in Europe, though did not belong to the Soviet bloc, but welcomed the accession to power of Gomulka and partial independence of the authorities in Warsaw from the Kremlin. The biggest success of Gomułka’ visit to Belgrade, was confirmation by Tito, the inviolability of the Polish western border. Among the socialist countries in the Balkans, Yugoslavia played the most important role. Mostly, due to its size and economic potential. Gomułka could see that Tito took up a position between two politico-military blocs, but he knew „that we should not push Yugoslavia into the arms of imperialism“, which was not always understood in Moscow. The Polish communist authorities could look with envy on Yugoslavia as a state which broke from the Soviet bloc and was independent from Moscow, and did not belong to the Warsaw Pact. The independence of the Yugoslav Communists also manifested itself in different interpretation of the doctrine of socialism recognized by the CPSU and Gomułka as revisionist. The problem was that Gomulka nor his successor, Edward Gierek did not look for so far-reaching autonomy. On the other hand, Yugoslavia was aware of the limitations of government in Warsaw because of the Polish geopolitical place in the Soviet bloc.
