Boleslaw Bierut ([b?'l?swaf 'bj?rut] (listen); 18 April 1892 – 12 March 1956) was an activist in the Communist Party of Poland and later a Polish communist leader of Stalinist orientation.
He was President of the State National Council (KRN) 1944–1947, President of Poland 1947–1952, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR) 1948–1956, Prime Minister of Poland 1952–1954.
Bierut, a self-taught man who "implemented the Stalinist system in Poland with full knowledge and iron resolve", received different evaluations from historians, but was loyally defended by his former subordinates.
Unlike any of his successors, top leaders of the PZPR, Bierut ruled Poland until his death.