On 22 July1944 the Manifesto of the Polish Committee of National Liberation was published, announcing radical social, political and economical reform, continuation of the fight against Nazi Germany, nationalisation of industry and a "decent border in the West". It also proclaimed the PKWN to be "the only legitimate Polish government", thus formally rejecting the Polish government in exile. Soon afterwards, the Soviet Union started to transfer power in the Soviet-controlled areas of Lublin, Białystok, Rzeszów and Warsaw Voivodships to the PKWN. Actual control over those areas remained in the hands of the NKVD and the Red Army, however. Beginning August 1, 1944, the Committee was officially headquartered in Lublin. Nikolai Bulganin represented Soviet administration.
The creation of the Polish Committee of National Liberation was part of Stalin's attempt to create a situation that could not be undone in Eastern Europe before negotiations with its allies. This heightened the tension between the Soviet Union and the other members of the United Nations which would eventually lead to the Cold War.
Similar events took place in many of the other East European states under control of the Red Army, as, for example, in Romania in March, 1945, where a Communistgovernment was elected through a combination of vote manipulation, elimination and forced mergers of competing parties.
