Polrevkom was created on 23 July 1920, in Moscow by the Polish Bureau of Bolsheviks, with chairman Julian Marchlewski.

The decision was made during the initial successes of the Red Army during the Polish–Soviet War with the goal of providing administration of the Polish territories.

The committee was declared "provisional", because it was assumed that after a Soviet victory the power would be transferred to the Polish Communist Workers' Party.

The South-Western front of the Red Army supported a similar Galician Revolutionary Committee (Galrevkom), seated in Tarnopol in Eastern Galicia.

A significant number of the key persons involved were later instrumental in creation of the Polish Autonomous District within the Soviet Union.