The white hole in Polish history

I suppose within my lifetime there will not be a consensus on how to assess the period of PRL comprehensively. There will be no unambiguous review for a simple reason – millions of people lived in that country and each of them might have a different view on those times. The spectrum is wide and covers opinions from moderately positive, focusing on social security and social advancement to clearly and extremely negative which point at enslavement, felony and lies as main pillars of People’s Poland. I would dare to claim there is no truth about PRL, there are facts (deniable or not) and interpretations, subject to endless debates. The biggest problems is that truth will not always out in this case.

Poland in its pre-WW2 shape was wiped off the map of Europe on 17 September 1939, the day when Soviet army invaded us from east. The man who signed a command to wreck the Polish state in 1939 and annihilate Polish elite in Katyn in 1940, in 1945 insisted on creation of Polish country, with new borderlines and in Soviet sphere of influences. Mr Churchill and Mr Roosevelt succumbed to his pressure, as Soviet Union, which had sent millions of its citizens for death on battleground, had had a significant contribution in defeating Nazi Germany and its allies. Thus Europe was carved up into two blocs – a Soviet one with Poland as one of satellite countries and a Western one, built on foundations of free market and democracy.

I cannot agree PRL ended up in the same form as it was set up. There were different periods and different shades of grey that could describe it. I could distinguish a few periods and milestones.

1945 – 1956 – the time of building communism, cracking down on the elements of pre-war Poland and those who fought for Poland on the wrong side. In this period Poland had most political prisoners, many of whom were sentenced to death. Meanwhile it was the time when many people still thought communism could bring paradise on earth, justice, equality and happiness for all. Some of them thought the ones who did not want to build the ideal system should have been eliminated, some were totally unaware of cruelty of the system. The pursuit for communism eased a bit in 1953 when Stalin died.

1956 – was the first short period of moderate (but relatively huge within the system) liberty. In that time totalitarian system thawed out and turned into authoritarian regime, whose power worn off gradually until 1989. In 1956 Poles were full of hopes for a new beginning, for a socialism more friendly to people, symbolised by Władysław Gomułka, Polish communist who spent many years in Soviet prison. He took over as first secretary of ruling party in October and soon kept a tight rein on Polish society. Four months earlier, in June, a first crack appeared on the countenance of Polish socialism – workers from rail construction factory in Poznań went on strike. Actually it was the first time in the world history when factory-owners went on strike.

1957 – 1970, so called “small stabilisation”, period of greyness and austerity. Most of national income was invested, little spent on consumption, it was the first time when ruling “elites” and ordinary people struck a deal “you’ll let us rule, and we’ll let you live (rather normally). In this period first dissidents voiced their protests against the system, accusing rulers of betraying the ideals of Marxism. Student demonstrations in 1968, anti-Jewish campaigns and brutally put down strikes in December 1970 brought Władysław Gomułka down and undermined the foundations of socialist system.

1970 – 1980, known also as “Gierek era” or “golden decade”. Many Poles recall those years as time when Poland made a big stride, standards of living were higher. It was indeed a time of liberalisation, it was easier to get a passport and go abroad. But in the same period, socialist inefficient economy reached the limits of its capacity and indebtedness. In 1976 workers once again protested against price hikes and first attempts of reglamentation. The consecutive years saw the formation of first dissident organisations and on 16 October 1978 Polish cardinal, Karol Wojtyla was elected Pope. This came as a bolt of the blue to the rulers. In 1979 Polish GDP shrank for the first time since WW2, Polish economy was on its knees until the system ultimately collapsed.

1980 – 1981, Solidarity and carnival of freedom – 16 months of liberalisation, authorities allowed to create independent trade unions. It was the big success of fledging civil society but in economic terms it caused Polish economy to falter even more. As we look today at some demands of protesters, we saw they demanded the same what today the most extreme leftist organisations want to put into practice.

1981 – 1985. The carnival soon ended. On 13 December 1981 the movement was clamped down on and Poland immersed into eight-year period of torpor. On that day general Wojciech Jaruzelski declared Martial Law. Among the most often cited reasons for that decision were threat of Soviet intervention and fear that the socialist regime could have been toppled. I also add the threat of civil war and economic hardship. The martial law dashed hopes and stifles zeal to fight for independent Poland but did not break Poles’ bones.

1985 – 1989. The declining years of PRL. The system once again began to thaw out as the Gorbachev came to power in Soviet Union. In those times there was still no free speech and many civil liberties were out of reach, but then when you could do and say anything except for declaring openly you wanted to topple socialism. The economy was still in a free fall and the government tried to resuscitate the corpse. Those attempts could have been successful, if it hadn’t been for lack of support from Polish society. Faced with Soviet Union going under and dramatically bad economic performance, the rulers decided to share responsibility for the country with the opposition, putting the late dissident on the spot…

Poles somehow had to get on with the system. Some, like Polish poet and Nobel prize laureate Wisława Szymborska declare they really believed the communism would bring collective happiness. For some, including Home Army Soldiers this was the biggest tragedy in their lifetime (those who remember the last scenes from “Katyń film know what I mean). Some tried to make careers, make a pile. This group can be divided into two subgroups – first were real communists, who also deeply believed in the system, the second were opportunists, who did not believe in the fairy tales of equality and justice, they wanted access to privileges and power and got it their own way. Quite numerous, at least in 1980 and 1981 was the group of opponents of the system. Most of them wanted to civilise the socialism, leave the economic foundations of the system which guaranteed social security intact, but held out for civil rights. And very few of them can be named pioneers who paved the way for market economy, because they defended working class. But the most important group numbered in millions were ordinary people who did their bit and kept their mouths shut. Those people proved for me Poland after 1956 was authoritarian (not totalitarian) and socialist (not communist) country. If you kept your mouth shut and did not stick your neck out, you could basically feel safe in that country. It wasn’t the Soviet Empire of 1930s when anyone could drag you out of your house and arrest on trumped-up charges. Doing nothing, which was also giving silent consent for misdeeds of the party, guaranteed some kind of safety.

There are also many theories concerning the collapse of socialism. A big role is put down to Lech Wałęsa, Pope John Paul II is credited with many merits. In my humble opinion those were economic difficulties and fall of communism in Soviet Union that played a major role. Mr Wałęsa and Pope had their contributions which cannot be forgotten but if it had not been for the factors above, they would have just dealt a blow to socialism, but it would have been still hard to overturn it.

And let’s have a quick overview of Polish “uprisings” in PRL and the reasons behind them.
1956 – economic reasons.
1968 – social issues
1970 – economic reasons
1976 – economic reasons
1980 – economic reasons, but demands regarding social issues
Poles protested against low salaries of price hikes, the free speech and other issues were in the background.

Many people still yearn for PRL. The reason is also simple – they miss the social security the system offered (in return for acceptance of its flaws). The responsibility which in liberal system is in hands of an individual was shifted into the state and many people found it convenient to have someone else taking care of their well-being and to have someone to blame for their failures.

So is there a truth? My father while listening to one of lunatics from IPN summarised the balanced view on Poland: “We could not fart without asking Soviets for permission but it was still Poland”. And I can go along with this assertion. Between 1945 and 1989 Poland was a lame and dependent country, which in spite of its subservience to Soviet Union was on the map of Europe, unlike Lithuania or Latvia which were Soviet Republics, and was recognised by other countries. Moreover, it was a country in which millions of people worked, not to build communism and support the felonious system but to do something good for fellow people. It is a subjective view, but it is what the blog is for…