Solidarni 2010

As a matter of principle I don’t watch television. I find it a waste of time, if I want to get hold of some information, Internet or newspapers are better sources. The former because it allows me to quickly find what I want, the latter offers contact with a written word rather than moving picture. This conscious decision to keep away from the box entails some consequences, for example I haven’t the faintest idea who today’s celebrities are or what is being watched by masses. Recently I have been caught up in a big media uproar triggered by one film broadcast in the first channel of Polish television.

Some of you probably heard of “Solidarni 2010”, a documentary shot by Mr Pospieszalski in a week following the Smolensk tragedy. Mr Pospieszalski is generally a controversial figure, leftists, liberals and mild conservatives reckon him to be extremely partial and prejudiced, but he has a group of staunch supporters for whom he is one of handful of journalist courageous enough to tell the unpopular truth.

The documentary was supposed to be a record of true Poles’ feelings in the time of mourning, but along the way something was screwed up and finally Polish media ethics watchdog (Rada Etyki Mediów) picked on the film and claimed Mr Pospieszalski had violated rules of objectivity, respect and tolerance. In the wake of the debate which consisted in mostly trading accusations I decided to download the film and sacrifice ninety minutes to watch the controversial footage. I divided my reflections on it into three paragraphs.

1. True Poles
The people who starred in the film were only true Poles, those who mourned the president, who really loved him, who queued up for over a dozen hours to pay tribute to him. I wonder how those people who were showed in the film had been chosen. How many were interviewed and how long did it take to pick the opinions which fit the film best? How do those people who appeared in the film feel now? Are they proud or ashamed of themselves?
Judging by the documentary only, Poland came to a standstill in the days following the plane crash. In truth, most Poles slowed down a bit, but they carried on living normally, some remained indifferent, some were only sad. But are those who didn’t cry not true Poles? The bad Poles are the youngsters who protested against burial on Wawel. “How do they dare?”, one of the older women asked. In line with the consensus in the face of such a tragedy some of us should keep our mouths shut and others should take decisions without taking heed of Poles’ views.
The funny thing is that among the “ordinary Poles” you could see actors and politicians (councillors) of Law and Justice. Here I’ll stop by to quote Katarzyna Łaniewska, one of Polish actresses who in 2005 endorsed Lech Kaczynski. Mrs Łaniewska said many of her friendships had broken because her ex-friends had ridiculed late president. Once again something is beyond my comprehension. Some of my friends voted for PiS, some will vote for Mr Kaczynski or Mr Napieralski, some even hate PO or say Mr Olechowski was a sneak or scoundrel. And somehow we don’t fall out, we are aware of different views, find many other topics for conversation and live with our dissents. Your friend can say “president is a midget”, but is it a reason to end a friendship?

2. Poland is a cesspit…
This is the general conclusion I have drawn from the film. For the past twenty years of alleged independence the country has been ruled by the układ and Poles have been manipulated by hostile media. The biggest symbols of evil are of course Gazeta Wyborcza and TVN which hounded the outstanding president to death. I find it still hard to come to terms with the inconvenient for me truth that the country I’m living in is a dummy democracy steered by secret services of Russia. Many of the interviewed straightforwardly claimed they thought other countries were pulling strings in Poland. My reaction is even worse when I find out Poland has been built on lies, damned lies, spread by hostile media. Personally I take it as an insult when someone suggests I have to watch Tusk Vision Network or read The Selective to know what to think. I really don’t need to resort to help of partial journalists to form my own opinions. I am intelligent enough to do it myself.
The very true point in the film was that media indeed presented a very unfavourable image of Mr Kaczynski before his decease. Many times instead of coming up with substantive criticism they simply ridiculed him, produced an angled image. After his tragic death they made a swift turnaround an glorified the president. And I wholeheartedly agree with the “true Poles” who said what media did was an excellent example of hypocrisy.

3. Conspiracy theories
It starts with some spiritual hypotheses – evil and hatred Poles were infected with pulled down the plane. The hatred killed them, if enough individuals wish the president is dead, their wish materialises… Watch out for the distinction – he did not die, he was killed.
Media also have their part in manipulating Poles. They have ready answers for all questions, they actually do everything to prevent rational-thinking Poles from asking questions about the causes of the tragedy. And supposing it could have been a planned assassination is a symbol of mental problems.
In short, it was not an accident. Mr Kaczynski was inconvenient for the Russians, so they decided to liquidate him. Mr Tusk probably tried to help them cover up the whole plot, especially by letting them carry out the investigation. One of the men says bluntly “Premier Tusk ma na swoich rękach polską krew” (Prime Minister Tusk has his hands covered with Polish blood). Someone can be silly enough to utter such a slander on a street, but someone who decides to broadcast it in national TV should be aware of legal consequences – the sentence could be interpreted as accusing Polish prime minister of murder. Fortunately, Mr Tusk did not react to this accusation.

Should it appear on public TV? Well, yes… In a democracy we have free speech and Mr Pospieszalski should have a right to have his film broadcast and given the number of complaints Media Ethics Council has received, Poles are outraged so everything functions properly. I am not outraged nor even surprised, I know what Mr Pospieszalski and fellow cranks are capable of.
But let’s consider an imaginary film showing the dark side of late president and a typical Polish street full of indifferent, laughing folks in the days of mourning. Would the authors of it be given a chance to have their footage showed in TV? And what makes my hackles rise is that the money for this film was laid on from our purses, it was financed from licence fee takings. Here’s the hitch, it should not have been paid for by taxpayers.

I would love to see two or three similar films before the election. Is it a weird desire? No dear readers, they would remind Poles the perils of relapse of IV RP. Poles should feel the same disgust as they felt in 2007 when they rejected the vision of the country devised by the twin brothers. You might ask why I want avert the situation when Mr Kaczynski or PiS are back rulers. It’s not that he’s short, unmarried, can’t speak any foreign language and drive a car. These are just meaningless shortcomings. The real reasons are more serious.
1) Mr Kaczynski wants to build Poland on mistrust,
2) In his vision, the citizens should be for the country, not the other way round!
3) He is an expert in dividing Poles into good and bad, patriots and traitors, Solidarity and ZOMO.
This is what the public discourse in Poland should focus on. It is silly to poke fun at slip-ups, we should rather concentrate on policy issues and there’s the rub.

And finally, I don’t understand the title of the film. It should have been titled “Skłóceni 2010” as it highlighted how Poles have been divided, even in the days of mourning.

The candidates once again

This time I won’t write about financial tribulations of EU, social unrest in Greece or spectacular turmoil on financial markets. Politics is what attracts much more attention so if I publish a new list of potential presidents of Poland at least the readers will be more likely to have their say.

The tragic Smolensk plane crash has brought about a serious reshuffle on the list of politicians running for presidency. Acting president and parliament speaker Bronisław Komorowski has called election for 20 June, so the short campaign, run in shadow of the Smolensk disaster, will last less than six weeks from now (plus possible fortnight before the run-off). In March I compiled a similar list of candidates, however, the recent events have prompted an update as two important candidates, incumbent president Lech Kaczynski and SLD candidate Jerzy Szmajdzinski both died on 10 April.

The order might matter so to avoid bias I decided to review contenders in alphabetical order.

1. Marek Jurek – extreme right-wing politician, until 2007 a member of Law and Justice party, which he left to voice his protest against enacting too liberal abortion law. Famous for his strong conservative social views and infamous for paying homage to general Pinochet.

2. Jarosław Kaczyński – twin brother of late president Lech Kaczynski and chairman of Law and Justice. Currently he stands a serious chance to vie with Mr Komorowski in a run-off on 4 July. The decision to run for presidency after the death of his brother is said to be natural. At the moment it hard to determine whether his partisans will be resorting to hits below the belt in this campaign. It is equally difficult to say if he is bearing up after the bereavement. Mr Kaczynski is likely to capitalise on the posthumous glorification of his brother’s presidency and in his campaign he will surely emphasise the determination to continue the aborted mission of his brother and restore the ideas of IV RP. It has to be said liberal voters are aghast at the mere thought of Mr Kaczynski as a head of Polish state.

3. Bronisław Komorowski – a Civic Platform’s candidate for the office of president, acting president and speaker of parliament. After the Smolensk disaster he has to carry a heavy burden of performing all those functions. The public opinion centres on him and it’s very easy for his political opponents to pull him up for virtually anything. From not crying at the funerals, through clumsy and too pathetic addresses and speeches, up to taking independent decisions such as signing new IPN bill. Currently he’s an odds-on favourite, but nobody can take his win for granted. Many voters are likely to put a cross against him just to prevent the worst, in their view, scenario.

4. Janusz Korwin-Mikke – an eccentric libertarian politician. This year’s campaign is his fifth run for presidency. He enjoys a considerable support of some young, male, surely not pragmatic voters. Mr Korwin-Mikke is usually described as quaint and clever oddball and stalwart critic of any manifestations of socialism. I am personally sceptical of his high IQ, whenever I read or hear his thoughts it appears to me his view of the world is over-simplified. Unfortunately, the reality is not that straightforward and the world and economics are much more complex.

5. Andrzej Lepper – a rural chieftain who built his political career on pouncing at the inhuman capitalism, blocking the roads and wangled his way into the senior positions in government. Sentenced to two years and three months of imprisonment for sexual harassment, cannot run for parliament, but for presidency, why not. This sad inconsistency proves how lame Polish law sometimes is. Yesterday I heard he began his campaign on bazaar in Łódź. I’m slightly missing him and his outrageous party. Polish politics without white-and-red ties, sandals worn together with a suit, kurwiki, wheedled out fuel allowance and many other stuff lost some of its flavour.

6. Kornel Morawiecki – few people heard about that guy. Mr Morawiecki was a member of anti-communist opposition in PRL, in independent Poland he keeps on trying to reshape the country. Hitherto – to no avail. Views – rather nationalistic.

7. Grzegorz Napieralski – SLD’s candidate after the tragic death of Mr Szmajdzinski, the youngest runner (aged 36). Nominated as a contender on the spur of the moment might look off-putting for many centre-left voters as he represents the far-left fringe of SLD. He is known for his radical leftist economic and social views. On political scene he would lean towards co-operation with Law and Justice rather than Civic Platform, for many a careerist and a mate who tries to capitalise on leftist sentiments.

8. Andrzej Olechowski – formally independent candidate, backed by niche Polish Democratic Party. Mr Olechowski wants to change a public discourse in Poland and focus on substantive discussion and moving Poland forward. If I don’t settle on tactical voting, I’ll support him. I have five reasons:
1) He is the independent candidate.
2) His political, social and economic views overlap mine best = he looks like a truly liberal candidate.
3) He is an economist (PhD in foreign trade) so he would understand much better than Mr Komorowski the mechanics of Polish economy.
4) His vision of presidency squares with mine – reconciliation, support and respect are the main foundations.
5) His command of foreign languages is the best among the runners.
He seems to stand out in terms of manners, he has a vision and sets it above career.
This one was immensely subjective, indeed… To make up for the positive bias I have to add before 1989 Mr Olechowski collaborated with PRL secret services, but he never tried to conceal those bleak episode from his life.

9. Waldemar Pawlak – represents Polish peasants’ party and might get more votes than expected. Currently he holds the office of deputy prime minister and economy minister. Recently he makes the headlines as the author of revolutionary draft of pension system reform. I fully advocate his ideas (small pension benefit provided by the state, equal for everyone, to have a higher pension save on your own), but maybe it would be better if he stayed on where he is.

10. Bogusław Ziętek – unfortunately the guy doesn’t have an entry in English wikipedia. Mr Ziętek shows there’s some room to the left of Mr Napieralski. He is said to be a powerful a trade union leader, an ideal head of state of suppressed working class, but is the presidency about burning tyres and yelling in attempt to get a pay rise?

To be continued…?

Psalm stojących w kolejce / Queuers’ psalm

Za czym kolejka ta stoi?
Po szarość, po szarość, po szarość.
Na co w kolejce tej czekasz?
Na starość, na starość, na starość.
Co kupisz, gdy dojdziesz?
Zmęczenie, zmęczenie, zmęczenie.
Co przyniesiesz do domu?
Kamienne zwątpienie, zwątpienie

Bądź jak kamień, stój, wytrzymaj
Kiedyś te kamienie drgną
I polecą jak lawina
Przez noc.
Przez noc
Przez noc.

What are they queuing for?
For greyness, for greyness, for greyness.
What are you waiting about for?
For old age, for old age, for old age.
What will you buy when it’s your turn?
Tiredness, tiredness, tiredness.
What will you bring home?
Doubt, doubt, stone doubt.

Be like stone, stand, withstand.
We will leave no stone unturned.
And they’ll slide like an avalanche
Through the night
Through the night

I can’t proudly admit I managed to retain the rhythm, singing my translation would be a breakneck task, but there’s a reason to look back on the bleak days just before Solidarity rose up.

Labour day after-thoughts

I spent the entire first day of May strolling around Warsaw, serving as a guide. In the early afternoon, at the corner of Nowy Świat and Al. Jerozolimskie my guests and I ran across one of the May Day marches organised by leftist organisations, lunatic-fringe parties or trade unions. As far as I know there were a few demonstrations in Warsaw on that day. The event we kept away from and just watched by could have sparked off a ferocious row over the political views, but I managed to head off that possibility and no one fell out over who to vote for and against, nor whose vision of Poland is the only right.

Apart from seeing the next divide lines I could discern my views, though still in a state of flux, have crystallised and I developed some gut reactions to some certain types of rhetoric.

According to what I’ve read later on the website of Gazeta Stołeczna, the demands of the protesters were the following:

1. Every woman and every man should have a right to pension off after respectively: 35 and 40 years of working. This actually means if they enter the labour market at the age of 22 (on average) they would retire at the age of 57 (women) or 62 (men), so earlier than now. But thanks to the advancement of social welfare and better quality of healthcare, technological development etc., they will live longer than their parents and work shorter. Who will pay for that? Just one question, but makes a considerably big crack on their demands.

2. As Mr Careerist Napieralski pointed out, Poland is still far from the welfare standard old countries of European Union stand for. Which countries? Germany, which is struggling to carry the burden of ageing society? France, paralysed by strikes whenever unionists don’t get a pay rise or when someone brazenly tries to extend the 35-hour workweek? Or maybe Greece which is paying the price for its welfare standards?

3. Some demonstrators trotted out the old buzz-phrases, such as: “the rich should pay for the crisis”, or “it’s your [employers’] crisis, not ours”, “Greek strikes show us the way”. Now let’s face it – the crisis had its roots in the USA and not only bankers are to blame, but also the subprime borrowers who took out loans they would never have stood a chance to pay back. And it is our crisis, also mine, because the labour market will not be as brisk as it used to be in 2007 or 2008 and I will not enjoy such career opportunities and will not be paid as generously as a few years older graduates of SGH. But if they trade unionists think their employers should bear the burden of cost-cutting, lower demand and pay claims on their own, then good luck and strangle your companies to death. It is easier to have a lower salary and make and ends meet or to live off social security? Maybe the latter, at least they don’t have to wake up and work for eight hours every day.

4. Not surprising were the calls to stop exploitation, comparing capitalism to cannibalism or even ideas to set up a Polish Soviet republic..

The common denominator of the claims above is economic illiteracy. There are some rules you cannot circumvent, like the simplest one, that if you don’t work for something, you don’t get it. Even you don’t work but grow richer it is because some else pays for it and you are sponging on them. Working less and getting paid more is like having a cake and eating it – not that easy in reality.

Alright, but let’s tackle the problem from a different angle. Why trade unions exist? Their origins can be traced back into the first half of nineteenth century, when they really had to fight for civilised working environment and human treatment. The creation of trade unions and emergence of socialist movement was a natural aftermath of primeval capitalism. These days in the companies where workers are treated decently and paid well nobody thinks about membership in trade unions. So the key to the door is to treat employees fairly. At least those well-educated will pay you back by not hampering your life.

On the other side of the barricade employers have their associations which pursue their goal. If trade unionists want to work less and get paid more, the employers would prefer to have their employees work more and pay them less. If both groups are to outwit each other, they will get nowhere.

In the evening I saw a coverage from street riots in Athens. The first thing I spotted was a policeman set on fire by protesters. As a child I saw accidentally a man ablaze and such a sight will probably always be traumatic for me. But hang on, how inhuman and cruel it is to set fire to a fellow man and watch him burning? It is beyond my comprehension that such uncivilised nation is in the European Union. They resorted to lies to enter the eurozone. Lies, blatant lies, statistics, Greek statistics, will it get worse? Now when their country is on the brink of bankruptcy instead of humbly getting down to work to lift it up they take to the streets. Ruling elite is to blame, but I have no sympathy for the ordinary Greeks who appear as coarse rabble.

So what can be done for the poor. The Labour-day protesters want more redistribution. I opine no redistribution, but the low-paid workers should not pay income tax and other quasi-taxes employers withhold. Currently a company has to spend around 2,000 PLN on an employee who gets paid around 1,300 PLN net. And if they got paid 2,000 or at least 1,800, wouldn’t they be better off? Socialists want higher taxes for the richer, “typical” liberals want lower taxes for the richer, I want lower taxes but mostly for the poorer. For my ideas of tax system click here.

There are also proposals to abolish the Labour Day as a relic of PRL. As many Poles I am against, not because I care about the marches, trade unions, etc. As many Poles I want to make the most of long weekend and the gust of spring warmth. Additional day off is a good occasion to cycle, take a trip, have a barbecue, work in the garden and for many other outdoor activities!

It’s all Greek to me

“Goldman, Greece, those will be never ending stories”, a friend of mine told me today. “They’ll be pulling the markets up and down and all we have to do is to anticipate those moves and get the most out of them” – he envisaged a nice scenario.

The Goldman case might be a tip of the iceberg. It may drag on and on, the bank might hire excellent lawyers and prove it just bent the law. In the coming weeks I do not predict this case might trigger a bigger correction on the markets, but if regulators and politicians decided to accuse other banks or restrict proprietary trading, the momentum of bull market would be up in the air.

Now the latter. Greece has been facing problems for months on, the deterioration has recently grown apace, but when I saw yields on 2Y Greek bonds had soared to 17%, spread between 10Y German and Greek bonds had exceeded 700 basis points I asked myself if my eyes were deceiving me or if the editor of the hapless news item had made a typing error. But after checking a few other web pages and making sure that S&P agency categorised Greek debt as “junk” and downgraded Portugal’s rating. It’s kind of astonishing to see a Eurozone country rated as issuer of junk bonds.

Stocks tumbled across the Europe, in France CAC 40 index plummeted by impressive 3.82%, trading on Warsaw stock exchange closed ay 16:30 what means nothing else but that tomorrow it will open be far below today close.

What next? Will we be facing the second wave of crisis or will the concerted action of other countries head off the worst scenario? German and French institutions hold a large chunk of Greek debts, so they have a vested interest in coming with aid. As for me, Greece will sooner or later default on its debts, quite probably in mid-May when it will have to roll over much of it. The best idea would be let Greeks leave the Eurozone and let it face the music. Insolvency is just a matter of time, so should other countries chip in to prolong Greek agony? For months things haven’t looked as dangerously as they’re doing now.

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…

How (not) to apply for a job in English

This blog would have been deficient in valuable postings if there hadn’t been a month without bad-English rant. In the next episode of the series your favourite blogger is cracking down on a letter of application he has found somewhere in the Polish Internet.

At the beginning of the week I had to face a challenge of writing a letter of application in English. Whenever I speak about list motywacyjny with my Polish friends, we end up coming to a conclusion that applicants usually write there so-called pierdoły (hard to translate Polish phrases, in this context meaning “everything and nothing”). We all prefer filling in application form, where we provide the company with all information it wants to have about us and answer specific questions – any both parties are happy.

This time, although I know general rules and layout of this sort of letters, I felt slightly insecure and decided to look for some examples of letters of application in the Net. Out of a habit, I visited the most popular Polish portal for job-seekers to find this baffling example of use of English. (Needless to say I eventually wrote the letter myself)

The author of the guide snows her readers with several priceless advice, such as:

W angielskim liście również w innym miejscu umieszcza się dane nadawcy i firmy – data i dane firmy są po lewej stronie, a twoje nieco wyżej, po prawej. W angielskich standardach obowiązuje również system blokowy – nowy akapit od nowej linijki, bez wcięcia.

As far as I’m concerned there are two layouts:
1. British (also called semi-blocked), where addresser appears at the top, to the right, below, also to the right you put date and further down, to the left you place addressee, new paragraphs start with indentions.
2. American (also called fully-blocked), where everything is aligned to the left, paragraphs have no indentions, but are separated by a gap.

Nie wygłupiaj się! Jeśli nie znasz języka na tyle, żeby samodzielnie napisać list motywacyjny po angielsku, to nawet nie zaczynaj!

Scroll down to check if the author of this sentence practises what she preaches.

Przeczytaj, ale nie przepisuj! Każdy list powinien być unikalny, a wzory są tylko po to, aby czerpać inspirację!

Rewrite the masterpiece below? Who’s so determined to have their application rejected right away? That would be a shot in a foot! But this letter definitely filled me with inspiration – to compile this post.

LIST MOTYWACYJNY

For sure every recruiter who doesn’t know Polish well will understand this title.

Mateusz Wiśniewski

Tel. 505 000 000

mateusz.wisniewski@email.pl

Mr. Karol Napiórkowski

ABCD Company

HR Department

I still can’t make out to which layout the author sticks. The very content suggests it’s the American one, but the addresses made me stumped – left to the right, right to the left, the other way round, coincidental lack of punctuation, maybe some other features (Mr. Karol?) leave a more experienced reader devastated.

Now let’s tear the content into pieces…

Dear Mr. Napiórkowski,

I am writing in regards to your current Human Resources Development Project Manager opening of which I got to know from "XYZ newspaper", August 23, 2005.

With regard to the first sentence of your letter I would like to remind you that regards are at the end of a letter, a rather private one. Why does it seem to me that “XYZ newspaper” is Mr Wiśniewski’s buddy?

Having worked in this profession, I am strongly convinced that my former experience and competence will be of great value for your organization.

Has the experience been given the sack? How about words such as past or previous?

As a this year graduate of Psychology, I present a high level of human resources academic knowledge as my major course was "Psychology in HR Management".

This year’s series of nasty posts labelled ‘translation’ presents a high level of spitefulness of the author of this blog, as he specialises in seeking out absurdities.

During my studies I was involved in many HR projects e.g. preparing recruitment tests for temporary employment agencies. I also did a research of corporate recruiting strategies concerning my MA thesis.

Or was it your MA thesis that concerned recruitment strategies?

I was also given an opportunity to work as a chief career counselor in the University Career Office. Over the last year I have completed more than 30 recruitment campaigns, none of which turned out to be a failure (reference upon request).

Passive voice sounds a tad bombastic but let’s brush it aside and focus on the content. The applicant must be a born optimist. For a pessimist all campaigns (or rather projects) would prove successful, an optimist will write żadna z nich nie okazała się porażką. I like the Polish word porażka, it carries such a huge variety of meanings.

Irrespective of my age and short experience, I am able to contribute in the same matter to the success of your organization.

Irrespective (who cares if words like ‘despite’ exist at all) of my efforts to grasp the meaning of “in the same matter” part I still find myself unable to decipher author’s intentions…

HR projects lie in the sphere of my strong interest. Bearing a challenge of managing a group of people is a motivation itself for me.

Projekty z zakresu zarządzania zasobami ludzkimi leżą w sferze mojego mocnego zainteresowania. Poniesienie wyzwania jakim jest kierowanie grupą ludzi jest dla mnie motywacją samą w sobie. Maybe if I translate it into Polish someone realises what kind of drivel we are facing.

Moreover my professional experience allows me to motivate subordinates effectively. I am not afraid of confronting problems and have skills of solving them – thanks to my academic competence as well as my high level interpersonal skills.

Experience is short but professional… I am running out of bright ideas on how to confront the problem of subprime translations and my high level ridiculing skills are declining…

I am a responsible and at the same time spontaneous person and have been recognized as one who embraces creativity and new ideas.

I am writing this post and at the same time I am laughing out loud and wondering, in which context the verb ‘to embrace’ was used. Probably in none of three ones (to accept, to hug, to include) I know.

For more detailed information please refer to my enclosed resume. I am eager to further discuss my qualifications during the interview. Thank you in advance for your generous consideration.

The word chętnie is indeed not one those which translate easily into English, but English has a few fixed expressions which may be used in the final paragraph, for instance: I would be glad to…

I anyone wants to comment on the last sentence, please feel free to snow me with your generous considerations. Thank you from the mountain for your contribution.

Sincerely,

Mateusz Wiśniewski

(it’s not my real name, just a signature copied from the letter) By not adding ‘Yours’ the author shows he is quite thrifty – this shrewd move helps someone save on ink.

And today’s final part is an old chestnut – use of English by SGH staff.

Dear readers! Posting next post is canceled at 23 and 24 of April. Additional posting will be postponed from 26 of April to 25 of April.

Before it goes under once again

It has to be said that if the plane had crashed on trading day the turmoil on the market could have been as wobbly as in the finest days after the collapse of Lehman Brothers Bank. But given two days to get over, Polish financial markets proved absolutely indifferent to the Smolensk tragedy. Stock market until last Wednesday was heading north, driven upwards by the positive sentiment among speculators. Currency market saw some uncertainty after intervention carried out by National Bank of Poland on 9 April to prevent further abrupt appreciation of Polish currency.

As many analysts pointed out, after ten week long rally market was in the short run bought up to the limits (what is plain English means no one wanted to buy stocks), so a small spark was enough to set the flame and drag the stock prices down.

Schadenfreude – is what comes to minds of many market observers when we read the news that SEC pressed charges against Goldman Sachs for misleading its clients who had been buying structured products based on subprime mortgage market. The products had been designed in collusion with a hedge fund, which later had shorted derivates linked to them. Wall Street firms, acting within a letter of law but not necessarily morally, already have a dented reputation. I have read some opinions that state the Goldman case might be just a tip of the iceberg and the next lawsuits against other big banks might follow. In the short term such news may help bring back markets into balance by reminding about the element of fear and curbing increasingly hazardous complacency.

But what about the long term? Last week George Soros, world’s most prominent speculator (I sincerely recommend reading wikipedia entry, mostly the passage which describe his views on stability of financial markets) warned of an unprecedented market crash which is going to hit in a few years. Mind this long-term prospect is a very probable scenario. The time of robust economic growth is still ahead (if it comes, given the scale of public indebtedness we cannot take it for granted), low inflation will be beneficial for equities, the resources of untapped funds of individual and institutional investors who still are wary of entering the market are not to be sneezed at. The last ingredient is complacency, at the present already dangerous, in the future it will be stoked to reach record-breaking levels.

And what if the market crashes vehemently? Be prepared, take what you amassed during the golden years and short it using leverage. Those who did it after Lehman went bust or in January and February 2009 and had a capital cushion thick enough not to get a margin call could afford to retire. Anyone can earn when the prices are rising, a real art is to rake in profits when prices are falling.

The alternative scenario is that if SEC charges next banks with frauds, the bull market driven to a considerable extent be those institutions will lose momentum for a while. If it materialises, the correction may last even a few months and may bring the indices down by even thirty per cent.

The notions above are left to your further consideration. In the current phase of business cycle and shortly after the last crisis stock indices are unlikely to plummet.

Good news for today is that Polish financial market regulatory body is going to introduce short selling on Warsaw stock exchange. It is the next step towards developing Polish stock market. In every civilised country it should be possible to bet against stocks and profit not only from rising prices. I am in two minds about the restrictions – it is all about taking risks. If stocks are much overvalued they should be allowed to reach an optimal level, also with help of speculators. If not, like the shares of Volkswagen in 2008, then short-sellers have to cover their positions and take losses. This is the life!

As a small speculator I would also embrace first Polish investment funds for bears ;)

Conspiracy theories sprouting

EDIT, 16 April – my appeal. No matter how strongly we disagree with the decision to bury the president and his wife on Wawel let’s suspend all discussions and rows over this issue during the weekend. In the days to come we all ought to pay our respects to all departed ones who now deserve peace.

I haven’t prepared this overview on my own, it is just a summary of a compilation which appeared recently on WP.PL. Some are to a limited extent plausible, other smack of outright malarkey… Note that the points below do not refer to any confirmed facts.

1/ Russians had a hand in the tragedy – they had vested interest in getting rid of many Polish officials inconvenient for them, particularly president Kaczynski who was determined to fight for truth and his speech on Saturday could have thwarted the reconciliation policy pursued by Mr Tusk and Mr Putin.

2/ The crashed plane which had undergone an overhaul in August 2009 was deliberately wrecked by Russian secret services. Their agents allegedly tampered with the steering systems what could have impeded a safe touchdown.

3/ An explosion on board – some eye witnesses claimed they had heard a sound typical for explosion, akin to a bomb going off.

4/ Russians deliberately created a fog in Smolensk (as they could use chemistry to clear up sky over Moscow) either to prevent Mr Kaczynski’s appearance on the ceremony or to trigger a disaster.

5/ Black boxes were swapped – Russians were familiar with the technologies used in Tupolev planes so they concocted the record of the flight

6/ Warmth of Russians is just a smokescreen – their sympathy and help they offered us should distract our attention from their involvement in the scheme.

7/ The equipment on Smolensk was broken down – some say a few hours after the crash soldiers replaced some parts of air traffic control with new ones to cover up the blatant violation of safety issues.

8/ Mr Tusk was embroiled in the scheme. He plotted it in liaison with Mr Putin and Mr Komorowski. To boot all politicians had no other duties on that day and rushed to deal with the tragedy.

9/ Pilots faced pressure from president Kaczynski to land heedless of bad weather conditions (this thread was widely discussed on Poland-related English-language blogs).

10/ Katyn is a cursed place for Polish nation.

11/ The disaster was predicted by Nortradamus, who wrote about metal birds, which carried some eminent people from an invincible country and the country was soon invaded from the East.

12/ Not all victims died on the spot, some survived the crash but Russian secret services swiftly came around to kill them.

My comments to theories no. 11 and no. 12
Ad. 11/ I have “Centuries” by Nostradamus (in English) in PDF and searched for key words which appeared in the Polish version – nothing like this can be found there.

Ad. 12/ TVN 24 reported yesterday someone uploaded a film from the scene on which one can clearly hear shots. TVN 24 says however the film was uploaded on Tuesday, while the same footage was shown by Russian TV a day earlier.

Another note – Poles remain split over the funeral on Wawel. He worst thing is that I got lost, because there are several versions concerning the person behind this idea. Some try to suck up credit for the great idea, some try to shift blame to others.

From shock towards paranoia

The discrepancy between media coverage of national mourning and what I see in Warsaw is growing. I have written about it in comments on other blogs, so in short – I could not see mourners on the streets and in my school, people behave normally, talk about down-to-earth issues, if they mention the tragedy it’s only because another event was called off due to mourning. As the comments on sundry forums imply, those people who gathered outside presidential palace did it mostly for fun and to meet other people. After all a human being is a social animal – no wonder they came there to take photos, sing and share their feelings.

I would like to thank Russians here:
1/ for the sense of fraternity our nations have probably never felt,
2/ for president and prime minister praying for the fatalities,
3/ for a personal address to Polish nation,
4/ for help given to Polish prime minister and families who went to Moscow to identify bodies,
5/ for national mourning on a day which should be joyful for all Russians,
6/ for thousands of white and red flowers laid outside Polish embassy in Moscow,
7/ and for broadcasting Katyń film in first channel of Russian national television in prime time.

But is it a right moment to say a friend in need is a friend indeed?

I am also grateful to Polish officials who have decided farewell ceremonies and funerals will be held over the weekend. Holding it on working day would unnecessarily bring Warsaw and Cracow to a standstill.

I find it increasingly harder to put up with worshiping the deceased president, mostly by those ones who would slag him off just a few days ago. Once a clunky man making funny faces is now almost venerated, one element seems to be missing – a halo over his head. The Economist has published a balanced review of Mr Kaczynski accomplishments. Mr Kaczynski, who died along with 95 others, including many of Poland’s military and political elite, in a plane crash in Russia on April 10th, epitomised some of the best and the worst features of Polish politics. - they write. In Poland the profile of Mr Kaczynski’s is likely be angled. Until 10 April 2010 his presidency was controversial… After 10 April it has been idealised.

Meanwhile some bloggers allegedly cleaned up their sites what means they deleted posts which included adverse opinions about president. I didn’t, the full record of my critical views on his presidency is more or less here.

Somebody has also put forward to bury Mr Kaczynski and his wife on Wawel, among the most distinguished Poles. This looks as a misunderstanding. As a head of state he deserves a funeral and grave, but on Powązki Wojskowe, where many outstanding Poles are buried. To make it clear, I think none of Polish politicians would deserve to be buried on Wawel, even those whom I respect most should not be granted such privilege.

Poland’s civil society holds strong and the action to prevent it on facebook was supported by almost 10,000 people within a few hours. I support the idea to grant Mr Kaczynski a title of freeman of Warsaw – he was a mayor of the capital, his tie-ups with Warsaw were very close, but to name a new bridge or the national stadium is out of place for me.

NIE dla pochowania Kaczyńskich na Wawelu!

I know it’s controversial, but avoiding bringing up debatable issues will get us nowhere. Nowhere but to distortions.