History of Poland - People's Republic of Poland (1945–1989)

People's Republic of Poland (1945–1989)

In June 1945, as an implementation of the February Yalta Conference directives, according to the Soviet interpretation, a Polish Provisional Government of National Unity was formed; it was soon recognized by the United States and many other countries. A communist rule and Soviet domination were apparent from the beginning: sixteen prominent leaders of the Polish anti-Nazi underground were brought to trial in Moscow in June 1945.

A national referendum arranged for by the communist Polish Workers' Party was used to legitimize its dominance in Polish politics and claim widespread support for the party's policies. Although the Yalta agreement called for free elections, those held in January 1947 were controlled by the communists. Some democratic and pro-Western elements, led by Stanisław Mikołajczyk, the former Prime Minister in Exile, participated in the Provisional National Unity Government and the 1947 elections, but were ultimately eliminated through electoral fraud, intimidation and violence. In times of radical change, they attempted to preserve some degree of mixed economy. The Polish government in exile had remained in continuous existence until 1990, although its influence was degraded.

A Polish People's Republic (Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa) was created under the communist Polish United Workers' Party rule after the brief period of coalition "National Unity" government. The ruling party itself was a result of the forced amalgamation (December 1948) of the communist Polish Workers' Party and the historically non-communist, more popular Polish Socialist Party (the party, reestablished in 1944, had been from that time allied with the communists). The ruling communists, who in post-war Poland preferred to use the term "socialism", needed to include the socialist junior partner to broaden their appeal, claim greater legitimacy and eliminate competition on the left. The socialists, who were losing their organization, had to be subjected to political pressure, ideological cleansing and purges in order to become suitable for the unification on the "Workers' Party"'s terms.

During the most oppressive Stalinist period, terror, justified by the necessity to eliminate the reactionary subversion, was widespread; many thousands of perceived opponents of the regime were arbitrarily tried and large numbers executed. The People's Republic was led by discredited Moscow's operatives such as Bolesław Bierut and Konstantin Rokossovsky.

Larger rural estates and agricultural holdings as well as post-German property were redistributed through land reform and industry was nationalized beginning in 1944. Communist-introduced restructuring and imposition of work-space rules encountered active worker opposition already in 1945-1947. The Three-Year Plan (1947–1949) continued with the rebuilding, socialization and restructuring of the economy. The rejection of the Marshall Plan (1947), however, made the aspirations of catching-up with the West European standard of living unrealistic. The government's economic high priority was the development of militarily useful heavy industry. State-run institutions, collectivization and cooperative entities were imposed (the last category dismantled in the 1940s as not socialist enough, later reestablished), while even small-scale private enterprises were being eradicated. Great strides however were made in the areas of universal public education (including elimination of adult illiteracy), health care and recreational amenities for working people. Many historic sites, including central districts of war-destroyed Warsaw and Gdańsk (Danzig), were rebuilt at a great cost. A majority of Poland's urban residents still live in apartment blocks built during the communist era.

In October 1956, after the 20th Soviet Party Congress in Moscow ushered in de-Stalinization and riots by workers in Poznań ensued, there was a shakeup in the communist regime. While retaining most traditional communist economic and social aims, the regime led by the Polish Communist Party's First Secretary Władysław Gomułka began to liberalize internal life in Poland. Several years of relative stabilization followed the legislative election of 1957.

In 1965, the Conference of Polish Bishops issued the Letter of Reconciliation of the Polish Bishops to the German Bishops. In 1966, the celebrations of the 1,000th anniversary of the Baptism of Poland led by Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński and other bishops turned into a huge demonstration of the power and popularity of the Polish Catholic Church.

Sophisticated cultural life developed under Gomułka and his successors, even if the creative process had often been compromised by state censorship. Significant productions were accomplished in fields such as literature, theater, cinema and music, among others. Journalism of veiled understanding and native varieties of popular trends and styles of western mass culture were well represented. Uncensored information and works generated by émigré circles were conveyed by a variety of channels, the Radio Free Europe being of foremost importance.

In 1968, the liberalizing trend was reversed when student demonstrations were suppressed and an anti-Zionist campaign initially directed against Gomułka supporters within the party eventually led to the emigration of much of Poland's remaining Jewish population. In August 1968, the Polish People's Army took part in the infamous Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia.

In 1970, the governments of Poland and West Germany signed a treaty which normalized their relations and in which the Federal Republic recognized the post-war de facto borders between Poland and East Germany.

In December 1970, disturbances and strikes in the port cities of Gdańsk (Danzig), Gdynia, and Szczecin (Stettin), triggered by a government-announced price increase for essential consumer goods, reflected deep dissatisfaction with living and working conditions in the country. Edward Gierek replaced Gomułka as First Secretary of the Communist Party.

Another attempt to raise food prices resulted in the June 1976 protests. The Workers' Defense Committee (KOR), established in response to the crackdown, consisted of dissident intellectuals willing to openly support industrial workers struggling with the authorities.

Fueled by large infusions of Western credit, Poland's economic growth rate was one of the world's highest during the first half of the 1970s. But much of the borrowed capital was misspent, and the centrally planned economy was unable to use the new resources effectively. The growing debt burden became insupportable in the late 1970s, and economic growth had become negative by 1979.

In October 1978, the Archbishop of Kraków, Cardinal Karol Józef Wojtyła, became Pope John Paul II, head of the Roman Catholic Church. Polish Catholics rejoiced at the elevation of a Pole to the papacy and greeted his June 1979 visit to Poland with an outpouring of emotion.

On July 1, 1980, with the Polish foreign debt at more than $20 billion, the government made another attempt to increase meat prices. A chain reaction of strikes virtually paralyzed the Baltic coast by the end of August and, for the first time, closed most coal mines in Silesia. Poland was entering into an extended crisis that would change the course of its future development.

On August 31, workers at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, led by an electrician named Lech Wałęsa, signed a 21-point agreement with the government that ended their strike. Similar agreements were signed at Szczecin and in Silesia. The key provision of these agreements was the guarantee of the workers' right to form independent trade unions and the right to strike. After the Gdańsk Agreement was signed, a new national union movement "Solidarity" swept Poland.

The discontent underlying the strikes was intensified by revelations of widespread corruption and mismanagement within the Polish state and party leadership. In September 1980, Gierek was replaced by Stanisław Kania as First Secretary.

Alarmed by the rapid deterioration of the Party's authority following the Gdańsk agreement, the Soviet Union proceeded with a massive military buildup along Poland's border in December 1980. In February 1981, Defense Minister Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski assumed the position of Prime Minister, and in October 1981, was named First Secretary. At the first Solidarity national congress in September–October 1981, Lech Wałęsa was elected national chairman of the union.

On December 12–13, the regime declared martial law, under which the army and ZOMO riot police were used to crush the union. Virtually all Solidarity leaders and many affiliated intellectuals were arrested or detained. The United States and other Western countries responded to martial law by imposing economic sanctions against the Polish regime and against the Soviet Union. Unrest in Poland continued for several years thereafter.

Having achieved some semblance of stability, the Polish regime in several stages relaxed and then rescinded martial law. By December 1982, martial law was suspended, and a small number of political prisoners, including Wałęsa, were released. Although martial law formally ended in July 1983 and a partial amnesty was enacted, several hundred political prisoners remained in jail.

In September 1986, general amnesty was declared and the government released nearly all political prisoners. Throughout the period the authorities continued to harass dissidents and Solidarity activists. Solidarity remained proscribed and its publications banned; independent publications were censored. However, with the economic crisis unresolved and societal institutions dysfunctional, both the ruling establishment and Solidarity-led opposition began looking for ways out of the stalemate, and exploratory contacts were being established.

The government's inability to forestall Poland's economic decline led to waves of strikes across the country in April, May and August 1988. Under the reformist leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet Union was becoming increasingly destabilized and unwilling to apply military and other pressure to prop up allied regimes in trouble. In the late 1980s, the government was forced to negotiate with Solidarity in the Polish Round Table Negotiations. The resulting Polish legislative election in 1989 was a watershed event marking the fall of communism in Poland.