Communism in Poland - Research Paper Example

Communism in Poland Table of Contents Introduction 3 Communism 4 Communism in Poland 5 End of Cold War 9 End of Communism in Poland 11 Post – Communism Economy 13 References 14 Introduction Among the various types of political theories that ultimately facilitates in the policies, communism has been a major one. Communism does not opt for much openness and basically calls for equality among all stratas of the society. The political theory of communism had huge following in Soviet Union and the Eastern Europe states till recently. The essay aims to understand and study the effect of communism in the country of Poland with respect to the policies of the nation and the result of the same political theory in some of the other nations. Communism Communism is one of the most prominent social structures of the world. Ideated by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, the concept abolishes the class based society and calls for equality. The essence of communism calls for state ownership of all the properties and does not approve private ownership. Communism is a socialist approach which essentially requires the factors of production to be in the hands of the state along with the other vital subjects like health and education. The advocates of the communism further believes that the power of the state and the decision making authority should be bestowed with the working class or the proletariats as it perceives that those class are the most oppressed in other competing social structures like that of capitalism. Like many other social structures, the theory and the concept of communism have undergone various changes in the passing years. Also, it has transformed on the basis of the countries and the regions in which it has been practiced. The prime objective of the theory has been to end deprivation of the working class and transfer power to them to rule the nations so that they could facilitate class less society. The book ‘The Communist Manifesto’ is considered as the Bible of the theory and the book ends with the call of unity among the working class populace of the countries across the globe (Engels, 1847). Communism in Poland The social structure and the political philosophy of communism achieved wide spread popularity in the first half of the last century. The theory got a boost in the modern world with Lenin’s Bolshevik Party in Russia. After the First World War was over, the Bolsheviks overthrew the Mensheviks and rose to the power. Soon, they change their name to Communist Party as the country approved the single party system. Though against capitalists, Russia fought the World War II as the part of allied forces in collaboration with the western powers like that of United States and United Kingdom against the Nazis. After the war was over, the allied forces divided the parts o Europe among themselves and Poland was the part of the Eastern Europe that was under the Soviet Bloc. The countries of the Soviet Bloc predominantly followed socialism and communism and Poland was not an exception either. Moreover, Soviet Russia had saved Poland during the war from the Nazis and therefore, the influence of Russia upon Poland was quite enormous. But many of the experts of the political science and international relations believe that even before Soviet Russia’s intervention in Poland to keep away the Nazis, the communist super power was having an eye towards the nation. This claim can be substantiated by the fact that Joseph Stalin, the then leader of the Soviet Russia had already severed all ties with the government of Poland that was in exile to London since 1943 and were contemplating moves that encourage communists to rise in power in Poland (Katyn Memorial Wall, 1943). With the mounting internal and external pressure, the Prime Minister of the Polish government in exile, Stanislaw Mikolajczyk resigned in the year of 1944 and a new government was formed named Provisional Government of National Unity (PGNU). The new government ruled the country till 1947 when the elections were held. The experts comment that the elections of 1947 through which the communists came to power in Poland was a totally rigged one. According to them, the communists were pretty sure about losing the polls in Poland and therefore they tied up with other leftist political parties and went for a referendum followed by a poll which were ‘closely controlled’ by the authorities (University at Buffalo, 2000). With such cooked up results, the rule of communism commenced in Poland and the economy was showing trends of being nationalized. The communist era of Poland that lasted till 1990 can be subdivided into few periods like that of Beirut Era, Gomulka Era, Gierek Era and the Ending Years. After the elections were over and the government was formed, the influence of Stalin was like never before in the country of Poland. The dispute of Yugoslavia and that of Soviet Russia affected Poland as one of the leading communist leaders of Poland at that time; Gomulka was imprisoned as he was thought to be against Stalin. The other leader named, Beirut, replaced Gomulka and became the head of the party and the government. Under the leadership of Beirut, pro-Stalinist approach reached its peak as the model of Soviet Russia was executed with ‘people’s democracy’ and centrally planned socialism. In the mean time, the United States had announced welfare packages for the lesser developed eastern European nations. The Polish government, even after the initial excitement, did not approve such assistance as pressurized by the Soviet Union. The Soviet Russia also did not allow Poland to seek compensation from East Germany because of war damages. But the situation changed in the communist fraternity soon after the death of Stalin in the year of 1954. The effect was also felt in Poland. In the June of 1956, Poland experienced extensive riots and political disturbances against the then politically powerful leaders. The scheme of things went out of hand as Joseph Stalin died and Nikita Khrushchev came to power in Soviet Russia. Khrushchev de-Stalinized the bureaucracy and the administration and as the political confusions arose in Poland, the pro-Stalin administrators did not find much help from the communist super power. At the outset, the Polish hard-lined leaders tried to carb the riots strongly as they declared, “every provocateur or lunatic who raises his hand against the people’s authority should rest assured that his hand will be chopped off!” (Heneghan, 1976). But soon they understood, such statement would not work and the power of Poland was shifted to the senior leader of the party, Gomulka, who was deprived earlier by Beirut. It is believed that the selection of Gomulka was a welcome relief for the Poles. He was much liberal and under his rein, liberal communism thrived in Poland. Even the elections that were held in the following years were not extensively rigged like the previous one though only the communist candidates could participate in the elections. Gomulka came to power with whole lot of promises like that of ending the political terror, higher degree of freedom in the intellectual and the religious spheres along with higher wages (Polania Today, 1994). But the middle years of 1960s again brought abrupt changes in the political scenario of Poland. The economic recession that came up during the time was overlooked by the Polish leaders at the outset and soon it took massive shape. The economy was having massive expenditures in the segment of heavy industries and war arms and was not having due regard towards the consumer goods. The government failed to understand the severity of the rising tension and soon the party had to intervene with massive changes in the administration. Gomulka was succeeded by Gierek at the helm of Poland in the year of 1970. Like Gomulka, Gierek too promised many changes in the social structure of Poland though the countrymen had already lost the faith on the system. Gierek aimed to revive the economic condition of Poland through borrowings from the west especially from that of United States and West Germany (Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d.). The leaders of the Gierek administration believed that with heavy investments in the technology (for which the funds were borrowed), they could emphasize upon manufacturing goods that would have the requisite quality for exports and earnings in foreign exchange. Also, Gierek led government imported consumer goods in order to motivate the workers to work harder. The scholars call this phase of the economy of Poland as the ‘Consumer Communism’. The revival strategies was going fine for the economy of Poland but the sudden change in the external factors in lieu of global recessions and the rise in oil prices fell heavily upon the country (U.S. Department of State, n.d.). The economic recession and the increased oil prices have impacted Poland by and large. As the country was unable to produce the intended goods, the chances of paying away the foreign debts seemed minimal. The external pressure from Soviet Russia also mounted to keep Poland away from the western aids. With such situation, the government lost all hopes of getting foreign funds. As a result, it was compelled to increase prices of the basic as well as luxury goods. This in turn created dismay among the workers and resulted in riots and strikes again. The government initially did not intervene to solve the problems and soon the situation went out of hand. The communists realized it very well that the popularity of the ideology was hitting all time low and there was no chance of winning elections if it was held then. The senior members from the party intervened and an agreement was signed in between Jagielski, the Politburo member and Walesa, the leader of the mass movement. It was agreed that there would be increase in minimum wages, censorship would be abolished along with the weekend work and also the right of free trade unions would be restored. It was also decided that the party’s supervision in the industrial enterprises would be reduced and the welfare and pension schemes would be bettered (Davies, 1982). With depleting economic performance of the country by the year of 1981 when GDP reduced by more than 15% on year – on – year basis and with the increasing lack of trust by the citizens upon the system, it was pretty clear that the communism in Poland has entered in the last phase. The change in the international politics also impacted Poland like many other communist nations. The Soviet Russia was no more that powerful as it used to be. There were demands of divisions within the USSR itself and therefore the communist superpower was busy with internal problems and virtually had no time and resource to intervene in the problems of the other countries of the bloc. End of Cold War The Cold War, considered one of the longest events of the international relations, commenced soon after the World War II. With the falling trends of communism all across the globe, Soviet Russia was under tremendous pressure as the economy of the nation along with other countries of the socialist bloc was having stagnant growth. Making the situation worse, Soviet Union engaged itself in war with Afghanistan in the year of 1979 sending as many as 75,000 troops. The arms race was at its best with the capitalist and the imperialist blocs like that of United States and the United Kingdom and it was having huge toll upon the poor performing economy of Soviet Union. The war was turning out to be too frustrating for the Soviet Union as the troops were getting trapped in the unfriendly landscape of Afghanistan. The increase dissent and distrust towards the government of the Soviet Union was at its all time peak. The country was also affected by the fall in the foreign exchanges as the price of the oil fell drastically (Walter, 2002). Amidst such unfavorable scheme of things, Mikhail Gorbachev became the General Secretary of the party in the year of 1985. Gorbachev was not left with many other options but to vouch for extensive reforms. He called for ‘Glasnost’ and ‘Perestroika’. ‘Glasnost’ aimed to increase openness in the Soviet economy and the society especially against the ever increasing corruption while ‘Perestroika’ was to restructure the system like that of relaxing the production process, allowing foreign investments and opening the economy for private ownership (Gaddis, 2005). As suggested earlier, the increasing internal problems and the debate over the reform measures made Soviet Union unwilling to interfere in the political happenings in the Eastern Europe. The elections that were held in the last years of 1980s in the various nations of the Eastern Europe were not rigged but free. The communist parties lost most of the elections as the general populace made their voice heard as the election process were no more controlled by the state machinery. The Berlin Wall came down and the communist government was ousted from many of the nations of the Soviet Bloc. It was in the year of 1991, when the Soviet Union itself was divided into number of republics. The experts are of the view that as the Soviet Union ceased to exist, it was no more possible for Russia to continue the Cold War with the United States of America at least with the economic stagnation that the region was facing. Soon, it ended the Cold War rendering the United States as the only existing super power (Smithsonian Institution, 2000). End of Communism in Poland The end of communism in Poland is marked with the formation of the non-left trade union, ‘Solidarity’ by Lech Walesa, an electrician by profession, in the year of 1980. The trade union enjoyed support of the intellectuals of the country and it could gather almost three times the membership that PUWP had that too within one year of formation. The newly formed trade union initiated the agendas like that of mass strikes and boycotts that compelled the Prime Minister Gierek to resign and he was replaced by Kania. Kania promised many reforms to the Poles but the economy was not in the situation to finance such reforms. Soon, Kania was replaced by Jaruzelski in the year of 1983. The movement of Solidarity was at its all time high and the communist government banned Solidarity as a political outfit through the Martial Law in 1982. The economy was in such a poor shape that it totally depended upon the rationing system even for the staple foods like that of sugar (Jackson, Klich & Poznanska, 2005). Though, the communist government tried to rectify the economic condition but the loss of value of the currency prohibited from any such development. In the meantime, the reforms of Mikhail Gorbachev affected the Polish politics especially with that of Brezhnev Doctrine and consequently, the control of Soviet Union upon Poland loosened. With the mounting pressures, it was decided in 1988 that the Solidarity would be allowed to contest elections in the one – third of the total seats while two – third will be reserved for the Communist Party and two other shadow parties of the communists. The results of the election, that was called to be ‘semi – free’ were catastrophic as Solidarity won all the seats except one while many of the communist leaders failed to achieve minimum number of votes to retain their reserved seats. The communists proposed grand coalition with Solidarity but the Solidarity’s leader Walesa disagreed. Consequently, the Prime Minister was from the Solidarity while Juaruselski remained President though he resigned from the post of the Communist Party. Once sworn in 1989, the first non – communist government in the Eastern Europe went for massive economic reforms and opted to market economy. In the following year of 1990, Juaruselski resigned from the post of President of Poland and Walesa succeeded him. In the month of December of the same year, the formal ending of the communist regime was initiated as People’s Republic of Poland shifted to Republic of Poland. The prime communist party of Poland (Polish United Workers’ Party) ceased to exist from the year of 1990 and the Soviet troops withdrew from the country in the year of 1993. Even the Warsaw Pact was not applicable further and in this way the country abolished its communist rule and became a democratic state in the early years of 1990s through the medium of free elections. Post – Communism Economy Like many other communist economies across the globe, the economy of Poland too developed after the fall of communism. The economy that was practically in doldrums in the years of 1989 and 1990 is now one of the leading economies of Europe. The true picture of the economy of communist Poland was aptly written by Prof Balcerowicz, “Poland was burdened by the troubles of communism - huge waste, inefficiency and declining production. In addition, there was huge foreign debt incurred in the 1970s, and a runaway inflation of 50 percent a month. It was an economic catastrophe” (DW-World, 2009). After the communist government was ousted through free elections, the country opted for market economy where the factors of supply and demand played the crucial role as described by the theory of invisible hand by Adams Smith. The Polish government also initiated fair amount of structural reforms in almost every sector. The reforms have helped invariably in increasing the salaries of the workers and the employees. The reform measures initiated in Poland also called for massive privatization. The extent of reforms has been so strong that even the Poland’s national mobile company was sold off to French Telecom. The strong currency of Poland has further intensified the rate of growth and all these could happen because of liberalized economic policies. The induction of Poland in the European Union in the year of 2004 opened new arrays of development for the country. Though the country already accepts Euro as currency, it aims to use it exclusively from 2012. As part of the agreement of European Union, many of the Poles could travel in foreign countries for work and occupation which invariably strengthened the economy of the country with inflow of foreign reserves. The growth of Poland has been so strong after the fall of the communism that it was the only country in the whole of Europe that maintained positive growth amidst the recent financial meltdown. The president of the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency, Slawomir Majman rightly observes, “Poland has become the only country in Europe where consumers are spending more than they used to spend a year ago, and where corporations are spending more. Poland's exports are growing. And most importantly, Poland is delivering the product which is definitely in short supply in 2009” (DW-World, 2009). References Davies, N. (1982). God’s Playground: A History of Poland. Columbia University Press. DW – World, (2009). 20 years after communism's collapse, Poland's economy is thriving. Eastern Europe. Retrieved online on April 16, 2010 from http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4789075,00.html Engels, F., (1847). The Principles of Communism. Virginia Tech University. Retrieved online on April 15, 2010 from http://eprints.cddc.vt.edu/marxists/archive/marx/works/1847/11/prin-com.htm Encyclopedia Britannica, (No Date). Country. Poland. Retrieved online on April 15, 2010 from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/466681/Poland Gaddis, J. L. (2005). The Cold War: A New History, Penguin Press. Heneghan, (1976). Gierek Plenum Speech Outlines Poland's Main Tasks. Open Society Archives. Retrieved online on April 15, 2010 from http://files.osa.ceu.hu/holdings/300/8/3/text/44-5-224.shtml Jackson, J. E., Klich, J. & Poznanska, K., (2005). The Political Economy of Poland's Transition: New Firms and Reform Governments, Cambridge University Press. Katyn Memorial Wall, (1943). Copy of the Soviet Note of April 25, 1943, severing unilaterally Soviet-Polish diplomatic relations. The Electronic Museum. Retrieved online on April 15, 2010 from http://www.electronicmuseum.ca/Poland-WW2/katyn_memorial_wall/kmw_note.html Polania Today, (1994). The Post-War Years, 1945-1990. A Brief History of Poland. Retrieved online on April 15, 2010 from http://www.poloniatoday.com/history13.htm Smithsonian Institution, (2000). The End of Cold War. The National Museum of American History. Retrieved online on April 15, 2010 from http://americanhistory.si.edu/subs/history/timeline/end/ University at Buffalo, (2000). Poland - The Historical Setting. Info Poland. Retrieved online on April 15, 2010 from http://info-poland.buffalo.edu/classroom/longhist6.html U. S. Department of State, (No Date). Background Note: Poland. Profile. Retrieved online on April 15, 2010 from http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2875.htm Walter, L., (2002). The Reader's Companion to American History, Houghton Mifflin Books. Read More