Poland
Country in eastern Europe, bounded north by the Baltic Sea, northeast
by Lithuania, east by Belarus and Ukraine, south by the Czech
Republic and the Slovak Republic, and west by Germany.
Government
Under the revised constitution adopted 1990-91, Poland has a limited
presidential political system. The executive president, directly
elected for a maximum of two consecutive five-year terms in a
two- round majority contest, has responsibility for military and
foreign affairs and has the authority to appoint the prime minister,
dissolve parliament, call referenda, veto bills, and impose martial
law. There is a two-chamber legislature, comprising a 460-member
lower assembly, the Sejm (parliament), and a 100- member upper
chamber, the Senat (senate). Deputies are elected to the Sejm
for four-year terms by means of proportional representation in
free, multiparty contests. The Sejm passes bills, adopts the state
budget and economic plan, and appoints a 24- member executive
council of ministers, headed by a chair, or prime minister. The
Senat is elected on a provincial basis, each province returning
two senators, except Warsaw and Katowice, which elect three. The
Senat has the power of veto in specified areas, which can be overridden
by a two-thirds Sejm vote. There are 49 provinces under appointed
governors and 2,348 elected local councils.
History
Poland had been occupied by German forces during World War II, and
had been liberated by Soviet forces by March 1945. During the
war some 6 million Polish citizens (including some 3 million Jews,
and one third of the educated elite) had perished, and the country's
economy and social structure had been shattered.
As the Soviet army had moved into central Poland in mid-1944,
the USSR had formed a Committee of National Liberation in Lublin.
The Lublin administration started a programme of radical land
reform, and in April 1945 a 20-year treaty of `friendship, mutual
assistance, and postwar cooperation“ was signed between Poland
and the USSR.
Adjustments to Poland's borders
As a result of the Teheran, Yalta, and Potsdam conferences (November
1943, February 1945, and July-August 1945 respectively) the USA,
the USSR, and Britain decided that the USSR would receive the
eastern provinces of prewar Poland (including Wilno - Vilnius
- and Lviv), and that Poland would acquire corresponding German
territory in the west. A treaty between Poland and the USSR in
August 1945 (ratified 1946) established Poland's eastern frontier
at the Curzon Line. Poland lost 181,350 sq km/70,000 sq mi in
the east to the USSR, but gained 101,000 sq km/39,000 sq mi in
the west from Germany.
In April 1945 the Oder and the Western Neisse rivers became
the new western border, leaving nearly all Silesia and Pomerania
and half of East Prussia in Poland. The German population of these
provinces had fled or was expelled, being replaced by Poles moved
from the former eastern provinces. The new western border was
recognized by the Soviet bloc, including East Germany (1951),
and was later recognized as the de facto frontier by West Germany
(1970).
The communists come to power
Poland emerged from the war with few national minorities: the Jews
had been almost totally exterminated, the Ukrainians and Belarusians
absorbed into the USSR, and the Germans expelled. A Provisional
Government of National Unity was formed as a short-lived compromise
(June 1945) between the communist Lublin Committee, and the Polish
Peasant Party of Stanislaw Mikolajczyk, who had been premier of
the government- in-exile in London during 1943-44, after Gen Sikorski's
death in 1943. The Western powers recognized the new government
in Warsaw.
The premier of the new government was the left-wing socialist
Edward Os óbka-Morawski, with the communist Wladyslaw Gomulka
and Mikolajczyk as deputy premiers. Mikolajczyk had the goodwill
of many elements who adopted a negative attitude to the regime.
His position was difficult, as he was the leader of the opposition,
who had joined the government for a common purpose pending the
promised general election. The key positions in the administration
and economic affairs belonged to the communist Polish Workers'
Party, which could rely, if necessary, on the support of Soviet
troops. Manipulation and intimidation ensured that the communist-controlled
`Democratic Bloc“ won the elections, held eventually in January
1947. Mikolajczyk fled the country.
Stalinist rule
The Polish government of 1947was not democratic in the Western sense.
Reconstruction of the shattered country, especially its ruined
cities, became a major task, and was helped by the industrial
facilities acquired from Germany. The United Nations also provided
aid. In December 1948 the few remaining socialists merged with
the communists to form the Polish United Workers' Party (PUWP),
which continued to rule Poland up to 1989. The two peasant parties
merged into the United Peasant Party, and all political parties
belonged to the communist-controlled National Unity Front.
The collectivization of farming, condemnation of Tito's Yugoslavia,
and an extensive party purge that removed the moderate Gomulka
from office (1948-49) indicated growing Stalinist tendencies and
the dependence of the Polish government (headed by Boleslaw Bierut)
on the USSR. The new constitution of 1952 followed the Soviet
model, only government-sponsored candidates standing at elections.
Poland joined Comecon in 1949 and the Warsaw Pact in 1955.
Increasing friction between the government and the Catholic
Church, the one powerful force still resisting Soviet penetration,
led to the imprisonment of the primate, Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski,
in October 1953. Although Poland increased its heavy industrial
output, agriculture was undermined by collectivization. Discontent
grew, owing to the scarcity of basic consumer goods, the harsh
labour conditions, and the oppressive administration.
Poland under Gomulka
After Khrushchev's denunciation of Stalin in the USSR serious rioting,
leading to 53 deaths, broke out in the Polish city of Poznan in
opposition to Soviet `exploitation“ and food shortages (June 1956).
Control of the PUWP went in October 1956 to anti -Stalinist elements
under the pragmatic Gomulka, who had previously been imprisoned.
Soviet personnel were expelled, including the minister of defence,
Marshal Rokossovsky, and some liberalizing reforms initiated.
Most collective farms were dissolved, and relations with the church
improved.
The initial liberal impetus of the Gomulka regime slackened
as time went by, while Poland continued to industrialize. Church-state
relations became uneasy, especially in 1966 over the Polish bishops'
` reconciliation gesture“ to the German episcopate, a gesture
that the Polish government interpreted as unpatriotic. Student
riots in March 1968 and a power struggle within the party led
to `anti-Zionist“ purges in the party, armed forces, and among
intellectuals. Meanwhile economic performance worsened and disenchantment
with Gomulka grew. An unexpected increase in food prices in December
1970 precipitated strikes, riots, and savage government reprisals
in the Baltic ports of Gdansk , Gdynia, and Szczecin. Compelled
to resign, Gomulka was replaced as PUWP leader by the Silesia
party boss Edward Gierek.
Gierek takes over
Gierek calmed the deteriorating situation with price freezes, which
were renewed in 1972. Gierek aimed at raising living standards,
and increased technological imports from the West, although this
added to the country's mounting foreign debt. The process by which
Poland had been transformed from being a principally agricultural
country in 1939 to a highly industrialized nation continued. Although
remaining firmly allied to the Soviet Union, Gierek's regime was
relatively tolerant and progressive by Eastern Bloc standards.
In the summer of 1976 proposals were made to increase the price
of basic foodstuffs, but these were withdrawn in the face of widespread
strikes and demonstrations. Opposition to the Gierek regime, which
was accused of corruption, mounted in 1979 after a visit to his
homeland by the recently elected Pope John Paul II.
The rise of Solidarity Strikes in Warsaw in 1980, following
a poor harvest and meat- price increases, rapidly spread across
the country. The government attempted to appease workers by entering
into pay negotiations with unofficial strike committees, but at
the Gdansk shipyards demands emerged for permission to form free,
independent trade unions.
The government conceded the right to strike, and in Gdansk 1980
the Solidarity (Solidarnosc) union was formed under the leadership
of Lech Walesa. In 1980 the ailing Gierek was replaced as PUWP
leader by Stanislaw Kania, but unrest continued as the 10-million-member
Solidarity campaigned for a five-day working week and established
a rural section.
Martial law
With food shortages mounting and PUWP control slipping, Kania was replaced
as PUWP leader in 1981 by the prime minister, Gen Wojciech Jaruzelski;
the Soviet army was active on Poland's borders; and martial law
was imposed in December 1981. Trade-union activity was banned,
the leaders of Solidarity arrested, a night curfew imposed, and
a Military Council of National Salvation established, headed by
Jaruzelski. Five months of severe repression ensued, resulting
in 15 deaths and 10,000 arrests. The USA imposed economic sanctions.
In June 1982, curfew restrictions were eased, prompting further
serious rioting in August. In November Walesa was released, and
in December 1982 martial law was suspended (lifted in 1983). The
pope visited Poland in 1983 and called for conciliation. The authorities
responded by dissolving the Military Council and granting an amnesty
to political prisoners and activists. In 1984, 35,000 prisoners
and detainees were released on the 40th anniversary of the People's
Republic, and the USA relaxed its economic sanctions.
Slow improvements
The Jaruzelski administration pursued pragmatic reform, including liberalization
of the electoral system. Conditions remained tense, however, strained
by the continued ban on Solidarity and by a threat (withdrawn
in 1986) to try Walesa for slandering state electoral officials.
Economic conditions and farm output slowly improved, but Poland's
foreign debt remained huge. During 1988 the nation's shipyards,
coalmines, ports, and steelworks were paralyzed by a wave of Solidarity-led
strikes for higher wages to offset the effect of recent price
rises. With its economic strategy in tatters, the government of
prime minister Zbigniew Messner resigned, being replaced in December
1988 by a new administration headed by the reformist communist
Mieczyslaw F Rakowski, and the PUWP's politburo was infused with
a new clutch of technocrats.
Socialist pluralism
After six weeks of PUWP-Solidarity -church negotiations, a historic
accord was reached in April 1989 under which Solidarity was relegalized,
the formation of opposition political associations tolerated,
legal rights conferred on the Catholic church, the state's media
monopoly lifted, and a new `socialist pluralist“ constitution
drafted.
In the subsequent national assembly elections, held in June
1989, Solidarity captured all but one of the Sejm and Senate seats,
for which they were entitled to contest (most seats were reserved
for PUWP- backed candidates). Jaruzelski was elected president
by parliament in July 1989.
Conversion to a market economy
In September 1989 a `grand coalition“ was formed with Tadeusz Mazowiecki,
editor of Solidarity's newspaper, as prime minister. Jaruzelski
continued as president, and was reelected in July. The new government,
which attracted generous financial aid from Western powers, proceeded
to dismantle the command economy and encourage the private sector.
A tough austerity programme approved by the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) was also instituted to solve the problem of hyperinflation,
which ran at 550% in 1989.
In January 1990 the PUWP voted to disband and re-formed as the
Social Democracy Party. Censorship was abolished in April. During
1990 living standards in Poland fell by 40% and the number of
unemployed rose to over 1 million. In July 1990, 40 members of
the 259-strong Solidarity caucus, under the leadership of Zbigniew
Bujak and Wladyslaw Frasyniuk, established the Citizens' Movement-Democratic
Action Party (ROAD) to provide a credible alternative to the Walesa-oriented
Solidarity Centre Citizens' Alliance (SCA) established in May.
Split in Solidarity
Walesa accused the government of delaying political and economic reform
and forcing workers to bear the brunt of the austerity programme.
In July 100 SCA deputies and senators petitioned Jaruzelski to
stand down to make way for Wale sa. In September the Sejm passed
a bill establishing a presidential term of five years. In the
first round of presidential elections, held on 25 November 1990,
the rupture within Solidarity was exposed by both Prime Minister
Mazowiecki and Lech Walesa contesting for the position. Having
run a populist campaign, Wal esa topped the poll with a 40% vote
share, and Mazowiecki, defending an unpopular government, finished
in third position, with 18% of the vote, behind Stanislaw Tyminski
- a previously obscure, right-wing entrepreneur, who had returned
to Poland from Canada - who captured 23% of the vote. In the second
round, held on 9 December, Walesa defeated Tyminski.
Walesa becomes president
In December 1990 the defeated Mazowiecki resigned as prime minister.
Walesa resigned the Solidarity chair and was sworn in as president.
He chose for prime minister an economist and former Solidarity
activist, Jan Krzysztof Bielecki (1951- ), and the new government
included the IMF- backed finance minister Leszek Balcerowicz and
other ministers from the outgoing administration. They pledged
to consolidate the free market they had introduced, and the first
privatization share sales were held in January 1991, with mixed
success.
Relations with the USSR and Germany
Poland's relations with the USSR deteriorated in early 1991 over the
issue of Soviet troop withdrawals: there were some 50,000 stationed
on Polish territory, and the Poles wanted them to leave by the
end of the year, coinciding with withdrawals from Hungary and
Czechoslovakia. Told that it would take three years, Walesa refused
to allow Soviet troops to pass through Poland on their way back
to the USSR from other countries. In October 1991 a treaty was
signed providing for the withdrawal of all Soviet combat troops
by 15 November 1992 and the remainder by the end of 1993.
In June 1991 a treaty of good- neighbourliness and friendly
cooperation was signed with Germany, confirming the Oder- Neisse
border and recognizing the rights of the 500,000-strong German
minority in Poland to their own culture, language, and religion.
Public discontent
The IMF approved further major loans in April 1991 in support of the
Polish government's economic-reform programme. There was growing
public discontent at the decline in living standards brought about
by currency reform and the deepening recession. This led to industrial
unrest as unemployment reached 1.5 million (8.4% of the working
population) by June 1991.
Political deadlock
Bielecki offered his resignation at the end of August 1991, complaining
that he no longer enjoyed the support of a Sejm that still contained
many communists. Parliament refused to accept either the resignation
or the government's crucial proposed budget cuts. President Walesa
urged it to confer emergency powers to enable the government to
rule by decree until the general election. This plea was rejected,
creating an impasse, although Bielecki agreed to stay as prime
minister until the elections.
First multiparty election
The October 1991 general election was Poland's first post-communist,
fully free, multiparty contest. No dominant party emerged from
the voting, and Walesa proposed that he should combine the positions
of president and prime minister for two years, heading a `national
unity“ grand coalition government. However, this failed to gain
broad support. An attempt was then made to construct a left-of-centre
coalition led by Bronislaw Geremek.
Coalition governments
This foundered, and in December 1991 Walesa reluctantly allowed Jan
Olszewski, a former Solidarity defence lawyer and a representative
of the SCA, to form a five-party, centre-right coalition government.
This government pledged to pursue a more gradual approach to market-
oriented reform and, in particular, to slow down the privatization
programme by concentrating instead on helping ailing state industries.
At the close of 1991 Poland's foreign debt stood at US $42 billion.
GNP fell during 1990 and 1991 by 12% and 17% respectively and
unemployment rose to more than 11 %, with more than 2 million
out of work. However, the annual rate of inflation fell from 684%
in early 1990 to 60% at the end of 1991.
In June 1992 Olszewski was ousted on a vote of no confidence;
Waldemar Pawlak succeeded him but failed to hold together a workable
coalition. In July Walesa nominated Hanna Suchocka at the head
of a centre-right coalition as Pawlak's successor and Poland's
first woman premier. Faced with public-sector unrest, Suchocka
resigned in May 1993, after narrowly losing a vote of confidence.
In June 1993 Walesa formed the Nonparty Bloc to Support Reform
as a successor to the SCA. Poland was formally invited to apply
for European Community (now European Union) membership in 1993,
and in 1994 joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's `partnership
for peace“ programme.
Ex-communists return to power
In October 1993, after an inconclusive general election, in which the
ex-communist Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) and Polish Peasant
Party (PSL) polled strongly, Pawlak was again appointed prime
minister. Walesa sought to defend the postcommunist market and
social reforms in the face of the left-of- centre SLD-PSL administration,
but was increasingly criticized for his autocratic style of leadership.
In February 1995, claiming to be dissatisfied with the slow pace
of economic reforms, he nominated Jó zef Oleksy to succeed Pawlak,
who later resigned after losing a vote of no -confidence. The
ex-communist SLD leader, Aleksander Kwas niewski, narrowly defeated
Walesa in the second round of the November 1995 presidential elections.
In January 1996 Prime Minister Oleksy resigned, dogged by charges
that he had been an informer to the Soviet and then the Russian
secret service in 1982-95.
Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz became premier in February 1996. Oleksy
was subsequently appointed leader of the former communist Democratic
Left Alliance. In April Lech Walesa, who had temporarily returned
to his old job as an electrician at Gdansk shipyard, was granted
a state pension in recognition for his services as president of
Poland.
In February 1997 Marek Belka, an independent economist, was
appointed finance minister, with a brief to speed up the process
of structural reform and privatization.
The 1997 constitution
In March 1997 parliament passed a new constitution guaranteeing free
education (to the age of 18) and basic health care, and committing
Poland to a social market economy, respecting free enterprise
and private ownership. The constitution was adopted, eight years
after the fall of the Iron Curtain, in a referendum in May 1997.
The constitution wiped out the last remnants of communism and
sought to foster Poland's desire for integration into Europe.
The new charter committed Poland to a market economy and private
ownership, guaranteed personal freedoms necessary for entrance
into the European Union (EU), and ensured civilian control of
the military required for Poland's goal of NATO membership.
The 1997 general election
Solidarity won the mid-September 1997 general election, beating the
ex- communist government. In mid- October the Solidarity bloc
and the smaller Freedom Party appointed Jerzy Buzek, a chemistry
professor, prime minister of the new centre-right coalition government.
Buzek was sworn in as prime minister in November, promising far-reaching
economic reforms and the eradication of the last remnants of communism
in Poland.
The Solidarity bloc relaunched itself in December 1997. The
new party, named the AWS Social Movement, aimed to be a Christian
Democratic party uniting the 40 parties that formed the Solidarity
Election Action alliance to fight elections in September 1997.
The 1997 floods Severe flooding hit Poland in July 1997, causing
an estimated 10 billion marks/£3.3 billions of damage. The River
Oder (Odra) overflowed its banks, causing the evacuation of 140,000
people in Poland. About 62,000 people were made homeless. The
floods also affected the Czech Republic and Germany.
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