A Polish Perspective on Poland

(This is a repost with permission from the blog of Kaz Dziamka. I have made some minor edits for context – Ian)

The topic of Poland is impossibly complex. I can only touch upon a few points, and even this may take more than just one post.

An average American stops thinking once he or she hears the word “communism.” It’s so easy: everything about communism was bad, evil, and black.

But it wasn’t.

First of all, the word itself is a semantic trap. Like “democracy,” the word has several meanings, and none of them applies to Poland. Calling post-war Poland “socialist” is better.

Socialist (Communist) Poland can claim some enviable accomplishments. All education was free. It was also high quality. The English Department of the University of Cracow, for example, had one of the most ambitious and advanced programs in the world. The Technical College in Cracow (AGH) was one of the best in Europe. (I could offer other examples, but not now.)

I repeat: all education (including, of course, college and university education) was free. Not only free: students who came from poor families could qualify for free board and lodging. (What can the US offer in comparison?) Also, children of most families could enjoy annual summer vacations. (They were called “wyjazdy na kolonie” and were fully subsidized by the firms where their parents were employed. The destinations were usually such attractive regions as the Baltic Sea coast and the lakes districts in northern Poland or the mountains in the south. (What can the US offer in comparison?)

Medical care was also free. Yes, free. (There was a private sector, much more expensive, but not necessarily better.) Of course, it was underfunded. Poland was rising from the dead after the War. Poland received no Marshall Plan. (Some help was provided by the Russians.) Everything had to be rebuilt from scratch.

“Funding” brings me to another remarkable accomplishment of the Polish Socialist Government. Poland was devastated economically; the basic infrastructure was annihilated; Warsaw—a beautiful city—was a heap of smoldering ruins. The roads and railways were mostly destroyed.

And yet within a short time, the Socialist Government found a way to inspire Polish people to rebuild their country–a stunning, virtually unprecedented accomplishment. (A Finnish journalist once reported that the Poles should have been really proud of themselves and not feel intimidated by the “wealth of the West” because the US, for example, with the exception of Hawaii, was not even touched by the apocalypse of the Second World War. Within a short time, though, Socialist Poland became one of the most industrially developed countries in Europe.

But there is so much more. Maybe, I will continue. I don’t know, though. The task seems insurmountable.

An important post by Larry Johnson. Another one. (Poland’s Puzzling Support for Ukraine)

I have already recommended Larry Johnson’s Blog to the oldest Polish magazine “Myśl Polska” (Polish Thought), published continuously since the Second World War, now a rare dissident publication, censored, of course, by the pathologically russophobic PIS-controlled Polish government.

This is a repost with permission from the blog of Kaz Dziamka.

A former CIA analyst talks about Poland …

Featured Image Credit: Elijah G. on Unsplash

Ian Kummer

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