Academic literature on the topic 'Poland – History – 1980-1989'

This article briefly discusses tax developments connected with the transformation of Poland from a communist (socialist) state with a centrally planned economy to a democratic state with a market economy. The key feature of Poland’s pretransition tax system was a strong differentiation between taxpayers according to their belonging to the dominant socialized (state or cooperative) sector of the economy or the severely reduced nonsocialized (private) sector to the detriment of the latter. The tax system was based primarily on the flow of tax money between state-owned enterprises and the state budget. Tax rules were, to a large extent, included in governmental instead of parliamentary legislative instruments. Although the fall of communism in Poland is associated with the first partially free parliamentary elections in 1989, democratic elements had been gradually reintroduced into the Polish tax system from the beginning of the 1980s: the nullum tributum sine lege principle in 1980, judicial control over tax administration in 1981, and the principle of equality in taxation of entrepreneurs regardless of their ownership status (socialized vs. non-socialized economy) in 1988. However, new taxes suitable for the changed political, social, and economic reality were introduced in a few steps between 1989 and 1993. The system evolved in the following years with the most significant post-transition changes being connected with the preparations for accession to the EU Post-communist tax system, post-socialist tax system, Poland, Polish tax system, Polish tax transformation, tax transition, tax reform, fall of communism, transition from communism.

The aim of the article: Despite the fact that everything we know in Polish history about the emergence of Solidarity [Polish: Solidarność], Polish trade unions, in 1980-1981, and the conflict with the communist totalitarian regime is described in sources as ‘the Polish Crisis’, the question remains open about the contemporaneous deepening communication crisis of the communist government in Lithuania, whose history had long – until the middle of the 20th century – been very closely linked to the development of Poland. From 1951 to 1989, Lithuania was separated from Poland by a double barbed-wire Soviet border barrier without any border crossing points. Nevertheless, the author proposes delving into what type of information control measures the Soviet regime used in influencing the Lithuanian people by undermining their interest in the workers’ strikes and the expanding trade union movement in Poland 40 years ago, trying to set Lithuanians against Polish society, and also how the media in the West helped renew the dialogue between Lithuanian and Polish diaspora organisations. Research methods: The author performed a content analysis of KGB documents in the Lithuanian Special Archives and examined the content of the Lithuanian SSR mass media and the mass media of the Lithuanian diaspora in the United States. Results and conclusions: The Soviet concept of security that was implemented by the repressive structure of the KGB was largely associated with the restriction of information, censorship and self-censorship of the population. However, it was also associated with the recruitment of Lithuanian citizens into ongoing cooperation with the secret service to collect data about Polish people who were ‘disloyal’ to the regime and transfer information to the security service of communist Poland, so the content of these reports must be disclosed. Cognitive value: Thus, the article provides the broader context, in which the content of the propaganda press is only one element of the system that controlled the public space.

In the parliamentary elections of 2001, Poland's ex-communist Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) won more than three times the number of votes than any other party, registering its best result since 1989 and simultaneously delivering a crushing blow to the ruling Solidarity-led coalition, which not only lost power but also failed to win any seats in the lower house of parliament. If at the time of communism's collapse someone had gazed into a crystal ball and predicted that Solidarity's heirs would suffer from almost continuous disarray and the SLD would emerge as the country's most successful political party, he would have been dismissed as a crank. For a number of reasons, ranging from the country's strong religious traditions, to a political culture that saw the communist system and its servants as a basically alien force, to a long history of political contestation of communism, culminating in the rise of the Solidarity movement in 1980, Poland was the one East European country in which such a result must have seemed particularly unlikely. Further, given Poland's singularly dismal economic performance under communist rule (hardly conducive to nostalgic feelings), as well as the country's relative success with market reforms in the 1990s, one could not easily explain the ex-communist left's electoral gains as simply the result of a backlash against the consequences of economic transition.

Having studied history of art on clandestine Warsaw University courses run in 1943–1944, Irena Jakimowicz (1922–1999) graduated in 1951. In 1945–1991, she worked at the National Museum in Warsaw, initially in the Educational Department, from 1953 in the Polish Graphic Arts Department, out of which in 1958 she selected works executed after 1914, turning them into the Department of Graphic Arts and Contemporary Drawings which she headed as curator. Until early 1982, the Department formed part of the Gallery of Contemporary Art, yet it subsequently gained autonomy as the Cabinet of Graphic Arts and Contemporary Drawings curated by Irena Jakimowicz. Jakimowicz mounted some dozens exhibitions, mainly monographic ones of Polish contemporary artists, e.g. Bronisław Wojciech Linke (1963), Zygmunt Waliszewski (1964), Feliks Topolski (1965), Wacław Wąsowicz (1969), Tadeusz Kulisiewicz (1971), Konstanty Brandel (1977), Henryk Gotlib (1980), Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz (1989/1990). All the exhibitions were accompanied by reasoned catalgoues. Furthermore, Jakimowicz authored several cross-sectional, such as ‘Within the Circle of the Rembrandt Tradition’ (1956), ‘From Young Poland to Today’ (1959), ‘Polish Contemporary Graphic Arts 1900–1960’ (1960), ‘The Formists’ (1985), ‘Five Centuries of Polish Prints’ (1997). In 1970, she defended her doctoral dissertation dedicated to the collector Tomasz Zieliński. Moreover, she authored many papers, reviews, and books, e.g. Witkacy – Chwistek – Strzemiński (1976), Witkacy Malarz [Witkacy the Painter] (1985), Jerzy Mierzejewski (1996). She was a wonderful Boss: demanding, but strict with herself, too. Attentive to her employees’ development, she could appreciate and use their abilities to their own benefit and to the benefit of their institution. Those who had the privilege and pleasure of cooperating with her, recall her with admiration saying what a likeable person she was.

The ‘1989’-inspired liberal enthusiasm about Eastern Europe’s democratisation has led to an overestimation of the efficacy of liberal ideas, and to a blotting-out of decidedly illiberal strands of political thought, in the region both during and after the end of Communist rule. One such strand was a remarkable interest in different aspects of the Chilean transformation from socialism to liberal democracy via authoritarianism across (post-)socialist Europe in the 1980s and 1990s. Based on reform debates from Poland, Russia, and Czechoslovakia, this article argues that this fascination with the military dictator Augusto Pinochet is an indicator for widespread authoritarian visions among various political and intellectual elites during the transition period. For them, Pinochet served as a code and source of inspiration for a non-democratic path to an efficient economy. Before 1989, this path was laid out under the tutelage of a de-ideologised authoritarian Communist Party. After the end of planned economies and through the 1990s, the ‘Chilean model’ was used by anti-communists and liberal economists across the region as a source of legitimacy in their internal struggle against opponents of their reform ideas.

This article examines a familiar Cold War event, the Polish Crisis of the early 1980s, but from an unfamiliar perspective: international financial history. Historians have yet to examine how the growing international activity of Western commercial banks and the Eastern Bloc’s heavy borrowing on international capital markets during the 1970s influenced the course of the late Cold War. This article covers the history of the Eastern Bloc’s largest borrower—Poland—and its road to sovereign default in 1981. It examines how financial diplomacy among banks, communist countries, and the U.S. government catalyzed the formation of the labor union Solidarność (Solidarity). Ultimately, this article speaks to an important theme in the history of U.S. capitalism since World War II; namely, how the construction of global finance influenced U.S. foreign policy. The end of the Cold War in the fall of 1989 was the result not only of communism’s loss of legitimacy among the peoples of Eastern Europe, but also its loss of creditworthiness on global financial markets.

Słowa kluczowe: edukacja, zapasy, współpraca, region, Obwód Kaliningradzki. Streszczenie Wkrótce po zakończeniu działań wojennych (1945) utworzono w Okręgu Mazurskim pierwsze placówki oświatowe i rozpoczął się proces edukacyjno-wychowawczy. Po przekształceniu okręgu w województwo olsztyńskie przybył na Warmię ppor. Zenon Rydziński i jako oficer-zapaśnik propagował na modnych wówczas festynach i zawodach pokazowych walory uprawianej niegdyś dyscypliny sportowej. Po utworzeniu w Olsztynie Okręgowego Związku Zapaśniczego szkolenie prowadzono także w powstających spontanicznie klubach i sekcjach Ludowych Zespołów Sportowych. Wspomniane stowarzyszenia szczególnie cenną rolę odgrywały w środowiskach wiejskich. Po zgłębieniu podstaw nawiązano współpracę z Obwodem Kaliningradzkim. Wzajemna wymiana doświadczeń skutkowała wzrostem poziomu wyszkolenia sportowego, budowaniu zrębów przyjaźni między obu społecznościami, a wyjazdy zagraniczne stwarzały możliwość bliższego poznania regionów i kultury mieszkającej tam ludności. Ekipy wyjeżdżające za granicę tworzono z najlepszych zawodników, a powołanie w skład drużyny było dla zapaśników jednocześnie wyróżnieniem i nagrodą. W wymianie sportowej uczestniczyła także młodzież uprawiająca sport w szkolnych sekcjach. W treningach brali udział również młodzi Romowie i Ukraińcy i był to wzorcowy przykład integracji społecznej. Wzrastający poziom wyszkolenia skutkował uczestnictwem w turniejach ogólnopolskich, mistrzostwach Polski, a w roku 1978 rozegrano nawet mecz z przebywającą w Polsce drużyną stanu Colorado (USA). Bibliografia Archiwum Akt – Archiwum Akt Nowych w Warszawie, Państwowy Urząd Wychowania Fizycznego i Przysposobienia Wojskowego. 78, s. 22, Stan urządzeń. [Device status] 78, s. 22. Archiwum Państwowe, 1951 – Archiwum Państwowe w Olsztynie, Komitet Wojewódzki Polskiej Zjednoczonej Partii Robotniczej. 1141, Protokół z posiedzenia egzekutywy KW PZPR z maja 1951 roku, k. 141. [Minutes of the executive meeting of the KW PZPR in May 1951], k. 141. Archiwum Państwowe – Archiwum Państwowe w Olsztynie, Komitet Wojewódzki Polskiej Zjednoczonej Partii Robotniczej. 1141/2093, k. 80. X lat współpracy Olsztyna z Kaliningradem. [10 years of cooperation between Olsztyn and Kaliningrad], k. 80. [Poland]. Archiwum Państwowe, 1972-1973 – Archiwum Państwowe w Olsztynie, Komitet Wojewódzki Polskiej Zjednoczonej Partii Robotniczej. 1141/2101, Sprawozdanie z międzywojewódzkiej współpracy partyjnej z krajami socjalistycznymi w latach 1972–1973, k. 14. [Report on interregional party cooperation with socialist countries in 1972–1973], k. 14. [Poland]. Archiwum Państwowe, 1960 – Archiwum Państwowe w Olsztynie, Komitet Wojewódzki Polskiej Zjednoczonej Partii Robotniczej. 1141/2087, k. 10. Plan sportowych kontaktów przygranicznych Olsztyn – Kaliningrad na rok 1960. [The plan of sports contacts on the Olsztyn - Kaliningrad border for 1960], k. 10. [Poland]. Archiwum Państwowe, 1963 – Archiwum Państwowe w Olsztynie, Komitet Wojewódzki Polskiej Zjednoczonej Partii Robotniczej. 1141/2090, k. 1. Terminarz delegacji Olsztyn – Kaliningrad 1963. [Timetable of the Olsztyn - Kaliningrad delegation 1963], k. 1. [Poland]. Borejsza, 1964 – Czesław Borejsza. Władysław Pytlasiński i jego trening zapaśniczy. Warszawa 1964. 64 s. [Władysław Pytlasiński and his wrestling training]. Warszawa 1964. 64 s. [Poland]. Chełmecki, Głaz, Lipski, 2012 – Chełmecki Jerzy, Głaz Andrzej, Lipski Jerzy. Historia Polskich zapasów 1922 – 2012. Warszawa 2012. 345 s. [History of Polish stocks 1922 – 2012]. Warszawa 2012. 345 s. [Poland]. Dmowski, 1981 – Dmowski Zygmunt. I ty zostaniesz olimpijczykiem. Warszawa 1981. 80 s. [And you will become an Olympian]. Warszawa 1981. 80 s. [Poland]. Dmowski, Skubis, 1976 – Dmowski Zygmunt, Skubis Jacek. Zapasy judo. Warszawa 1976. 133 s. [Judo wrestling]. Warszawa 1976. 133 s. [Poland]. Tracewski, 1979 – Tracewski Janusz. Zapasy dla ciebie. Warszawa 1979. 18 s. [Stocks for you]. Warszawa 1979. 18 s. [Poland]. Filipkowski, 1979 – Filipkowski Tadeusz. Węzłowe problemy oświaty województwa olsztyńskiego po1945r. [Key problems of education in the Olsztyn voivodeship after 1945]. W: Zeszyt Pedagogiczny. 50 lat szkolnictwa polskiego na Warmii i Mazurach. Olsztyn 1979. S. 97– 128. [Poland]. Gąsiorowski, 2005 – Gąsiorowski Andrzej. Podróże historyczne i krajoznawcze na pograniczu pruskim 1466 – 1939. Olsztyn 2005. 379 s. [Historical and sightseeing trips in the Prussian borderland 1466 – 1939]. Olsztyn 2005. 379 s.[Poland]. Godlewski, 1987 – Godlewski Piotr. Mini-zapasy. [Mini-stocks]. W: Wychowanie Fizyczne i Higiena Szkolna 1987, Nr 8. Warszawa 1987. S. 5 – 12. Godlewski, 1987 – Godlewski Piotr. Rozwój organizacyjny sportu zapaśniczego w pierwszych latach Polski Ludowej. [Organizational development of wrestling sport in the first years of People's Poland]. W: Monografia AWF, Poznań, 1987, Nr 235. S. 233–242. Godlewski, 1987 – Godlewski Piotr. Aktualne problemy badań w zapasach, Warszawa 1987. 59 s. [Current research problems in stocks]. Warszawa 1987. 59 s. [Poland]. Godlewski, 1988 – Godlewski Piotr. Zarys dziejów polskiego zapaśnictwa profesjonalnego. Gorzów Wielkopolski 1988. 64 s. [An outline of the history of Polish professional wrestling]. Gorzów Wielkopolski 1988. 64 s. [Poland]. Gross, 2011 – Gross Radosław. Powszechna Organizacja „Służba Polsce” w województwie olsztyńskim w latach 1948 – 1955. Olsztyn 2011. 384 s. [The General Organization "Służba Polsce" in the Olsztyn voivodship in the years 1948 – 1955]. Olsztyn 2011. 384 s. [Poland]. Górniewicz, 2008 – Górniewicz Józef. Teoria wychowania. Olsztyn 2008. 187 s. [The theory of education]. Olsztyn 2008. 187 s. [Poland]. Jaroszewski, Połaniecka, 2019 – Jaroszewski Julian, Połaniecka Agnieszka. Sukcesy sportowe zapaśników z terenu województwa łódzkiego w latach 1945 – 1990. [Sports successes of wrestlers from the Łódź Province in 1945 – 1990]. W: Sport i Turystyka. Środkowoeuropejskie Czasopismo Naukowe 2019, t. 2, Nr 3. Częstochowa 2019. S. 71– 93. Księga Pamiątkowa – Księga Pamiątkowa Ludowego Klubu Sportowego „Agrokompleks” Kętrzyn. [Memorial Book of the People's Sports Club "Agrokompleks". Kętrzyn]. 52 s. [Poland]. Masztaler, Walichnowski, 1999 – Masztaler Jan, Walichnowski Feliks. Wokół stadionu Leśnego. [Around the Leśny Stadium.]. Olsztyn 1999, 38 s. [Poland]. Mistrzostwa w zapasach, 1971 – Mistrzostwa w zapasach. [Wrestling Championship]. W: Gazeta Olsztyńska 1971, Nr 33. S. 4. [Poland]. Nowocień, 2013 – Nowocień Jerzy. Studium o pedagogice kultury fizycznej. Warszawa 2013. 248 s. [A study on the pedagogy of physical culture]. Warszawa 2013. 248 s. [Poland]. Nowakowski, Grotkowski, 1955 – Nowakowski Witold, Grotkowski Józef. Zapasy klasyczne, Warszawa 1955. 90 s. [Classic stocks]. Warszawa 1955. 90 s. [Poland]. Nowe związki, 1965 – Nowe związki. [New relationships]. W: Głos Olsztyński 1965, Nr 209. S. 6. [Poland]. Piłkarze Warmii, 1956 – Piłkarze Warmii i Piszczewiko inaugurują przyjacielskie kontakty Olsztyna i Kaliningradu. [The players of Warmia and Piszczewiko inaugurate friendly contacts between Olsztyn and Kaliningrad]. W: Głos Olsztyńsk 1956, Nr 218. S. 5. [Poland]. Remis na olsztyńskim, 1956 – Remis na olsztyńskim ringu Kalioningrad – Olsztynianka 10:10. [Draw in the Olsztyn ring Kalioningrad - Olsztynianka 10:10]. W: Głos Olsztyński 1956, Nr 228. S. 4. [Poland]. Szypulski, 1991 – Szypulski Edward. Działalność sekcji zapaśniczych na terenie województwa olsztyńskiego w latach 1957 – 1990. Gorzów Wielkopolski 1991. S. 36. [Activity of wrestling sections in the Olsztyn voivodeship in 1957 – 1990]. Gorzów Wielkopolski 1991. S. 36. Tracewski, 2010 – Tracewski Janusz. Zapasy. W drodze do mistrzostwa, Warszawa 2010. 153 s. [Wrestling. On the way to the championship]. Warszawa 2010. 153 s. [Poland]. Tracewski, 2017 – Tracewski Janusz. Polska szkoła zapasów, Warszawa 2017. 128 s. [Polish school of wrestling]. Warszawa 2017. 128 s. [Poland]. Trzeba pokochać sport, 1975 – Trzeba pokochać sport. [You have to love sport ]. W: Wiadomości Sportowe 1975, Nr 48. S 4. [Poland]. Turniej piłkarski, 1965 – Turniej piłkarski w Braniewie. [Football tournament in Braniewo]. W: Głos Olsztyński 1965, Nr 159. S. 6. [Poland]. Turniej zapaśniczy, 1980 – Turniej zapaśniczy z udziałem reprezentacji Kaliningradu. [Wrestling tournament with the participation of the Kaliningrad national team]. W: Agrokompleks 1980, Nr 20-21. S. 8. [Poland]. Urniaż, 2000 – Urniaż Jerzy. Sport na Warmii i Mazurach w latach 1945 – 1975. Olsztyn 2000. 270 s. [Sport in Warmia and Mazury in the years 1945 – 1975]. Olsztyn 2000. 270 s. [Poland]. Urniaż, 2008 – Urniaż Jerzy. Współpraca sportowa w regionach warmińsko-mazurskim i kaliningradzkim w latach 1956 – 2006. Olsztyn 2008. 285 s. [Sports cooperation in the Warmian-Masurian and Kaliningrad regions in the years 1956 – 2006]. Olsztyn 2008. 285 s. [Poland]. Wójcik, Boraczyński, 2015 – Wójcik Zbigniew, Boraczyński Tomasz. Kultura fizyczna mniejszości polskiej w Prusach Wschodnich. [ Physical culture of the Polish minority in East Prussia]. W: Rozprawy Naukowe 2015, Nr 50. Wrocław 2015. S 16 – 23. [Poland]. Zapasy, 1972 – Zapasy. Olsztyniak B. Andryszczyk – mistrzem Polski. [Inventories. Olsztyniak B. Andryszczyk - the champion of Poland]. W: Głos Olsztyński 1972, Nr 50. S. 4. [Poland].

Defence date: 26 May 1995
Examining Board: Prof. Karl Cerny (Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.) ; Prof. Dr. Helga Haftendorn (Free University of Berlin) ; Prof. Christopher Hill (London School of Economics and Political Science) ; Prof. Roger Morgan (Supervisor, European University Institute) ; Dr. William Wallace (St. Antony's College, Oxford)
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digitised archive of EUI PhD theses completed between 2013 and 2017