People's Republic of Poland

Nielegalnie budowane wille i domy letniskowe, darmowe remonty mieszkań, ułatwiony dostęp do talonów samochodowych i innych pożądanych dóbr. To tylko część zarzutów, z którymi po strajkach z sierpnia 1980 r. i zmianach personalnych na najwyższym szczeblu musiała się zmierzyć odchodząca ekipa Edwarda Gierka.
Podczas rewolucji „Solidarności” i w trakcie stanu wojennego trwały zarówno żywiołowe, jak i instytucjonalne rozliczenia z ekipą rządzącą krajem w latach siedemdziesiątych. Władze zostały poddane społecznemu naciskowi, aby ujawnić i osądzić przypadki korupcji i nadużywania stanowisk. W wyjaśnianie tych spraw zaangażowały się instytucje partyjne, państwowe oraz sądy, ale efekty ich działań nie były satysfakcjonujące.
Książka opowiada o korupcji wśród rządzących w sytuacji braku kontroli, o głęboko zakorzenionym społecznym pragnieniu równości i sprawiedliwości oraz o słabości państwa, które bezskutecznie próbowało pociągnąć do odpowiedzialności polityków kierujących krajem w poprzedniej dekadzie.
Książka nagrodzona w konkursie im. Władysława Pobóg-Malinowskiego na Najlepszy Debiut Historyczny Roku.

Symbolem forsownego uprzemysłowienia Polski w pierwszej połowie lat 50. XX w. jest niewątpliwie Nowa Huta. Jednak w tym samym czasie, gdy pod Krakowem budowano kombinat metalurgiczny, ponad 400 km. na północ powstawał inny kombinat – bawełniany.

Książka Andrzeja Zawistowskiego pokazuje czterdziestopięcioletnie funkcjonowanie Zambrowskich Zakładów Przemysłu Bawełnianego – fabryki zbudowanej w mieście pozbawionym tradycji przemysłowej, w którym pierwotnie mieszkało mniej osób niż miała liczyć załoga powstającego przedsiębiorstwa. Autor ciekawie opisuje dzieje budowy i funkcjonowania kombinatu, który w 1956 r. stał się jednym z najbardziej znanych symboli zerwania ze stalinowską propagandą sukcesu. Na tle dziejów fabryki zostały także przedstawione warunki życia i pracy w niewielkim mieście w epoce Polski Ludowej. Dzięki temu na przykładzie Zambrowa czytelnik może poznać zmiany gospodarcze, społeczne, mentalne, kulturowe i polityczne, do jakich doszło w wyniku lokalizacji dużej inwestycji przemysłowej w małym mieście.

The main scientific goal of the work was to study the assumptions and main methods of diplomacy of Austrian politician Bruno Kreisky towards Poland. The culture and science have been given a significant role in this regard. In his remarks, the Chancellor emphasized that the scientific community had the opportunity to initiate changes towards the evolution of the political system. He also drew attention to the need to create conditions by democratic states, to the possibility of presenting the achievements of eastern countries. Analyzing Bruno Kreisky's foreign policy and diplomacy, research tools characteristic of the historian's and political scientist's workshop were used. The issue of acquiring knowledge about the Neighborhood Policy Nachbarschaftspolitik by Poland and the use of Kreisky's policy in our country for its own political and propaganda purposes seems also important. The division of content adopted in the dissertation results from the specificity of the topic and chronology presented. The title of the work indicates that its subject will be the years 1959-1983. The main part of it concerns precisely this period. Due to the necessity of introducing bilateral relations into the subject, I focused on the years 1945-1958, when the establishment of diplomatic posts took place. I have done the same in the case of the development of political career of Bruno Kreisky, in chapter II the chronology dates back to the youth and emigration of the later chancellor, and concerns the years 1911-1958.

PART IX: Journalists' visits to the Soviet Union. Kurowski's work as a theater-critic and playwright.
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Bohdan Kurowski (1933-2009) was born in Molodechno (now in Belarus). In 1940 the KGB deported him, together with his mother, older brother, and thousands of other Poles, to Kazakhstan. While in exile, Bohdan was forced to child labor. In 1946, he and his brother managed to return to Poland. Bohdan Kurowski studied in the School of Social Sciences in Warsaw. He worked as a journalist for GŁOS OLSZTYŃSKI (1952-5), WARMIA I MAZURY (1956-7), and as the vice-chief-editor for PANORAMA PÓŁNOCY (1957-72). In 1956, he co-founded the Social-Cultural Association POJEZIERZE, serving as its President from 1969 to 1981. In 1973-4 Kurowski worked as a columnist for POLITYKA in Warsaw. In 1975, he became the head of the Olsztyn branch of the INTER-PRESS Agency. In December 1980, he joined the SOLIDARITY movement, becoming the leader of the Warmia-and-Mazury Province’s Cultural Commission. In 1985, he was persecuted (including a six-week arrest) for distributing independent publications. In 1989-90 he assumed the post of the chief-editor of OLSZTYŃSKI KURIER OBYWATELSKI. In 1990, he initiated the creation of a Rotary Club in Olsztyn. He became the first post-war Governor of the Polish District of the Rotary International. In 1998, 2001, and 2004, he was a delegate to the Legislative Council of the Rotary International. For his work and social engagement Bohdan Kurowski received many distinctions, including the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta, Medal of XXX-Years of Polish People’s Republic, Medal of Merit for Warmia and Mazury, Medal of Culture, Paul Harris Fellowship (Rotary International), and Officer’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta. Bohdan Kurowski authored numerous reportages, feature articles, and theatre reviews. He was also an award-winning playwright. He wrote the plays "Moja droga do Polski" (1964), "Niespokojny Step" (1966), "Z Iljiczem bez Iljicza" (1970), "Wędrowni komedianci" (1980, together with wife Halina Kurowska); and other works. Bohdan Kurowski’s book publications include "Dni powszednie i święta", 1966 – a collection of articles on theatre; "Z prądem pod prąd" – a collection of political essays; and “Civic Diplomacy” – a history of the Rotary movement in Poland (as part of the volume "Rotary w Olsztynie i nie tylko", 2011, co-authored with Marek Turkowski).
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Excerpts from Bohdan Kurowski's MEMOIRS in English translation, have been posted at https://joanna-kurowska.com/the-column

Twentieth–century Poland experienced four periods of rationing basics: 1915–1921 (i.e. the First World War and the Polish–Bolshevik war), 1939–1949 (World War II and the post–war period), 1951–1953 (the height of Stalinism), and 1976–1989 (the breakdown of the communist economy and years of a universal lack of commodities in shops). Against this background the fact that during the 1961 Berlin Crisis the authorities of the People’s Republic of Poland made preparations for rationing in case of an extraordinary situation remains totally unknown. The system in question was based upon the structures of the Civic Militia, but was never applied, even when conditions prevailing on the domestic market required rapid intervention and the introduction of rationing (e.g. in 1976). The article presents the system in question as well as its structure, organisation, and evolution. The author tried to solve the question why this carefully planned system and millions of printed ration cards were destroyed and never used.

Drawing upon ethnographic data, this article discusses the adoption of technologies into everyday life in People's Poland, in the wider theoretical context of the consumer revolution or a shift in consumption patterns towards fashion. There were two mechanisms of the consumer revolution in People's Poland: collective usefulness and modern hedonism. For the mechanism of collective usefulness, the main factors in the shift in consumption patterns were the state-controlled propaganda of 'progress' and the domestication of technology. Household appliances were adopted as necessities that helped people fulfil their needs, in line with the idea of 'progress' propagated by the authorities of People's Poland in the post-war period. In the process of the domestication of technology, customarily female activities were changing into flexible practices of using household appliances driven by fashion. In the case of modern hedonism, the main factor in the shift towards fashion was the 'advertising' of a Western standard of living in American films shown on television in the 1960s. The course of the consumer revolution was diversified by gender, social class and generation.

Three attempts to fight imbalance in retail – three periods of basic products rationing in socialist Poland.
What would be possible to buy, had Poland not turned socialist? Everything! – for many years this political joke not only was a symbol of communist propaganda lies (which was claiming that if not for socialism Poles would have lived in poverty) but also of unanimous opinion on the performance of the system forced on Poland by the Soviets. During whole 45 years of existence of socialist Poland there was no single moment when one could buy all basic products without problems. Rationing, the introduction of rationing stamps, was supposed to be the cure for those problems. Rationing stamps were special vouchers for products which were obligatory (in addition to money) to do the shopping. Their introduction was supposed to guarantee at least minimal amount of most necessary products (food, above everything else). In practice, even if one had rationing stamps one could not buy the product one needed. =e most elaborate system of rationing existed during the 1980s but it was not the only period of rationing. Rationing stamps were introduced in Poland immediately after the end of II world war (just like in i.e. United Kingdom), then for short period in 1950s, as one of means to force the citizens to take up work which guaranteed allocation of stamps, as they were issued only to workers in certain facilities. For the third time rationing was introduced in 1976 in form of sugar stamps. Since 1981 meat was rationed and later also alcohol, gasoline, shoes, sweets, chocolate, butter, milk, whole fat milk, soap, cigarettes, baby diapers, washing powder, cereals, vegetable and animal fats and school notebooks. The number of stamps was so large that the government was forced to introduce yet another kind of voucher: stamps for stamps (or supplement to ID cards in which number and type of issued stamps were recorded). In addition to above mentioned stamps during almost whole period of socialism in Poland special vouchers were necessary to buy e.g. cars, coal and cement.

Odbudowa romanistyki prawniczej w Polsce powojennej narażona była na wiele trudności. Poza utrudnieniami takimi jak problemy natury finansowej, lokalowej oraz utrudnionego dostępu do literatury, pojawiły się bariery ideologiczne. Obowiązująca wówczas ideologia zasadniczo nie znajdowała miejsca dla prawa rzymskiego w systemie prawnym, który odrzucał własność prywatną na rzecz szerokiej ingerencji państwa w stosunki prywatno-prawne oraz nie dopuszczał nawet historycznych wpływów zasad prawnych państwa ustroju niewolniczego, sprzecznego z ideą socjalizmu. Opierał się on przede wszystkim na historycznym i dialektycznym materializmie oraz nauce o walce klas. Ideologia socjalistyczna miała wpływ również na system szkolnictwa, próbowano więc wyeliminować lub ograniczyć prawo rzymskie w edukacji prawników socjalistycznych „nowego typu”. Próbowano przeprowadzać  w tym celu reformy studiów prawniczych. W państwach socjalistycznych wskazywano, że w romanistyce, tak jak w innych dziedzinach nauki, należy wyodrębnić dwa nurty w romanistyce - tradycyjną naukę „burżuazyjną”  i przyszłościowy kierunek – marksistowski („romanistyka marksistowska”). Niektórzy uważali, że powinna rozwijać się tylko ta ostatnia, bowiem „romanistyka burżuazyjna wyczerpuje swój potencjał i materiał, a przede wszystkim posługuje się błędnymi i przestarzałymi metodami. Te polemiki przybierały na sile zwłaszcza w momentach przełomowych, gdy prawo rzymskie na wydziałach prawa było marginalizowane lub nawet likwidowane w ramach nowych reform studiów prawniczych. Te przełomowe dla powojennej romanistyki wydarzenia wyznaczają punkty zwrotne w dziejach romanistyki polskiej w okresie Polski Ludowej, zapoczątkowanych w latach czterdziestych.
Słowa kluczowe: historia prawa, prawo rzymskie w państwach socjalistycznych, ideologia marksistowska, prawo rzymskie w Polsce, historia nauki prawa rzymskiego w Polsce
Summary
The rebuilding plan of Roman law science after Second World War was experiencing many difficulties. Aside from the inconvenience such as financial problems, conducting classes facilities, lack of access to literature etc., ideology barrier appeared.  Socialist-oriented ideology generally left Roman law out of its legal system which rejected development of private property for the benefit of far-reaching state interference in private-law relationships and any influence on the part of the legal system of a state that allowed slavery, inconsistent with the ideas of socialism. It was based on historical and dialectical materialism and was connected with the inevitable fight of classes in society. The socialist ideology also played the decisive part in an educational system. Socialists were in principle against the study of Roman law and tried to limit his role in educating socialist lawyers – “lawyers of the new type”. They tried to conduct the reform of law studies and partly they made a success of it. In socialist states two tendencies in Roman law studies should be distinguished – “traditional” Roman law studies, referred to as “bourgeois”, and new “Marxist Roman law studies”. Some explorers of this tendency believed that it was only “Marxist Roman law studies” that required further development, while “bourgeois Roman law studies”, opposed to the former, could only provide a basis of information collected by its researchers. These polemics increased especially in breakthrough moments, when Roman law was marginalized or even abandoned in faculties of law. Exactly these turning points could prove helpful in performing periodization of Polish Roman law studies in People’s Poland began in the early 1940s.

Part X:
The President of the Social-Cultural Society "Pojezierze"; the director of the Olsztyn-office of the Polish Press Agency "Interpress".  Summary:

In 1974, Bohdan Kurowski became the director of the Olsztyn bureau of the Polish Press Agency Interpress. His work amounted mostly to organizing itineraries as well as entertaining journalists from Western Europe, particularly from Federal Republic of Germany. Kurowski stated that his foremost aim was to show the region (Warmia i Mazury – or Varmia & Mazuria) from the best side; and to explain away the existing deficiencies. Many journalists from West Germany were interested in demographic processes that took place in the region after World War II. (After the signing of pertinent agreement by the Polish I Secretary of the Workers’ Party, Edward Gierek and the German chancellor Willy Brandt, the so-called autochtones [those were considerable numbers of population in north-eastern Poland] emigrated from Mazuria to West Germany.) In his work, Bohdan Kurowski strove for contacting the interested journalists with appropriate researchers (publications addressing the matter began shyly to appear in the mid-1970s; before, it was a political taboo), also for helping them to find interesting cases. At some risk to his own career, he brought a journalist from Mainz, by the name of Marx, to the County of Purda, to investigate the case of a local farmer (woodcutter) by the name of Slopianka – an autochtone who decided to leave Poland for West Germany. Slopianka owned a beautiful house, for which prospective buyers offered him 250k (in zlotys). However, in the existing political system, in order to sell his house he needed the permission from the government (in this case the County of Purda). Moreover, the government had the right to buy first. And that exactly happened, Slopianka was forced to sell to, and received 60k zl from, the County of Purda, for a house that was worth over 4x more. But if he refused, he would not get the permission to leave Poland. His house was then sold for 40k zl – possibly just given away – to a high level Party secretary, who wanted the property for his summer “dacha”. Mr. Marx wrote a report on Slopianka’s case. After Slopianka landed in Germany, there were further interviews with him; a movie was made about his case. Also, Radio Free Europe picked up the topic. There were some repercussions, Kurowski was questioned as to how Slopianka’s case leaked out.
            While fulfilling the functions of the director of the Interpress-office, Bohdan Kurowski also served as the long-term President of the Social-Cultural Society Pojezierze (Pomerania). (Both photos show him in that function). Among the Society’s initiatives was the funding and advocating an alternative-theatre group called Pracownia (The Workshop), initiated by several young art-historians (all of them graduates of the University of Warsaw). Bohdan Kurowski supported the initiative and fought for Pracownia’s existence against the organization’s and system’s bureaucracies.
      Kurowski writes that he liked his work as the director of the Interpress bureau in Olsztyn; he has always liked working with people. In the 1970s he received many medals, awards and distinctions, as well as promises of further career advancement – the latter however never realized. As Kurowski writes, something in his past was not to the liking of the decision-makers at the highest levels of the communist party; particularly harmful could have been his articles from 1957, in which he described the perils of his childhood exile to Kazakhstan; and which articles were by necessity critical of the Soviet Union.
            While working in the Interpress, Kurowski had to write reports about the movements of his guest-journalists from the West, to the local office of the Secret Police.