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1939-45:
Hitler and Stalin
Poland's contact with the totalitarian system began with September 1939, when
it was invaded by two states which had employed this system, Hitler's Germany
and Stalin's Russia. Experience with both has left little doubt that there is
much difference between the extreme right and the extreme left, at least in
their impact on the governed. The Nazis had their Konzentrationsläger,
the Soviets their gulags; they had equally gruesome statistics. When
Polish territories first occupied by Russia were then overrun by Germany, those
who had so far escaped death or deportation could not really see the difference.
Of the two photographs on the left, one was taken at Auschwitz, the other
at a Siberian gulag.
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1945-1956:
Hardcore totalitarianism
When war ended and the Yalta agreements left Poland in the Soviet
block, its Polish communist regime, with strong and direct backing of its
Soviet sponsors, initiated a rapid transition into a Soviet-model state,
with one-party rule, oppression of political opponents (and innocent
bystanders). At the same time, it used the Poles' genuine enthusiasm to
rebuild the war-shattered country to project an image of unity around the
communist system. Two video clips from Andrzej Wajda's 1977 film Man
of Marble present the discrepancy between the official
propaganda and reality
which led to the first revolt against hardcore Stalinist communism in
1956.
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1956-1980: Flows and ebbs
The liberal reforms of 1956 where soon retracted as the regime was
regaining its power; yet this was already a different kind of communism -
one that tried to show its human face. This was not enough; student
protests in March 1968 and worker strikes in December
1970 were ruthlessy put down (although the latter triggered a change
of guard in the Party leadership). A new quality emerged when
intellectuals formed support groups for workers oppressed after another
wave of protests in 1976 - organized opposition began. In 1978, the
opposition's cause received a tremendous boost when Krakow's archbishop
Karol Wojtyla became Pope John Paul II. His visit to Poland a year later
was a mass demonstration of political as well as religious feeling. |
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1980-1981: Solidarity
All this and the rapidly deteriorating living conditions led to strikes
first in the shipyards
of the Gdansk region, and then all over the country. Charismatic union
leader Lech Walesa (photo left) emerged as a major opposition figure. In
view of the extent of popular support and in an unprecedented move for the
whole history of the Soviet block, the communist government signed an
agreement to allow free labor unions. Ten million Poles (out of the
overall population of almost 40 million) joined Solidarity in a wave of
hope for a better future. |
1981-1989: Martial law
Demands for more freedom led to a well-prepared military crackdown on
December 13, 1981. Thousands of opposition members found themselves in
prison; civil rights (such as they were) were suspended; the country was
ruled by a military junta of communist general Wojciech Jaruzelski. A new
tide of political émigrés went to Western Europe and the U.S. Although
martial law was officially withdrawn in 1983, most of its oppressive laws
and practices remained in vigor until the collapse of the regime in 1989.
Throughout that time, major Polish cities witnessed almost monthly
demonstrations ruthlessly attacked by ZOMO police riot squads (photo
right). |
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