15 - The decline of Gomułka

Summary

In July 1964 People's Poland celebrated its twentieth anniversary. Nine months later it was as old as the Second Polish Republic when it collapsed in September 1939. The comparison between these two periods of Polish history and their relative achievements was a common theme of the anniversary celebrations. Industrial progress during the period of People's Poland was particularly emphasized.

Industry's production potential at present is nine times that in bourgeois Poland … The gap between Poland and the highly industrialized countries of Europe has been reduced by half … Industrial output per capita in Poland has now risen to more than 60 per cent of the average for Great Britain, France, West Germany and Italy, whereas in the years of bourgeois Poland the figure was a mere 17 to 18 per cent … Could anyone have supposed in 1939 that Poland, despite the terrible war destruction, would – twenty years after the worst war in history – have an industrial potential per capita not much different from that of France in 1938 with 150 years of industrial development behind her?

Other achievements could be added. Chronic unemployment had been abolished, and both urban and rural population had secured a steady, if still by West European standards very modest, level of earnings. There was greater social equality than before the war, better educational opportunities and chances of advancement for workers and peasants. Benefits of cultural life were also rather more widely shared, although creative intellectuals suffered more from political constraints than before the war.