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Wedded to Welfare? Working Mothers and the Welfare State in Communist Poland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 July 2017

Piotr Perkowski
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Abstract

Using Poland as example, the article explores the operation of east European communist welfare states, with particular attention paid to benefits offered to working mothers. By exploring a number of diverse sources, I analyze the evolution and the meaning of institutional care and maternity leave in the life of professionally-active women. Studying a variety of factors that shaped the welfare policies of the time, including post-war industrialization, consumption, the demographic panic, and the struggling economy of the twilight years of communism, I attach particular importance to the early 1970s, when Poland saw a particular shift in gender-equality discourse. Welfare benefits played a key role in communists states, serving as a guarantee of equal opportunities or, in the case of mothers, as a tool for potentially facilitating employment. In time, however, they became chiefly tools designed to control the population and female fertility.

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Articles
Information
Slavic Review , Volume 76 , Issue 2 , Summer 2017 , pp. 455 - 480
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies 2017 

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References

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11. Most of which are stored in the Polish Television press section (Telewizja Polska. Wycinki prasowe, TP) at New Documents Archive in Warsaw (Archiwum Akt Nowych w Warszawie, AAN).

12. Przyjaciółka was the most popular women's weekly (with a circulation of nearly 2m). Kobieta i Życie (0.5m) was a weekly addressed to representatives of the female urban intelligentsia, as was the culture-focused weekly Zwierciadło (nearly 100 thousand). See: Kobieta w Polsce: Dane statystyczne (Warsaw, 1968), 187 Google Scholar; Wrochno, Kobiety w Polsce, 95–96. The most prominent Polish women's organization, the League of Women (Liga Kobiet) reactivated as early as 1945.

13. In the Polish language, there is a clear difference between Sozialstaat (państwo opiekuńcze or państwo socjalne) and “welfare state” (państwo dobrobytu). The first invokes support and compensation for disadvantaged social groups, while the other speaks of wealth and development. As post-Stalinist Polish scholars put it out, the communist welfare state was comprehensive, well thought out and consistent with communist ideology, contrary to its capitalist counterpart. In the same vein, they criticized western welfare policies as limited to partial victories conceded from time to time by the bourgeoisie for the purpose of alleviating poor social conditions of the capitalist working class. For the critique, see, for example, Strzelecki, Edward, ed., Wstęp do polityki społecznej: Materiały do studiów (Warsaw, 1962), esp. 6–7 Google Scholar.

14. See Hoffman, “Mothers in the Motherland,” 35–54; Hoffman, David. L., “European Modernity and Soviet Socialism,” in Hoffman, David. L. and Kotsonis, Yanni, eds., Russian Modernity: Politics, Knowledge and Practices, 1800–1950 (Basingstoke, 2000), 245–60Google Scholar.

15. Factors of the presumed worldwide production of modernity as listed by Carol Gluck. See Gluck, Carol, “The End of Elsewhere: Writing Modernity Now,” The American Historical Review 116, no. 3 (June 2011): 676–87Google Scholar. I am referring here to the academic discussion on the notion of modernity, investigating its various contexts: temporal and spatial, the worldview of the people of the time, and, above all, raising the question of whether to write about modernity today—and how. For the whole discussion, see “AHR Roundtable: Historians and the Question of ‘Modernity,’” The American Historical Review 116, no. 3 (June 2011)Google Scholar.

16. See, for example, Katherine Pence and Paul Betts, “Introduction,” in Pence and Betts, eds., Socialist Modern, 9–10.

17. Inglot, Tomasz, Welfare States in East Central Europe, 1919–2004 (Cambridge, Eng., 2008), 8, 127Google Scholar.

18. In this article, I assume that Stalinism in Poland dates from 1947, when the communist party took full control over Poland after a rigged election. Some scholars argue that 1947 and 1948 were of crucial importance to eastern Europe. See, for example, Applebaum, Anne, Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944–1956 (London, 2012), 235–37Google Scholar; Brzezinski, Zbigniew, The Soviet Bloc: Unity and Conflict, 2nd ed. (Cambridge, Mass., 1967), 69–70 Google Scholar. The death of Stalin in 1953 marks the end of Stalinism in all communist states. However, the Polish example may serve as proof that de-Stalinization needed at least one year to manifest itself.

19. For a discussion of the instrumental treatment of social benefits under Stalinism and the central planning system, see Inglot, Welfare States, 27, 122–23.

20. Although no crucial changes took place before 1956, in Poland, liberalization was up in the air already in 1954, corresponding with a decoupling in international relations. Pre-1956 political changes included the first rehabilitation trials of political prisoners of Stalinism.

21. For detailed information on changes in “women welfare,” see further sections.

22. Inglot, Welfare States, 158.

23. Similarly, scholars who study the model of the so-called Goulash Communism in Hungary (1956–1989) note that the public discourse still made use of the old, ascetic Stalinist framework to discuss improved access to basic goods, luxury items, recreation, and entertainment—all of which were until recently unobtainable to the wartime generation. See Tamas Dombos and Lena Pellandini-Simanyi, “Kids, Cars, or Cashews? Debating and Remembering Consumption in Socialist Hungary,” in Bren and Neuburger, eds., Communism Unwrapped, 328–35.

24. For Further Development of People's Poland: 6th Congress of the Polish United Workers’ Party, December 6th–11th, 1971: Basic Documents (Warsaw, 1972), 125 Google Scholar.

25. The authorities announcement that food prices would go up before Christmas sparked the December strikes of shipyard workers. The strikes, which turned into brutal clashes, claimed several dozen lives and led to the persecution of protesters.

26. See, for example, Zaremba, Marcin, “‘Bigosowy socjalizm.’ Dekada Gierka,” in Miernik, Grzegorz, ed., Polacy wobec PRL: Strategie przystosowawcze (Kielce, 2003), 183–200 Google Scholar.

27. The extensive historical studies covering August 1980 seem to lack in-depth analysis of the social undercurrents of the protests. However, the recent study by Anna Machcewicz is a noteworthy attempt at such an analysis. See Machcewicz, Anna, Bunt: Strajki w Trójmieście. Sierpień 1980 (Gdańsk, 2015)Google Scholar.

28. For more information on the economic situation in the 1980s, see Kaliński, Janusz and Landau, Zbigniew, Gospodarka Polski w XX wieku (Warsaw, 2003), 338–58Google Scholar.

29. For more information on Polish economic migrants in the second half of the 1980s, see Stola, Dariusz, Kraj bez wyjścia?: Migracje z Polski 1949–1989 (Warsaw, 2010), 362–84Google Scholar; Kochanowski, Jerzy, Tylnymi drzwiami: “Czarny rynek” w Polsce 1944–1989 (Warsaw, 2010), 320–37Google Scholar.

30. I borrow the phrase “wedded to the welfare state” from an English translation of a French monograph. See Lefaucheur, Nadine, “Maternity, Family, and the State,” in Duby, Georges and Perrot, Michelle, eds., Toward a Cultural Identity in the Twentieth Century, vol. 5 of A History of Women in the West, trans. Goldhammer, Artur, 2nd ed. (Cambridge, Mass., 1996), 447 Google Scholar.

31. Fidelis, Małgorzata, “Equality through Protection: The Politics of Women's Employment in Postwar Poland, 1945–1956,” Slavic Review 63, no. 2 (Summer 2004): 301–24Google Scholar. For information on the natalist, conservative, and segregatory roles of the western post-war welfare state, see Eley, Geoff, “From Welfare Politics to Welfare State: Women and Socialist Question,” in Gruber, Helmut and Graves, Pamela M., eds., Women and Socialism, Socialism and Women: Europe Between the Two World Wars (New York, 1998), esp. 541 Google Scholar; Heineman, Elizabeth D., What Difference Does a Husband Make? Women and Marital Status in Nazi and Postwar Germany (Berkeley, 1999), 157–58Google Scholar.

32. Fidelis, “Equality through Protection,” 313–14.

33. Cited in Jarosz, Dariusz, Polacy a stalinizm: 1948–1956 (Warsaw, 2000), 118–19Google Scholar.

34. Lebow, Katherine, Unfinished Utopia: Nowa Huta, Stalinism, and Polish Society, 1949–56 (Ithaca, 2013), 17 Google Scholar.

35. Fidelis, Małgorzata, Women, Communism, and Industrialization in Postwar Poland (Cambridge, Eng., 2010), 81 Google Scholar.

36. In the early 1950s, the average female life expectancy in Poland was 62 years. By the mid-1960s, the figure had reached 72 years. In the next decades, the upward trend slowed down, so by the end of the communist era female life expectancy stood at 75 years. See Rutkowska, Longina, Trwanie życia w 2010 r.: Informacje i opracowania statystyczne (Warsaw, 2011), 13Google Scholar, at http://stat.gov.pl/obszary-tematyczne/ludnosc/trwanie-zycia/trwanie-zycia-w-2015-r-,2,10.html, “Archiwum,” 2010 (last accessed April 10, 2017).

37. According to sociological research, professionally active women were healthier than housewives. Gradual expansion of medical screening and quick response to “health troubles” reported by female industrial workers led to detection of previously undiagnosed and untreated conditions, which would otherwise result in permanent disability or premature death. See Sokołowska, Magdalena, Kobieta pracująca: Socjomedyczna charakterystyka pracy kobiet (Warsaw, 1963), 85, 91–92 Google Scholar.

38. See Kenney, Padraic, Rebuilding Poland: Workers and Communists, 1945–1950 (Ithaca, 1997)Google Scholar, esp. chap. “The Rise and Fall of the Labour Hero,” 237–86.

39. See Jezierski, Andrzej and Petz, Barbara, Historia gospodarcza Polski Ludowej 1944–1985, 3rd ed. (Warsaw, 1988), 192–94Google Scholar.

40. Mazurek, Małgorzata, Społeczeństwo kolejki: O doświadczeniach niedoboru 1945–1989 (Warsaw, 2010), 148–49Google Scholar.

41. For the perception of gender differences in income in the 1960s, see Perkowski, Piotr, “Paradoksy emancypacji kobiet w mediach ‘małej stabilizacji,’” in Perkowski, Piotr and Stegner, Tadeusz, eds., Kobieta i media: Studia z dziejów emancypacji kobiet (Gdańsk, 2009), 224 Google Scholar.

42. The first female member of a key decision-making body—the Politburo of the Polish United Workers’ Party—was Zofia Grzyb, a worker and a forewoman in a Radom industrial plant, who held the position between 1981 and 1986.

43. On International Women's Day in communist Poland, see Jarska, Natalia, “Obchody Dnia Kobiet w Polsce Ludowej 1945–1989,” Dzieje Najnowsze 42, no. 4 (2010): 15–28 Google Scholar.

44. Fidelis, “Equality through Protection,” 318–22.

45. On the other hand, by analyzing the activities of the Committee of the Bulgarian Women's Movement, Kristen Ghodsee argues that “state feminism” was a successful, efficient model of operation. In 1968–1989, the Committee launched a number of successful initiatives for the benefit of working women by lobbying the Party. See Ghodsee, Kristen, “Pressuring the Politburo: The Committee of the Bulgarian Women's Movement and State Socialist Feminism,” Slavic Review 73, no. 3 (Fall 2014): 538–62Google Scholar. According to Ghodsee, even the Polish League of Women, though chiefly a state-based organization, was definitely something more than just a propaganda tool. Ibid., 541.

46. A theory that can be confirmed by a variety of sources, such as women's weekly Kobieta i Życie or personal accounts in collections of memoirs published during the 1960s and 1970s. See, for example, Parzyńska, Mirosława, ed., Siedem dni tygodnia (Warsaw, 1965)Google Scholar.

47. For the data, see Kurzynowski, Aktywizacja zawodowa kobiet zamężnych, 20. Statistical data from capitalist states such as France, United Kingdom, or Germany was very informative—in the 1960s those countries still did not regain pre-war female employment figures. See Gisela Bock and Pat Thane, “Editor's Introduction,” in Bock and Thane, eds., Maternity and Gender Policies, 17. Even though this data cannot be reliably compared, it seems to speak in favor of Poland.

48. Such state of affairs negatively affected the health of overworked women—wrote Magdalena Sokołowska, medical doctor and sociologist. See Sokołowska, Kobieta pracująca, 68.

49. Strzemińska, Praca zawodowa kobiet, 261.

50. Reid, Susan E., “Cold War in the Kitchen: Gender and the De-Stalinization of Consumer Taste in the Soviet Union under Khrushchev,” Slavic Review 61, no. 2 (Summer 2002): 216 Google Scholar.

51. Bren, The Greengrocer and His TV, 85–87.

52. See Kenney, Padraic, “The Gender of Resistance in Communist Poland,” The American Historical Review 104, no. 2 (April 1999): 402 Google Scholar. For information about the changing discourse in Czechoslovakia, see Hana Havelková and Libora Oates-Indruchová, “Transformations of Gender Culture under State Socialism: Czech Society, 1948–89,” in Havelková, Hana and Oates-Indruchová, Libora, eds., The Politics of Gender Culture under State Socialism: An Expropriated Voice (London, 2014), esp. 14–16 Google Scholar.

53. For Further Development, 261–62.

54. Fidelis, Women, Communism, and Industrialization, 243.

55. Trybuna Ludu, March 7, 1975, 6 cited in Barbara Nowak, “Serving Women and the State: The League of Women in Communist Poland” (PhD diss., Ohio State University, 2004), 150, online at https://etd.ohiolink.edu/!etd.send_file?accession=osu1091553624&disposition=inline (last accessed March 6, 2015).

56. For a gender-oriented analysis of the Łódź strike, see Kenney, “The Gender of Resistance,” esp. 410–17.

57. Ibid., 414–15.

58. For more information about propaganda images of the Polish communist leaders, see Zaremba, Marcin, “Drugi stopień drabiny: Kult pierwszych sekretarzy w Polsce,” in Zaremba, Marcin and Stola, Dariusz, eds., PRL: Trwanie i zmiana (Warsaw, 2003), 39–74 Google Scholar.

59. Rakowski, Mieczysław F., Dzienniki polityczne 1972–1975 (Warsaw, 2005), 91 Google Scholar.

60. See Dzienio, Kazimierz and Latuch, Mikołaj, Polityka ludnościowa europejskich krajów socjalistycznych (Warsaw, 1983), 19–20 Google Scholar. The heated demographic debate of the early 1970s was dominated by men, such as demographer (Jerzy Holzer), Party journalist (Janusz Wilhelmi, editor-in-chief of Kultura), and Catholic journalist (Andrzej Wielowieyski, who wrote for Więzi). For opinions of numerous natalist supporters (and a few opponents), see AAN, TP, nr 2514, sygn. 20/4, 21/3, 21/4.

61. See Haney, Inventing the Needy, 91–92.

62. Ulf Brunnbauer, “‘The Most Natural Function of Women’: Ambiguous Party Policies and Female Experiences in Socialist Bulgaria,” in Massino and Penn, eds., Gender Politics and Everyday Life, 89.

63. In a particularly extreme case, the leader of Romania, Nicolae Ceauşescu, made both abortion and birth control illegal and subject to draconian penalties. For more information on the restrictions in Bulgaria and Romania in the context of natalist policies, see Brunnbauer, “The Most Natural Function of Women,” esp. 87–92; and Kligman, Gail, The Politics of Duplicity: Controlling Reproduction in Ceausescu's Romania (Berkeley, 1998), 49–53 Google Scholar.

64. For a discussion of the nationalist discourses in Gomułka's time, see Zaremba, Marcin, “Jest to jednakże nacjonalizm postępowy . . .,” in Komunizm, legitymizacja, nacjonalizm: Nacjonalistyczna legitymizacja władzy w komunistycznej Polsce (Warsaw, 2001), 263–352 Google Scholar.

65. See Rakowski, Dzienniki polityczne 1972–1975, 91.

66. See, for example, Barbara Domańska, “Wszystkiemu winne emancypantki,” Kobieta i Życie, October 22, 1972, 3.

67. Dach, Praca zawodowa kobiet, 101; Graniewska, Awans zawodowy kobiet, 216–17; Zofia Nowak, “Społeczna potrzeba rozwoju żłobków,” in Krystyna Wrochno, ed., Kobieta—praca—dom, 331; Piotrowski, Praca zawodowa kobiety, 216–18; Wieruszewski, Równość kobiet i mężczyzn, 190–93; Woźnicka, Zofia, Wychowanie przedszkolne w Polsce Ludowej (Warsaw, 1972), 53–57 Google Scholar.

68. For the data, see Kazimierz Dzienio, “Procesy demograficzne w europejskich krajach socjalistycznych a rozwój świadczeń na rzecz rodziny,” in Graniewska, ed., Socjalne i prawne środki ochrony, 76.

69. “A co z dziećmi,” Kobieta i Życie, May 5, 1974, 4–5; Katarzyna Weremiej, “Co mam zrobić z dzieckiem?,” Zwierciadło, October 24, 1974, 3–4.

70. “Dlaczego jedno, dwoje a nie troje?,” Przyjaciółka,October 22, 1972, 3.

71. Daycares additionally were characterized by poor sanitary and living conditions that reminded people of pre-war orphanages, discouraging the intelligentsia and creating a hostile climate for institutionalized care. This opinion dating from the Stalinist years had a long life, and even in 1970s, one could hear remarks that mothers try to avoid daycares. See, for example, AAN, TP, nr 2514, sygn. 21/102, unnumbered pages (Krystyna Weiss, “Trudne dzieciństwo,” Czas, July 31, 1977).

72. AAN, TP, nr 2514, sygn. 21/102, unnumbered pages (Andrzej Zieliński, “Dziecko schodzi do podziemia,” Kultura, January 12, 1975).

73. AAN, TP, nr 2514, sygn. 21/102, unnumbered pages (Alicja Dmuchowska, “Nie ma jednego rozwiązania,” Życie Warszawy, February 28, 1978).

74. See, for example, AAN, TP, nr 2514, sygn. 21/102, unnumbered pages (Janusz Rowicki, “Nierówne szanse,” Słowo Powszechne, February 13, 1979).

75. See the press articles in AAN, TP, nr 2514, sygn. 21/102.

76. See, for example, Fitzpatrick, Sheila, “Becoming Cultured: Socialist Realism and the Representation of Privilege and Taste,” in Fitzpatrick, Sheila, The Cultural Front: Power and Culture in Revolutionary Russia (Ithaca, 1992), 216–38Google Scholar.

77. Ibid., 236.

78. Interestingly enough, households could acquire this new, “cultural” knowledge not only from mothers, but also their youngest members. One press story features the following quote from a mother about her kid: “He actually tries to boss us around about all that new stuff. He wants to wash up before going to bed and he won't eat his potatoes without some salad or cucumbers. That's what they taught him there.” AAN, TP, nr 2514, sygn. 21/102, unnumbered pages (Anna Grigo, “W zielonym przedszkolu,” in Tygodnik Kulturalny, August 22, 1976).

79. Dach, Praca zawodowa kobiet, 163–64; Dzienio and Latuch, Polityka ludnościowa, 292–93; Roman Korolec, “Wzmożona ochrona pracy kobiet i ich macierzyństwa,” in Graniewska, ed., Socjalne i prawne środki ochrony, 184–88; Kurzynowski, Aktywizacja zawodowa kobiet zamężnych, 76–80.

80. “Roczne urlopy,” Przyjaciółka, June 9, 1968, 3; “Roczny urlop bezpłatny,” Kobieta i Życie, June 16, 1968, 10; “Trzyletni urlop macierzyński,” Kobieta i Życie, January 30, 1972, 3; “Bezpłatny urlop i zasiłki,” Przyjaciółka, March 19, 1972, 12; “O urlopach bezpłatnych,” Przyjaciółka, July 16, 1972, 7; “Jak korzystać z nowych praw,” Przyjaciółka, July 16, 1972, 7.

81. “Alimenty, alimenty . . . ,” Kobieta i Życie, January 6, 1974, 5; Danuta Frey, “Prawo dla 11 milionów,” Zwierciadło, January 17, 1974, 3–4; “Program przyspieszenia dobrobytu,” Przyjaciółka, January 27, 1974, 3, 5; “Z myślą o rodzinie,” Kobieta i Życie, February 3, 1974, 3; “Dla dobra rodziny,” Przyjaciółka, February 3, 1974, 3; Elżbieta Wódarska, “Fundusz alimentacyjny,” February 3, 1974, 5; “Przywileje dla kobiet,” Kobieta i Życie, February 10, 1974, 6; Katarzyna Chrupek, “Zasiłki rodzinne po nowemu,” Kobieta i Życie, August 4, 1974, 2–3; “Czekaliśmy na tę ustawę,” Przyjaciółka, August 4, 1974, 3; “Reforma zasiłków rodzinnych,” Przyjaciółka, August 11, 1974, 5; Katarzyna Chrupek, “Uprawnienia kobiet,” Kobieta i Życie, August 25, 1974, 3.

82. Mazurek, “From Welfare-State to Self-Welfare,” 281.

83. See, for example, “Masz jedno dziecko to się tłumacz,” Kobieta i Życie, November 5, 1972, 2–3.

84. AAN, TP, nr 2514, sygn. 26/681, unnumbered pages (“Życzenia tow. E. Gierka i tow. P. Jaroszewicza dla kobiet w dniu ich święta,” Trybuna Ludu, March 8, 1973).

85. Luszniewicz, Jacek and Zawistowski, Andrzej, eds., Sprawy gospodarcze w dokumentach pierwszej Solidarności, vol. 1 (Warsaw, 2008), 69 Google Scholar.

86. Dzienio and Latuch, Polityka ludnościowa, 294–97.

87. Graniewska, Awans zawodowy kobiet, 165. See also Fidelis, Women, Communism, and Industrialization, 245.

88. The Participation of Women in Socio-professional Life in the Country (Udział kobiet w życiu społeczno-zawodowym w kraju), February 22, 1988, AAN, Polish United Workers’ Party (Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza), Central Committee (Komitet Centralny), nr 1354, sygn. XX–191, unnumbered pages.

89. For analyses of perception of the 1980s in women's press, see Stańczak-Wiślicz, Katarzyna, “Kryzysowe praktyki kulinarne w Polsce lat 80. XX wieku na łamach ówczesnej prasy kobiecej,” in Jarecka, Urszula and Wieczorkiewicz, Anna, eds., Terytoria smaku: Studia z antropologii i socjologii jedzenia (Warsaw, 2014), 321–48Google Scholar.

90. Ibid., 328.

91. For an anthropological analysis of alternative economies and resourcefulness in late communist Poland, see Małgorzata Mazurek, “Keeping it Close to Home: Resourcefulness and Scarcity in Late Socialist and Post-Socialist Poland,” in Bren and Neuburger, eds., Communism Unwrapped, 298–320.

92. For more information on second economy in Poland, see Kochanowski, Tylnymi drzwiami.

93. Barbara Moroz, “Dziecko zamiast,” Zwierciadło, June 2, 1983, 2–3; Krystyna Kostrzewa, “Przerwa na macierzyństwo,” Zwierciadło, February 10, 1982, 3–4.

94. The 1980s harsh consumer realities and the women's perspectives in Poland can be compared to those in 1980s’ Romania. For the gender analysis of late Romanian communism, see Massino, “From Black Caviar to Blackouts,” esp. 238–40.

95. Crowley and Reid, “Introduction,” 21.

96. Quataert, Jean H., “Socialisms, Feminisms and Agency: A Long View,” Journal of Modern History 73, no. 3 (September 2001): 603–4Google Scholar.

97. See, for example, Bożena Balcerzak-Paradowska i Barbara Kołaczek, “Uwarunkowania aktywności zawodowej kobiet w Polsce w latach 1990–1999,” in Balcerzak-Paradowska, Bożena and Graniewska, Danuta, eds., Kobiety i mężczyźni na rynku pracy: Rzeczywistość lat 1990–1999 (Warsaw, 2001), 24–25 Google Scholar; Lange, Milena, “Zmiany zachowań prokreacyjnych w Polsce a zapotrzebowanie na usługi opiekuńcze nad małym dzieckiem,” in Sadowska-Snarska, Cecylia, ed., Godzenie życia zawodowego i rodzinnego w Polsce (Białystok, 2011), 64–67, 75–77 Google Scholar.

98. For more information on popular Polish attachment to the welfare state, see Wnuk-Lipiński, Edmund and Bukowska, Xymena, “Stosunek Polaków do własnego państwa,” Nauka 5, no. 2 (2008): esp. 9, 27Google Scholar.