Poland, officially the Republic of Poland (Polish Rzeczpospolita
Polska), country in Central Europe. Communists ruled Poland from 1945 until
1989, when political and economic unrest among Poles resulted in the collapse
of the regime and its replacement by a non-Communist coalition. Poland’s
capital and largest city is Warsaw.
The name Polska (Poland), applied in the early
11th century, comes from an ancient Slavic tribe known as the Polanie
(field or plains dwellers), who settled in the lowlands between the Odra (Oder)
and Wisła (Vistula) rivers sometime after the fall of the Roman Empire in the
5th century. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Poland, then united with
Lithuania, was one of the major European powers under the Jagiellonian dynasty.
When the dynasty came to an end in 1572, Poland entered a long period of
decline, culminating in the partition of the country between Russia, Austria,
and Prussia in 1772, 1793, and 1795.
Poland was again established as a sovereign state
after World War I (1914-1918). It was partitioned a fourth time in 1939 by
Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). After World War II
(1939-1945), Polish territory suffered a substantial net loss, as the land
ceded to the USSR in the east was nearly double that acquired from Germany in
the west.
Since the fall of Communism in Poland in 1989,
democratic elections have brought a succession of unstable governments to
power. Poland formally joined the European Union (EU) in 2004.
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LAND AND RESOURCES
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Poland has a total land area of 312,684 sq km
(120,728 sq mi). It is bordered on the north by the Baltic Sea and Russia; on the
east by Lithuania, Belarus, and Ukraine; on the south by the Czech Republic and
Slovakia; and on the west by Germany. The maximum distance from east to west is
about 680 km (about 420 mi) and the maximum distance from north to south is
about 790 km (about 490 mi). Poland’s borders are marked by the Sudety
mountains (Sudetes) in the southwest, the Carpathian Mountains (Karpaty) in the
southeast, the Odra and Neisse (Nysa) rivers in the west, and the Bug River in
the east. On the northeast, the country is bounded by a section of the Baltic
Sea.
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Natural Regions
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Although Poland appears as an unbroken plain on a relief
map, it has considerable diversity and complexity. The average elevation is
only about 175 m (about 575 ft) above sea level, as compared with the overall
European average of about 290 m (about 950 ft), but elevations reach as high as
2,499 m (8,199 ft) atop Mount Rysy in the High Tatry Mountains in the south,
and as low as about 2 m (about 6 ft) below sea level in the Wisła delta in the
north. Poland is divided into a number of distinct parallel regions that run
from east to west. A marked contrast exists between the northern two-thirds of
the country and the southern one-third.
The northern zone is a vast region of plains and
low hills, divided into the Central Polish Lowlands, the Baltic Heights, and
the Coastal Plain. The Central Lowlands are traversed from east to west by a
series of large, shallow valleys. To the north of the Central Lowlands is the
Baltic Heights region, dotted with hills and lakes. The Coastal Plain consists
of a narrow lowland, about 40 to 100 km (about 25 to 60 mi) wide, that runs
nearly the entire length of the Baltic Sea. The coastline, 491 km (305 mi)
long, is remarkably smooth and regular, the major exceptions being the
Pomeranian Bay in the west and the Gulf of Gdańsk in the east. A few good
natural harbors are located along the Baltic.
The southern one-third of Poland consists of upland
areas of various kinds and adjacent or intervening lowlands. A narrow belt of
mountains occupies the extreme south and southwest. The Carpathian Mountains,
located on Poland’s southeastern border, include the Tatry and Beskid ranges.
The Sudety, another major mountain range, are located on Poland’s southwestern border.
North of the mountains are a zone of foothills, the Silesian Plain, and the
Lesser Polish Uplands.
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Rivers and Lakes
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Nearly all of Poland is drained into the
Baltic Sea by the Wisła and Odra rivers and their tributaries, which include
the Bug and the Warta. Other rivers include the Neisse, the Nida, and the Bobr.
Poland’s lakes, which number about 9,300, are concentrated in the Baltic
Heights and Coastal Plain regions. Śniardwy and Mamry are the two largest.
Poland has about 120 artificial reservoirs, situated mainly in the Baltic
Heights and the southern mountains.
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Plant and Animal Life
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Forests cover more than one-fourth of Poland and
are comprised principally of spruce and pine. A few forests in the northeast
contain old and scarce species, such as the dwarf birch and Lapp willow, which
are unique to Poland in Europe. Because Poland’s forests are dominated by
conifers, which are particularly vulnerable to acid rain and other forms of air
pollution, many of them are now extensively damaged. The spruce forests of the
Sudety have been particularly affected by ecological damage. A large portion of
Poland’s forest growth has also been destroyed to create farmland, and
reforestation levels are currently very low. This combination of factors has
made Poland’s forests among the most vulnerable in Europe.
Poland’s wildlife is of limited variety. Although
most species are found in other parts of Europe, Poland is home to a number of
species that are absent or rare elsewhere. Those animals include chamois, lynx,
wildcat, boar, and red deer. Bison, as well as a rare breed of pony, are
preserved in the world-famous Białowieza National Park, which straddles
Poland’s border with Belarus. Wolves and brown bears survive in the higher
mountains, and moose, deer, and mouflon (wild sheep) are fairly numerous in the
lake districts. Grouse, heathcock, and black stork inhabit Poland’s
grain-producing areas, lakes, marshes, and forests. The country’s inland lakes
and streams support sizable numbers of fish, which include salmon, trout, and
carp. More than 100 wildlife species have become extinct or are severely
endangered in Poland. Largely in response to this problem, two new national parks
were established in 1993. Altogether Poland has 23 national parks. The country
also has a number of nature preserves and protected areas.
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Natural Resources
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Poland’s varied mineral deposits are concentrated mainly
in the southern upland regions and adjacent areas. The most important mineral
resource is hard coal, most of which is located in Upper Silesia. Poland also
has significant deposits of lignite (another variety of coal), located mainly
in the basins surrounding the cities of Turoszów, Konin, and Bełchatów. Sulfur
and copper are the most important of the country’s nonfuel mineral resources.
Some of the world’s largest sulfur deposits are found near the city of
Tarnobrzeg in the southeast, and large reserves of copper are located in Lower Silesia.
Important reserves of zinc and lead are found in Upper Silesia. Other minerals
of economic importance are rock salt, potash, iron ore, and gypsum. The country
has only small reserves of petroleum and natural gas.
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Climate
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Poland’s climate has features of both the moderate
climate of western Europe and the more severe climate of eastern Europe. The
climate of the western part may be classified as marine west coast, and the
eastern part as humid continental with cool summers. Weather conditions are
highly variable, particularly in the winter.
In January, average temperatures range from about
-1°C (about 30°F) in the west to about -5°C (about 23°F) in the southern
mountains. In summer, average temperatures decrease in a northwestern
direction, from about 20°C (about 68°F) in the southeast to about 17°C (about
63°F) near the Baltic. During the year, the warmest temperatures may enter the
upper 30°s C (lower 100°s F), and the lowest may drop into the lower -40°s C
(lower -40°s F).
Annual precipitation in Poland as a whole averages about
610 mm (about 24 in), ranging from about 1,200 to 1,500 mm (about 47 to 59 in)
in the mountains to between 450 and 600 mm (18 to 24 in) in the lowlands.
Summer precipitation is often twice the level of winter precipitation.
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Environmental Issues
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Poland, like many other Eastern European countries,
suffered significant environmental damage as a result of the economic policies
of the Communist period (1945-1989), which emphasized the rapid development of
heavy industry. Much of this damage did not become evident until the late 1980s
and early 1990s. Although environmental problems affect most of the country,
the worst damage has been inflicted on the industrial region of Silesia, in
southern Poland.
The country produces most of its energy by burning
imported fossil fuels, particularly coal. Severe air pollution resulting from
the emissions of coal-fired power plants has measurably affected human health.
Up to three-quarters of Poland’s trees show damage from acid rain.
Water pollution is a serious problem
throughout Poland and is caused mainly by industrial and municipal waste and
acid rain. About one-third of the total length of Poland’s rivers and
one-quarter of the country’s lakes are severely polluted. Rivers that are
particularly affected include the Wisła, the Bobr, the Nida, the Wisłoka, and
the Bug. In the early 1990s the overwhelming majority of the country’s river
water was considered undrinkable. The Baltic Sea is also heavily polluted,
mainly by industrial discharges, which severely inhibits the development of its
beaches for tourism.
Serious efforts are being made to purify sewage and
industrial discharges in Poland, but in 1993 more than one-quarter of the
country’s wastewater was still being released untreated into rivers. Although
more than 300 wastewater treatment plants have been built in Poland, many of the
country’s factories and towns still do not have waste purification facilities.
Other environmental problems in Poland include
deforestation and defoliation resulting from acid rain and other forms of air
pollution, wildlife endangerment and extinction, and soil contamination. In
recent years, preventive measures have been introduced in Poland’s mining and
energy sectors in an effort to decrease pollution levels. These measures
include the adoption of new regulations, heavy fines, and the installation of filtering
and purification equipment. In addition, a number of political parties and
citizen groups have formed around environmental issues. However, public
attitudes toward the environment remain divided in Poland, owing largely to
concerns about job losses and other potential economic consequences of
environmental protection.
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THE PEOPLE OF POLAND
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Population and Settlement
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At the time of the 1988 census Poland had
a population of 37,878,641. The 2008 estimate was 38,500,696, yielding an
average population density of 127 persons per sq km (328 per sq mi). Poland’s
highest population densities are in the southern upland areas; the lowest
densities are in the northwest and northeast. The average annual rate of
population growth was very high in the period following World War II, but after
the 1960s it declined to less than 1 percent, and in 1997 the population was
estimated to be decreasing. Reasons for the decline include high unemployment
and increases in the cost of child rearing. The rate of urbanization in Poland
has accelerated since the end of World War II. In 2005, 62 percent of the
population lived in urban areas.
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Principal Cities
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At the beginning of the 21st century there
were 42 Polish cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants; of these, 6 had a
population of more than 500,000. The major cities are Warsaw, Poland’s capital
and largest city; Łódź, the center of Poland’s textile industry; Kraków (Cracow),
a cultural and industrial center; Wrocław, a commercial and transportation hub;
Poznań, an industrial center and the site of an annual international trade
fair; Gdańsk, a seaport and shipbuilding center; Szczecin, a port and
industrial city; Bydgoszcz, an inland port and railway junction; Katowice, a
center of mining and industry; and Lublin, a manufacturing hub.
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Ethnic Groups
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During most of its history, Poland was a
multiethnic society that included substantial numbers of Belarusians, Ukrainians,
Jews, and Germans. However, the territorial changes that resulted from World
War II led to profound changes in the country’s ethnic composition. As a result
of the 1945 Yalta Conference, Poland’s eastern borderlands, which contained
large Ukrainian and Belarusian populations, were ceded to the USSR. Most of
Poland’s German population left East Prussia and the German territories that
were awarded to Poland in the peace settlement and fled westward. The areas
evacuated by these minority groups were resettled by Poles who had been
displaced from the eastern borderlands and others returning from emigration or
combat in the West. Population exchanges and the resettlement of ethnic groups
continued for some time after the war.
Poland now contains relatively little ethnic
diversity. About 98 percent of the country’s inhabitants are ethnic Poles, and
the remainder is comprised mainly of Ukrainians, Belarusians, and Germans. Much
of the Ukrainian population lives in northern Poland, while the Belarusian minority
is concentrated in Białystok Province adjoining the Belarusian border. Germans
are concentrated mainly in the southern region of Silesia and, to a lesser
extent, the northeastern region that was formerly East Prussia. Smaller
communities of Slovaks, Czechs, Lithuanians, and Russians are also present.
Poland’s small Roma (Gypsy) population declined considerably in the late 1980s,
when large numbers of Roma emigrated to Germany.
There are currently more than 10 million people of
Polish origin living in Polish communities abroad. The United States contains
the largest number of ethnic Poles living outside of Poland. Other countries
with sizable Polish communities include Russia and the countries of the former
Soviet Union, Germany, France, Canada, Brazil, Australia, and the United
Kingdom.
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Language
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Polish is the official language of Poland and is
used by nearly all of the population. The language contains a number of
dialects, some of which are intermediate between Polish and German or
Ukrainian. The Polish language is written using the Latin alphabet and includes
some letters that are additional to those used in the English language (see Polish
Language). Some members of ethnic groups speak their own native languages in
addition to Polish.
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Religion
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Roman Catholicism has played a very important role in
Polish history and serves as a cornerstone of Polish identity. During the early
part of the Communist period, the Polish government tried to limit the
influence of the Roman Catholic Church. Religious practices were restricted,
and a number of priests were imprisoned. However, a large number of Polish
Catholics resisted such policies and fought for freedom of religion. Stefan
Cardinal Wyszyński, who served as the primate of Poland from 1948 to 1981,
helped to improve relations between the Catholic Church and the Communist
government, and after the 1950s the government discontinued most of its
church-related policies. In 1978 Karol Cardinal Wojtyła, the archbishop of
Kraków, became Pope John Paul II, the first Polish pope. After the collapse of
Communism in 1989, the new government introduced various pro-Catholic policies,
including the right to teach religion in schools and the criminalization of
abortion. In 1993 the church and the Polish government negotiated, but did not
ratify, a new concordat regulating mutual relations.
About 92 percent of Poles are Roman Catholic.
The Roman Catholic Church exerts an important influence on many aspects of Polish
life, and church attendance levels are high, especially in rural areas. Poland
also has nearly 50 non-Catholic churches and other religious groupings. Of
these, eight churches are members of the Polish Ecumenical Council, which was
founded in 1946 to promote cooperation between churches. The largest churches
represented in the council are the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church and the
Evangelical Augsburg Church. The number of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Poland has
grown in recent years.
Before World War II there were more than 3
million Jews living in Poland. However, more than 90 percent of them were
killed by the Nazis during the wartime occupation of Poland. Many of those Jews
who survived the Holocaust left Poland and emigrated to Israel or the West. In
the early 1990s there were less than 10,000 Jews remaining in Poland.
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Education
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When Poland was partitioned and controlled by
foreign powers, which lasted from the late 18th century through the early part
of the 20th century, education was limited to a privileged elite. After
Poland’s independence was restored following World War I, a centralized
educational system was established. This education system went through major
reforms in the 1990s. Today, education occupies an important position in Polish
society, and virtually the entire population aged 15 years or older is able to
read and write.
Education in Poland is free and compulsory for all
children between the ages of 7 and 15, although growing financial and space
constraints sometimes require large classes and double shifts for students
within the school day. On completion of the six-year elementary school program,
children enter middle school, or gymnasium, for three years. After gymnasium students
have the choice of entering a general lyceum, specialized lyceum, technical
secondary school, or basic vocational school. These secondary schools last from
two to four years. All students except those attending basic vocational school
can pursue higher education after graduation. Graduates of basic vocational
school have a choice of entering the workforce or continuing their education at
a complementary lyceum or complementary technical secondary school.
Poland has a long history of higher education.
Jagiellonian University, established in Kraków in 1364, is the second oldest
university in central Europe after Charles University in the Czech Republic. In
the early 2000s there were more than 100 institutions of higher education in
Poland. Of these, 8 were schools of agriculture, 17 were universities, 10 were
medical schools, 18 were technical universities, 17 were schools of art and
music, and most of the remainder were specialized vocational colleges. Besides
Jagiellonian University, other universities in Poland include Adam Mickiewicz
University in Poznań (founded in 1919), Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University
(2000) in Warsaw; Catholic University of Lublin (1918); Marie Curie-Skłodowska
University (1944) in Lublin; Nicholas Copernicus University of Toruń (1945);
Opole University (1994); Szczecin University (1985); University of Białystok
(1997); University of Gdańsk (1970); University of Łódź (1945), University of
Rzeszów (2001); University of Silesia (1968) in Katowice; University of Warmia
and Mazury in Olsztyn (1999); University of Warsaw (1818); University of
Wrocław (founded in 1702, rebuilt in 1945); and University of Zielona Góra
(2001).
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Way of Life
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Before World War II Poland was largely agricultural
and much of the population lived in rural areas. However, when the Communists
took control of the government in 1945, Poland was transformed into an
industrial nation, and many Poles left their farms and took jobs in the cities.
In rural areas, Polish families often live in small cottages made of bricks or
wood; city dwellers usually live in apartments. Most Poles prefer Western-style
clothing to traditional forms of dress. However, traditional Polish clothing is
sometimes worn in rural areas where the country’s folk heritage remains strong,
and on holidays and other special occasions. Traditional Polish foods include pierogi
(stuffed dumplings); bigos (sauerkraut and meat); and jellied herring,
trout, and carp. Hearty soups, including beet soup, potato soup, and cabbage
soup, are also popular, as are pork, mushrooms, bread, and dairy products.
Beer, vodka, and currant juice are typical beverages. Many Poles enjoy
attending cultural events and visiting with friends. Soccer is a favorite
national sport. Catholicism plays an important role in the lives of many Poles.
Religious holidays and traditions, including Christmas and Easter, are often
observed through family gatherings and festivals.
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Social Problems
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With the fall of Communism and its
social-welfare network and system of subsidized food and housing, large
sections of Polish society, especially the elderly, fell into poverty. Beggars
and homeless people became common sights after being virtually nonexistent
during Communist rule. At the same time, the emergence of a market economy
produced a new class of wealthy business people along with a growing amount of
consumer activity. In recent years, a gap has developed between those who have
managed to take advantage of the new economic system and those who have not,
creating social tension in Poland. In general, young people have adjusted
better than older generations. The use of firearms and explosives has soared
since 1989. Violent robberies have registered a fourfold increase since the
mid-1980s. Despite this, the national police force has cut more than 20,000
officers from its ranks as part of the economic reform process. Although there
have been reported incidents of ethnic violence against Roma and Germans, there
are no ethnic conflicts comparable to those in other former Communist
republics.
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CULTURE
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The great periods of Western cultural and
intellectual expression are paralleled by the history of Polish creativity. The
Italian Renaissance inspired a great burst of culture in Poland. The
Reformation sped the development of a Polish vernacular literature, and in the
18th and 19th centuries Poles were greatly influenced by French culture. During
the Stalinist period, which lasted in Poland from 1949 to 1955, artistic
freedom was severely circumscribed by the government. After 1956 Poland’s
cultural policies became generally more liberal.
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Literature
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Poland has attained its highest artistic recognition
in the field of literature. The greatest literary period is generally regarded
as the romantic period of the 19th century, the chief figures being Adam
Mickiewicz, Juliusz Słowacki, Zygmunt Krasiński, and Cyprian Kamil Norwid.
Romanticism in drama and poetry was followed by realism, most notably in the
novels of Bolesław Prus, Henryk Sienkiewicz, and Władysław Stanisław Reymont.
Stanisław Wyspiański is regarded as the founder of modern Polish drama. Among
the many prominent figures after 1945 were Jerzy Andrzejewski, Tadeusz
Różewicz, Stanisław Lem, Leon Kruczkowski, and Zbigniew Załuski. The émigré
Polish poet Czesław Miłosz received the Nobel Prize in literature in 1980. The
1996 Nobel Prize in literature was awarded to poet Wisława Szymborska, the
fifth Polish-born writer to receive the prize. See Polish Literature.
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Music and Dance
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Poland has a long tradition of folk music and
dance. Although the country was heavily affected by the large-scale migration
to urban areas that took place following World War II, Poland’s folk traditions
still exist today, and are displayed for audiences by the well-known Mazowsze
and Ślsk ensembles.
The best-known Polish composer is Frédéric Chopin
(Polish Fryderyk Chopin), a pianist of the romantic school of music who lived
during the first half of the 19th century. Chopin, who died at a young age,
spent much of his life in France. However, he remained deeply loyal to Poland
and many of his compositions were based on traditional Polish folk music and
dances, such as the mazurka and the polonaise. The early 20th century composer
Karol Szymanowski is regarded as the most important figure in Polish music
after Chopin. Szymanowski is known for bringing together elements of Poland’s
folk tradition and European musical styles. After World War II ended in 1945, a
school of music emphasizing avant-garde elements developed in Poland. Krzysztof
Penderecki was a well-known composer of this school. Important Polish musicians
include the harpsichordist Wanda Landowska and the pianist Ignace Jan
Paderewski.
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Art and Cinema
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In painting, Polish artists have been mainly
influenced by various Western movements and trends, although in the 20th century
traditional peasant art has exerted some influence. Important works include Jan
Matejko’s portrayals of scenes of Polish history. Poland’s folk arts and crafts
range from pottery, fabrics, and embroidery, to sculpture, graphics, and
painting.
Since 1950 a number of Polish filmmakers have
achieved international renown. Krzysztof Kieślowski, a leading filmmaker in
Eastern Europe in the 1960s and 1970s, achieved fame for his social
documentaries and for his fictional films dealing with morality. Andrzej Wajda
has chronicled political and social developments in Poland since World War II.
In 2000 he received an honorary Academy Award for his many contributions to
cinema. The filmmaker Roman Polanski, who headed to Hollywood in the late
1960s, returned to Poland to film The Pianist (2002). The film, which
tells the story of a young musician who lived through the Nazi occupation of
Warsaw, earned Polanski his first Academy Award for best director.
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Libraries and Museums
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Poland has many museums, some of the most notable
of which are the National Museum (founded in 1862), the Museum of Technology
(1875), and the State Archaeological Museum (1923), all in Warsaw; the National
Museum (1879) and the Wawel Royal Castle, both in Kraków; the Archaeological
and Ethnographical Museum (1956), in Łódź; the Polish Maritime Museum (1960),
in Gdańsk; and the Upper Silesian Museum (1927), in Katowice. Major libraries
include the National Library (1928) and the main branch of the Public Library
(1907), both located in Warsaw, as well as several university libraries.
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ECONOMY
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Before World War II, Poland’s economy depended
largely on agriculture. However, the Communists, who had achieved a monopoly on
power by 1947, adopted a Soviet-style planned economy in which heavy industry
and engineering were emphasized. Nearly all branches of large industry, trade,
transportation, and finance came under the control of the Communist government.
Private ownership was limited to agriculture, handicrafts, and certain
services. During the first several decades of the Communist period, Poland’s
economy grew. However, in the late 1970s the country began to experience severe
economic difficulties, caused by a series of poor harvests, unrest among
industrial workers, shortages of consumer goods, lagging technology, rising
inflation, and a massive foreign debt. These economic problems, which worsened
during the 1980s, were responsible in large part for the collapse of the
Communist regime and its replacement by a non-Communist coalition in 1989.
In December 1989 the new government, led by
members of the labor union Solidarity (Solidarność), launched a reform
program designed to transform Poland’s economy into one based on a free-market
system. Price controls were lifted, while wage controls were imposed. State
enterprises were transformed into joint-stock companies, and many were
scheduled for eventual privatization or purchased by foreign investors. The
restructuring of the Polish economy led to massive layoffs of workers and a
rapid rise in unemployment. Poland’s gross domestic product (GDP) declined
sharply in 1990 and 1991.
After its initial decline, Poland’s economy began
to improve. Annual GDP increased between 1992 and 2006, when it reached $339
billion. Industrial production increased by about 12 percent in 1994, which,
accompanied by a 2 percent drop in unemployment, represented a major increase
in labor productivity. Inflation remained above government goals but steadily
declined, with an annual rate of 30 percent in 1994 dropping to 18.5 percent in
1996. Although hundreds of enterprises were transferred to private ownership
during 1994 and 1995, the pace of privatization was generally slow; the private
sector’s share of GDP remained at about 60 percent in 1995 and 1996. However, a
new constitution adopted in May 1997 committed the country to pursuing a market
economy and further privatization. In the early and mid-1990s Poland’s foreign
debt was significantly alleviated by concessions from creditors, which helped
to attract increasing levels of foreign investment.
Poland is a member of a number of
international economic organizations, including the International Monetary Fund
(IMF), the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank),
the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the World Trade
Organization (WTO), and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD). The country also belongs to the Central European
Initiative, a group promoting regional economic and political cooperation.
Poland became an associate member of the European Union (EU) in 1994, and in
1997 it was invited to become a full member. Polish voters approved a
referendum to join the EU in June 2003, and Poland formally joined the
organization in May 2004.
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Labor
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The total active labor force in Poland numbers 17.2
million people. Approximately 29 percent of workers are employed in industry,
including manufacturing, mining, and construction; 17 percent are employed in
agriculture and forestry; and the rest are employed mainly in services,
including transportation and trade. Unemployment increased very rapidly during
the early 1990s, peaking at about 18 percent; by 2005 the unemployment rate had
dropped to 17.7 percent.
Before 1980 all labor unions in Poland belonged to
the state-sponsored Central Council of Trade Unions. In 1980 about 85 percent
of Polish workers joined free trade unions affiliated with the Solidarity
movement. In May 1981 private farmers were authorized to organize an
independent labor organization called Rural Solidarity. Both organizations were
dissolved when Poland was placed under martial law in December 1981 and did not
become legal again until April 1989. During the 1980s the regime of General
Wojciech Jaruzelski organized the All-Poland Trade Unions Alliance (OPZZ). This
organization now supports the Social Democratic Party and is stronger in
membership than Solidarity, which gained 5 percent of the vote in the 1991
elections but failed to qualify in the 1993 elections. In the early 1990s
Solidarity’s leaders were torn between their political responsibilities and the
need to support workers in order to compete with the OPZZ.
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Agriculture
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Although Poland ranks as one of Europe’s leading
agricultural nations, it is continually unable to meet its needs for food and
feed grains. The attempt by the Communist government to collectivize Poland’s
agricultural sector was abandoned in 1956. Small privately owned family farms
now account for more than 70 percent of farmland in Poland.
The largest area of cultivated land is found
in the Central Lowlands, but much of the best farmland is located in the low
plateaus and foothills of southern Poland. Climate limits the range of crops
that can be grown, and periodic drought causes considerable fluctuations in
annual output. Polish farmers generally achieve low yields compared with
farmers in other Eastern European countries because of their small and often
irregularly shaped plots and low earnings, which limit investment in equipment
and fertilizer. The principal Polish crops are grains (including rye, wheat,
barley, and oats), sugar beets, potatoes and other vegetables, apples,
strawberries, currants, rapeseed, and tobacco. Large numbers of cattle, pigs,
sheep, and poultry are raised on Poland’s farms, and livestock products include
meat, eggs, milk, butter, cheese, and wool.
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Forestry
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Forests covered 29 percent of Poland’s land area in
2005, slightly below the European average. State forests account for more than
three-fourths of the forest area, and some sections are slated for
privatization along with the wood-processing industry. Principal forest
products include timber, fiber mass, paper, and cellulose. Poland exports
significant quantities of wood products, mainly pulpwood, to the countries of
Scandinavia, Austria, Germany, and other countries.
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D
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Fishing
|
After 1960 the bulk of Poland’s maritime
fishing activities moved from the Baltic Sea to the Atlantic Ocean and then to
the Sea of Okhotsk, which now supplies almost three-quarters of the country’s
fish. Freshwater fishing is concentrated in the numerous lakes of northern
Poland. In 2005 Poland’s catch totaled 192,900 metric tons. Annual landings
usually consist principally of Alaska pollock, herring, European sprat, squid,
cod, and carp. The major fishing ports are Świnoujście, Kołobrzeg, Darłowo,
Ustka, Władysławowo, Puck, and Hel. Most of Poland’s fish is processed by
private enterprises, though a small number of state and cooperative enterprises
are also in operation. About 12 percent of the country’s fish catch is
exported.
Between 1980 and 1993 the annual catch declined
substantially, due largely to the pollution of Poland’s lakes, which has caused
freshwater fish populations to diminish rapidly. Another problem facing
Poland’s fishing industry is the need to secure access to new fishing areas as
old ones become depleted or protected by quotas.
|
E
|
Mining
|
Poland’s mining sector has declined considerably since
Communism ended in 1989, due in large part to a decrease in domestic demand and
the reduction of government subsidies. This has resulted in large numbers of
layoffs among miners. Coal (including hard coal and lignite) is Poland’s
principal mineral product. The country ranks among the world’s leading
producers of hard coal, although production has decreased significantly in the
1990s. With assistance from the World Bank, Poland has made efforts to
restructure and modernize its coal-mining sector in accordance with strict
environmental regulations. The country’s underground coal mines, most of which
are located in Upper Silesia, have been grouped into a number of companies with
the goal of eventual privatization. Poland is also a leading producer of
sulfur. Other important mineral products include copper, lead, zinc, magnesite,
and rock salt.
|
F
|
Manufacturing
|
After the Communists came to power, Poland’s
manufacturing base was expanded and placed largely under governmental control.
Heavy industries, including machinery and iron and steel, were particularly
emphasized. When the Solidarity-led government took over in 1989, it adopted a
program to return many of Poland’s industries to private ownership. Under the
Communists, economic investment was concentrated largely in Upper Silesia,
Warsaw, Łódź, and Kraków; however, recent policies have encouraged a broader regional
distribution of industry to include smaller cities and rural areas. In the
mid-1990s Poland’s chief manufactures included machines, iron and steel,
cement, chemicals, ships, food products, textiles, and automobiles.
|
G
|
Energy
|
The bulk of Poland’s electricity is derived
from coal, with 1 percent generated by hydroelectric facilities. After 1990
Poland’s energy sector was restructured into more than 100 companies in which
the state held a controlling interest and was subjected to strict environmental
regulations, especially ones concerning sulfur dioxide emissions. Wholesale
privatization of the energy sector is being considered, as are proposals to
lessen Poland’s dependence on coal, which is particularly harmful to the
environment, by encouraging the use of other energy sources, such as oil and
gas. Due to its limited reserves, nearly all of Poland’s oil has to be
imported. Most is imported by sea from the Persian Gulf, North Africa, Norway,
and the United Kingdom. The rest comes from the former Soviet Union through the
Friendship Pipeline, which originates in Russia and runs through Belarus to the
Płock petrochemical refinery, in central Poland.
|
H
|
Tourism
|
The annual number of visitors to Poland has increased
rapidly since 1990. In 2006 there were 16 million visitors in Poland. This
doesn’t include the many Germans, Czechs, and Slovaks who make day trips to
Poland for shopping, business, or family visits. The countries of the former
Soviet Union also accounted for a large percentage of Poland’s foreign
tourists.
The major tourist attractions in Poland are the
resorts along the Baltic Sea, the lake district south of the coast, the Karpaty
and Sudety mountains, and the country’s numerous historic sites and cultural
institutions.
|
I
|
Foreign Trade
|
During the Communist period Poland’s foreign trade
was conducted mainly with other Communist states, notably the Soviet Union,
East Germany, and Czechoslovakia. Trade with Western countries such as West
Germany, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, and Italy grew to
substantial proportions but remained much less than the former. After the fall
of Communism, Poland began to expand its contacts with Western nations.
In the mid-1990s Poland’s imports included
machinery, fuels and electrical power, chemicals, and food products. Exports
included machinery, metals, chemicals, fuels and electrical power, and food
products. Poland’s main suppliers of imports were Germany, Italy, Russia, the United
Kingdom, The Netherlands, and France. The leading purchasers of exports were
Germany, Russia, France, Italy, the United States, and The Netherlands.
|
J
|
Currency and Banking
|
The złoty, divided into 100 groszy,
is the basic unit of currency in Poland. As a result of Poland’s extremely high
inflation rate in the early 1990s, the exchange rate for the złoty peaked at
about 24,000 to the U.S.$1 in 1994. In January 1995 a sweeping currency reform
replaced 10,000 old złoties with one new złoty. The exchange rate in 2006
averaged 3.10 złoties to the U.S.$1.
The National Bank of Poland (founded in 1945)
serves as the country’s central bank. Other important banks include the Bank of
Food Economy and the Export Development Bank. A large number of private banks
were also established after Communism collapsed, some of which have since
failed or been involved in corruption scandals. Many foreign banks have
established branches in Poland as well. Of the more than 1,700 banks operating
in Poland in the mid-1990s, about 100 had several branches throughout the
country while the bulk were small regional or specialized cooperative banks. A
stock exchange was established in Warsaw in 1991.
|
K
|
Transportation
|
After the collapse of Communism in 1989, Polish
authorities began making plans to modernize the country’s transportation
network. Though a number of such projects are underway, others have been
limited by lack of funding.
Poland has a relatively dense rail network that
links most cities and towns; the network consists of 19,599 km (12,178 mi) of
track. In the 1980s the government began to modernize portions of railroad
track located along key routes. In the mid-1990s a major upgrading of two
international and two domestic rail lines began, as did the construction of a
new rail line linking Warsaw with Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Many of Poland’s hard-surfaced public roads are in
poor condition due to maintenance reductions. The number of motor vehicles in
Poland has increased considerably since the late 1980s. A massive increase in
the number of gas, garage, and refreshment facilities is likely to occur in the
coming years, as fuel and other transportation-related industries are
transferred to private ownership.
Poland has nearly 4,000 km (2,485 mi) of navigable
inland waterway. The country’s main rivers are connected by 1,215 km (755 mi)
of canals to the inland ports of Gliwice, Wrocław, and Warsaw. The principal
seaports are located at Gdańsk, Gdynia, and Szczecin. Poland’s main airport is
in Warsaw; additional airports are located in a number of other cities.
|
L
|
Communications
|
In 1946 Poland’s mass media were nationalized and
made subject to supervision by the Communist government. This lasted until
1989, when the country’s new democratic government abolished censorship and
eliminated subsidies to the Communist press. In 2004 Poland had 42 daily
newspapers with a total circulation of 3.9 million. Gazeta Wyborcza
(Electoral News), which was founded in Warsaw in 1989, is Poland’s largest and
most respected daily newspaper. There are about 3,100 periodicals published in
Poland. Many of the dominant publications of the Communist period have either
collapsed or become less important.
In 1992 legislation was passed by parliament ending
the Polish government’s monopoly over television and radio broadcasting. Poland
now has 16 regional radio stations and 10 regional television stations;
however, most radio and television programming still originates in Warsaw. In
1997 there were 522 radios and 401 television sets for every 1,000 Poles.
Videocassettes and cable television have both gained in popularity. Although
new telephone exchanges have increased the number of telephone lines in Poland,
there is still a chronic shortage, especially in rural areas.
|
VI
|
GOVERNMENT
|
Communist Poland was governed under a constitution
adopted in 1952 and subsequently amended. In December 1989 major constitutional
revisions ended the monopoly of the Communist Party, established an upper
chamber in the legislature, and reintroduced democratic rules and principles in
Poland. In 1992 a transitional constitution known as the “Little Constitution”
was adopted. However, this constitution established imprecise limits on the
power of Poland’s president, prime minister, and legislature, which led to some
confrontation between those officeholders, particularly regarding foreign
policy and defense. A full revision of the constitution was initiated in
November 1992. The final draft was completed in April 1997 and approved by
voters in a nationwide referendum the following month. Among its numerous
provisions, the new constitution clarifies the division of powers within the
branches of government, while shifting some power away from the president. The
president’s veto, for example, may be overridden by a three-fifths majority in
the legislature, rather than the two-thirds previously required.
|
A
|
Executive
|
Under the Communist regime, a unicameral
legislature elected the head of state. In 1989 general elections were held for
a new bicameral legislature, and the two houses elected Wojciech Jaruzelski as
president of the republic. In December 1990 Poland held its first direct
presidential elections since the interwar period (1918-1939), electing
labor-activist Lech Wałęsa.
The Polish president is directly elected for a
maximum of two five-year terms. As head of state, he or she is the highest
representative of the country in domestic and international affairs and the
head of the armed forces. Under certain circumstances the president also has
the power to dissolve the legislature and call for new elections.
The prime minister of Poland serves as head of
government. The prime minister is appointed by the president with the approval
of the lower house of the legislature and is typically a leader of the majority
party or coalition. The prime minister heads the Council of Ministers, which is
responsible for carrying out the decisions of the legislature. Other ministers
within the council head various government departments. Council members other
than the prime minister are appointed by the legislature and are responsible to
that body.
|
B
|
Legislature
|
The national legislature of Poland is comprised of two
chambers, the Sejm, or lower house, and the Senat, or upper
house. The Sejm consists of 460 members who are elected for four-year terms
according to a system of proportional representation. The Senat was
reestablished in 1989 after having been abolished by the Communists in 1947.
Its 100 members are also elected for four-year terms.
In the general elections of June 1989, 65 percent
of the seats in the Sejm were reserved for the Communist Party and its allies,
the United Peasant Party and the Democratic Party, and 35 percent were reserved
for the opposition, led by Solidarity. In September 1991 free legislative
elections were held in Poland, in which all seats in parliament were contested
and none were reserved for members of any specific party. Since the general
elections held in 1993, minimum requirements are placed on parties seeking
representation in parliament. To gain seats, single parties need at least 5
percent of the vote, and coalitions need at least 8 percent. All Polish
citizens aged 18 and older are eligible to vote.
|
C
|
Judiciary
|
The Supreme Court is Poland’s highest court of
appeal and is responsible for supervising all lower courts. The court is
organized into four chambers: criminal, civil, labor and social insurance, and
administration. Its more than 100 members are appointed for life terms by the
president from a list prepared by the independent National Council of the
Judiciary. The presiding officer of the Supreme Court, called the first
president, is appointed from among the court justices by the Sejm upon the
recommendation of the country’s president. Poland’s judicial system also
includes the Supreme Administrative Court, and a number of provincial,
district, and special courts.
The State Tribunal and the Constitutional Tribunal
were both established by the Jaruzelski regime in 1982. The Constitutional
Tribunal pronounces judgment on the constitutionality of laws and regulations,
while the State Tribunal pronounces judgment on the guilt or innocence of high
government officials charged with violating the constitution and laws. Selected
by the Sejm for four-year terms, the members of both tribunals are independent
and bound only by the law.
|
D
|
Political Parties
|
The Polish United Workers’ Party, also known as the
Communist Party, was the leading political force in Poland from 1948 until
1989, when it yielded power to a Solidarity-led government. In early 1990 the
Communist Party reestablished itself as the new Social-Democracy of the Polish
Republic (SdRP). Around that time, conflicts developed among the leaders of
Solidarity, and by mid-1990 the movement had splintered into factions. Dozens
of small parties and groups also emerged in Poland after 1989 and many achieved
representation in the government. In an effort to simplify the party system, in
1993 the Polish government established a minimum electoral threshold for
representation in parliament.
Several parties and political coalitions became
important after 1993. These included the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), a
leftist coalition that included the SdRP; and Solidarity Electoral Action
(AWS), an alliance of Roman Catholic, centrist, populist, and right-wing
parties. Also important were the centrist agrarian Polish People’s Party (PSL;
also known as the Polish Peasants’ Party) and the pro-business Freedom Union
(UW).
In the 2001 general election the
Solidarity-led AWS collapsed after it failed to win any seats. Several new
parties on the right emerged to supplant the AWS. They included Civic Platform
(PO; also known as the Citizens’ Platform), a pro-business party formed by
Solidarity defectors; the right-wing, anticorruption Law and Justice Party; the
Self-Defense Party, a populist agrarian party; and the nationalist League of
Polish Families.
Following the 2005 general election, the Law and
Justice Party formed a ruling coalition with the League of Polish Families, the
Polish People’s Party, and the Self-Defense Party. Civic Platform and the
Democratic Left Alliance formed the opposition. Following early legislative
elections in 2007, power shifted to a Civic Platform-led coalition with the
Polish People’s Party. No government had been reelected in Poland since the
fall of Communism in 1989.
|
E
|
Local Government
|
Poland’s first democratic local elections since the
interwar period were held in 1990; subsequent elections were held in 1994 and
1998. Poland is administered locally through a system of provinces (województwa).
The provinces are divided into counties (powiaty), which are subdivided
into towns and communes (gminy). Local governors and provincial
assemblies administer the local districts. Members of the provincial assemblies
are chosen by popularly elected councils that represent the towns and communes.
Both the provincial and community levels of government enjoy far greater
autonomy than they did under the highly centralized Communist system.
|
F
|
Social Services
|
Communist Poland had an extensive system of social
welfare funded from the national budget. Both health care and social security
benefits were free and comprehensive. After 1989 this sector underwent substantial
restructuring and decentralization. Poles now have to pay much more directly
for health care and other welfare provisions.
Private general medicine has increased in recent years,
as has the practice of charging fees for medical care in hospitals. Most Polish
pharmacies are now privately owned. Social security benefits are funded in part
by a payroll tax and in part from the state budget. Benefits provided to Polish
citizens include pensions, disability payments, child allowances, survivor benefits,
maternity benefits, funeral subsidies, sickness compensation, and alimony
payments. Unemployment benefits were expanded in the first years after
Communism ended in response to the large increase in the unemployment rate, but
laws passed in the early 1990s drastically reduced the scope of the
unemployment program.
|
G
|
Defense
|
The Polish armed forces were cut drastically after
the fall of Communism in the late 1980s. In 2004 Polish military forces
included an army of about 89,000 troops, a navy of 14,300, and an air force of
30,000. Military service is compulsory for all men for a period of 18 months,
but deferments are granted on various grounds. The last contingent of Russian
combat troops—remnants of a Soviet force that had been stationed on Polish soil
for decades—withdrew from the country in 1993. In 2003 Poland participated in
the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, sending about 200 Polish soldiers as part of the
invasion force. See also U.S.-Iraq War.
|
H
|
International Organizations
|
Poland is a member of the United Nations (UN),
the Council of Europe (CE), the Central European Initiative, and the European
Union. In March 1999 Poland joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO) as one of three formerly Communist nations chosen to become part of the
Western military alliance.
|
VII
|
HISTORY
|
Little is known regarding the early activities of
the Slavic tribes that laid the foundations of the Polish nation. According to
some experts, a number of these tribes united, about ad 840, under a legendary king known as Piast, but Poland
does not begin to figure in European history until the reign of Mieszko,
reputedly a descendant of Piast, which lasted from 962 to 992.
|
A
|
The Piast Dynasty
|
Mieszko converted the Poles to Christianity in order to
compete better with the crusading and marauding Germans. During the reign
(992-1025) of his son, Bolesław I, the Christian church was firmly established
in Poland. Bolesław also conducted successful wars against Holy Roman Emperor
Henry II and considerably expanded the Polish domain. He was crowned king by
the pope in 1025. At his death, Poland extended beyond the Karpaty Mountains
(Carpathian Mountains) and the Odra and Dniester rivers.
During the next three centuries Poland met with
repeated misfortunes from internal disorder and foreign invasions. In 1079
Bolesław II had the bishop of Kraków murdered and Poland was placed under a
papal interdict. Bolesław III, who reigned from 1102 to 1138, conquered the
region of Pomerania, defeated the pagan Prussians, and defended Silesia against
Holy Roman Emperor Henry V. On the death of Bolesław III Poland was divided
among his sons, and the kingdom subsequently disintegrated into a number of
independent warring principalities.
In 1240 and 1241 the Mongols invaded and
ravaged Poland. Meanwhile, the neighboring Baltic dominions of the Prussians
had been subjugated by the Teutonic Knights, and German colonists, encouraged
by the Polish princes, began to settle in the country. During the period of
German colonization, large numbers of Jews, in flight from persecution in
western Europe, took refuge in Polish territory.
Władysław I of the Piast dynasty was crowned
king of Poland in 1320. From 1305 to 1333, defeats were inflicted on the
Teutonic Knights, and the kingdom was reunited. The power and prosperity of
Poland increased tremendously during the reign of Władysław’s son Kazimierz
III, also called The Great, which lasted from 1333 to 1370. Kazimierz was one
of the most enlightened rulers in Polish history and the last of the Piast
dynasty. He initiated important administrative, judicial, and legislative
reforms, founded the Jagiellonian University in 1364, extended aid to the
Jewish refugees from western Europe, and added Galicia to the Polish domains.
|
B
|
The Jagiellonian Dynasty
|
The second dynasty of Polish kings, the Jagiellonians,
was founded by Jagiełło, grand duke of Lithuania. In 1386 Jagiełło married
Jadwiga, queen of Poland, a grand niece of Kazimierz III, and ascended the
throne as Władysław II Jagiełło. Roman Catholicism was introduced into
Lithuania, a predominantly pagan country, by Władysław, who was converted on
his accession. In 1410 Polish and Lithuanian armies under Władysław won a
decisive victory at Grünwald over the Teutonic Knights, thereby raising Poland
to a leading position among European nations. Thereafter, until 1569, a single
sovereign usually ruled both states.
Under the Jagiellonian dynasty, which lasted until 1572,
Poland attained great heights of power, prosperity, and cultural magnificence.
Kazimierz IV, who ruled from 1447 to 1492, conducted a protracted and
successful war (1454-1466) against the Teutonic Knights. In 1466, by terms of
the Peace of Toruń, which terminated the conflict, he secured West Prussia,
Pomerania, and other territories. The landed gentry and lesser nobility
acquired extensive privileges during Kazimierz’s reign, mainly at the expense
of the peasantry. The Sejm, a parliamentary body that evolved out of earlier
assemblies of nobles and other social groups, began to assume greater
importance. The succeeding Jagiellonian kings, notably Zygmunt I, were
generally victorious in the military and diplomatic struggles of the period,
despite some setbacks in the east. In 1569 Zygmunt II Augustus united the two
realms of Poland and Lithuania. The country was officially termed the Commonwealth
(Rzeczpospolita). Protestantism, which made many converts among the
nobility in the middle years of the 16th century, ceased to be significant
after 1600.
With the death of Zygmunt II Augustus, last of
the Jagiellonians, in 1572, the Polish nobility and gentry (Szlachta)
successfully concluded a prolonged campaign for complete control of the
country. A regime of elected kings was instituted with the power of election
vested in the Sejm, then a bicameral body consisting of the lesser and greater nobility.
One important aspect of this system was to be the liberum veto, which
made it possible for any member of the Sejm to prevent the passage of
legislation. The constitution also sanctioned the formation of military
confederations of nobles.
|
C
|
Wars and Polish Decline
|
For two centuries after these developments, the
political, economic, and military position of Poland deteriorated. Successive
and generally disastrous wars with Sweden, Russia, the Ukrainian Cossacks,
Brandenburg, and the Ottomans led to the loss of important Polish territories
and the devastation of much of Poland. In 1683 Polish and German armies under
the command of Jan III Sobieski defeated a vast Ottoman army at the gates of
Vienna, halting a serious threat to Christendom in central Europe, but his
victory was unable to halt Poland’s decline.
Early in the 18th century the Russian Empire
opened a systematic offensive against declining Poland. Supplementing military
force with bribery and intrigue, the Russian rulers gradually reduced
neighboring Poland to impotence. Widespread political corruption among the
Polish nobility accelerated the drift toward national catastrophe. Through
shameless bribery of a faction of the Sejm and armed Russian intervention,
Frederick Augustus II, elector of Saxony, was placed on the throne of Poland in
1733 as Augustus III. These events brought on the conflict known in history as
the War of the Polish Succession (1733-1735). Although sections of the Polish
nobility subsequently united around a program of national salvation, Poland was
unable to withstand the next Russian onslaught. In 1764 Russian troops entered
Poland and forced the enthronement of Stanisław II Augustus, a paramour of
Catherine the Great, empress of Russia.
|
D
|
Partitions of Poland
|
Russian expansionism, as exemplified by these events, caused
profound alarm among the European powers. The Ottomans immediately declared war
on Russia. Prussia and Austria, fearful of a general European conflict and
coveting Polish territory, submitted a proposal to the Russian government for
the partition of Poland.
|
D1
|
The First Partition and the Polish Commonwealth
|
The Russian government agreed, and in 1772 the treaty of
partition was concluded in Saint Petersburg, Russia. By the terms of this
document, Russia, Austria, and Prussia acquired large portions of Polish
territory, amounting to about one-quarter of the total area of the country. A
constitution, which established safeguards against Polish resurgence, was also
imposed on the nation by the partitioning powers. Consent of the Sejm to the
treaty was obtained largely by bribery.
Despite the political restrictions surrounding the
Commonwealth, Poland progressed in several domestic fields in the decade
following the first partition. The national education system was secularized
and completely modernized. A movement for constitutional reform also developed
during this period, but the Polish nobility frustrated effective action.
Relations between Russia and Prussia deteriorated rapidly after 1786. With
encouragement from Prussia, Polish patriots in the Sejm instituted sweeping
governmental reforms in 1788 and began the draft of a new constitution. A
document proclaiming Poland a hereditary monarchy and strengthening and
liberalizing the government was adopted, in the face of violent opposition from
a section of the gentry, on May 3, 1791.
|
D2
|
The Second and Third Partitions
|
Shortly afterward the leaders of the disgruntled
nobility and Catherine the Great reached a secret agreement providing for the
restoration of the old order. The Polish conspirators organized the Confederacy
of Targowica in May 1792. Supported by Russian troops, this organization
immediately began military operations against Poland. The Polish army, led by
Prince Józef Poniatowski, resisted for more than three months, but the
government, abandoned by Prussia and confronted by overwhelming odds, soon
capitulated. Russian armies occupied all of eastern Poland, and early the
following year the Prussians occupied the western portion of the country. These
territorial seizures, which further reduced the area of Poland by two-thirds,
were formally sanctioned in a second territorial partition, ratified in
September 1793.
In 1794 the Poles embarked on a revolutionary
war for the recovery of their lost territories. Under the leadership of Tadeusz
Kościuszko, who had fought in the American Revolution (1775-1783) and who
assumed dictatorial powers, the hastily formed Polish armies won a series of
victories over the Russians, notably at Racławice. By the summer of 1794 large
sections of Russian-occupied Poland had been liberated and the Russians had
suffered a humiliating defeat at Warsaw. A variety of factors, however,
including dissension among the Polish high command, the overwhelming numerical
superiority of the Russians, and Prussian and Austrian intervention, rendered
the Polish cause hopeless.
In October 1794 the Russians won a decisive
victory at Maciejowice. Russian forces under Field Marshal Aleksandr Suvorov
entered Praga, a suburb of Warsaw, in November and massacred much of the
population. Warsaw then surrendered, and the remnants of the revolutionary
armies surrendered within a few weeks. After settling sharp differences on
division of the spoils, the victorious powers concluded treaties between 1795
and 1797 on the third partition of Poland. By the terms of the treaties, the
Russian Empire received about half of the remaining Polish territory, and
Prussia and Austria each received about a quarter. With these events, the
Polish state disappeared from the map of Europe.
|
E
|
Poland Under Foreign Rule
|
The Polish people remained under the yoke of
foreign masters for nearly 125 years after the third partition. During the
Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815), the French Emperor Napoleon I, who had promised to
reestablish Poland, obtained substantial help from the Poles, thousands of whom
served in his armies. In 1807, by the provisions of the Treaty of Tilsit, he
created the duchy of Warsaw, consisting originally of the territory taken by
Prussia in 1793 and 1795. Two years later Napoleon forced Austria to cede
Western Galicia to the duchy. Aside from granting the state a liberal
constitution, Napoleon did little else for the Poles who enthusiastically
supported his campaign against Russia in 1812.
In 1815 the Congress of Vienna, which drafted
the general European peace settlement after Napoleon’s downfall, created the
Kingdom of Poland (also called the Congress Kingdom of Poland), consisting of
about three-quarters of the territory of the former duchy of Warsaw, with the
Russian emperor as king; established Kraków as a city republic; and distributed
the remainder of Poland between Russia, Austria, and Prussia. Alexander I,
emperor of Russia, granted the new kingdom a liberal constitution in 1815, but
Polish nationalists soon initiated a powerful movement for independence. On
November 29, 1830, this movement culminated in the outbreak of armed
insurrection. The Poles expelled the imperial authorities and in January 1831
proclaimed their independence. In the ensuing war, the Poles kept the Russians
at bay for several months. However, the Russians won an important victory at
Ostrołka in May 1831 and took Warsaw in September.
The constitution, the Sejm, and the Polish army were
abolished in the aftermath of the rebellion. The Poles were deprived of civil
liberties, their country was robbed of literary and art treasures, and severe
measures were taken to Russianize public institutions and administration. Other
abortive insurrections and nationalist demonstrations occurred in various parts
of Poland in 1846, 1848, 1861, and most notably in 1863. After the insurrection
of 1863 the Russian Empire, intensifying its program for the Russification of
the Polish lands under its rule, introduced the Russian language in the
schools, restricted the use of the Polish language, and interfered with the
activities of the Roman Catholic Church. Culturally, politically, and
economically, the parts of Poland under Russian rule were transformed into mere
provinces of the Russian Empire, losing almost all vestiges of their former
autonomy. The Poles in Prussian Poland were subjected to a policy of
Germanization (although not as severe as in the Russian zone); Poles in
Austrian Poland were treated more liberally, and they developed their own
leaders and political life.
|
F
|
Independence
|
Conscripted into the armies of Russia and the
Central Powers, Poles fought against Poles in World War I (1914-1918). After
the downfall of the Russian Empire in March 1917, the provisional government of
Russia recognized Poland’s right to self-determination. A provisional Polish
government was subsequently formed in Paris, France. In September 1917 the
Germans, then in complete control of the country, created a regency council as
the supreme governmental authority of the so-called Polish kingdom. With the
collapse of the Central Powers in the fall of 1918, the Poles moved swiftly
toward statehood. In November Poland was proclaimed an independent republic,
and Józef Piłsudski became the temporary head of state.
|
G
|
The Post-World War I Period
|
The Treaty of Versailles, signed in June 1919,
granted Poland a narrow belt of territory (the so-called Polish corridor)
extending along the Wisła River to the Baltic Sea, and large sections of Poznań
and West Prussia. The treaty also awarded Poland important economic rights in
the free city of Danzig (now Gdańsk). After a war with Soviet Russia in 1920,
Poland regained historically Polish territory from Belarus and Ukraine. In the
west, the Poles acquired sections of Upper Silesia in 1921 and 1922, following
a direct vote by the electorate.
In the two decades following the war, the
foreign policy of Poland was largely determined by fear of Germany and the
USSR. A defensive alliance with France was arranged in February 1921, and
alliances were subsequently signed with Romania, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia,
Latvia, Estonia, and Finland. In 1932 Poland concluded a nonaggression pact
with the USSR. A similar agreement, effective for ten years, was concluded with
Germany in 1934. Both these treaties guaranteed Poland’s borders. Under the
guidance of Foreign Minister Joźef Beck, Poland pursued a policy of balance in
its relations with Germany and the USSR.
Following the adoption of a permanent constitution in
March 1921, domestic developments were marked by incessant strife between
Poland’s conservative and leftist political factions. Failure of the new state
to protect the economic and political rights of the Jews, Ukrainians,
Belarusians, Germans, and other minorities included in its population also
caused constant friction and turmoil. Some concessions to the demands of
certain of the minorities were legislated in 1924. In December 1925 a measure
was enacted providing for distribution to the peasantry of 20,234 hectares
(50,000 acres) of land each year.
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The German Threat
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Meanwhile, Poland had been in the throes of an almost
continuous financial crisis. General instability and confusion led to frequent
changes of cabinet. Following a coup led by Józef Piłsudski in 1926, Ignacy
Mościcki was installed as president; Piłsudski, as minister of war, gradually
acquired complete control over the government in the late 1920s and early
1930s. In 1935 a new constitution was adopted formalizing his authoritarian
regime. Piłsudski survived the inauguration of the new system by less than a
month, and was succeeded by General Edward Smigły-Rydz.
The triumph of National Socialism (Nazism) in
Germany and the expansionist policy of German dictator Adolf Hitler in the late
1930s posed grave dangers to Polish security. After the Munich Pact and the
ensuing destruction of the Czechoslovak state in March 1939, Poland, which had
received about 1,036 sq km (about 400 sq mi) of Czech territory in the Munich
settlement, became the next major target of German diplomacy. This development
took the form of German demands, delivered late in March, that Poland consent
to the cession of Danzig to Germany and yield important rights in the Polish
corridor. Polish rejection of these demands was followed, on March 31, by an
Anglo-French pledge of aid to Poland in the event of German aggression. On
April 28, Hitler renounced the German-Polish nonaggression treaty. On September
1, 1939, Germany attacked Poland after signing a pact with the USSR, an act
that marked the outbreak of World War II.
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World War II
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The Polish army received no effective assistance
from the West, and by mid-September German armies had overrun most of western
and central Poland. On September 17, Soviet troops invaded Poland from the
east, and the two invading powers divided the country between them. Enormous
reprisals were exacted against the Poles throughout the German-occupied region.
In the Soviet-occupied area, many thousands of Poles were forcibly deported to
Siberia. In 1940 thousands of captured Polish army officers were murdered by
Soviet security services. A mass grave containing many of the bodies was
discovered later in the Katyn Forest near Smolensk, Russia.
Numerous members of the Polish government and the
military forces succeeded in escaping from Poland during the final phases of
German and Soviet military operation against the country. Most of the refugee
Polish troops, numbering about 100,000, succeeded in reaching France, where
they were regrouped into combat units. These units and others that were later
organized in the USSR rendered valiant service to the Allied war effort in
North Africa and Europe. In the meantime a government-in-exile, led by General
Władystaw Sikorski, had been organized in France. Following the collapse of
France in 1940, the Polish government established headquarters in London.
The German armed forces occupied all of Soviet-held
Poland during the initial phase of their attack on the USSR in 1941. During
their occupation of the country, the German armies pursued a policy of
systematic extermination of Polish citizens, particularly Jews, most of whom
perished at Auschwitz (Oświęcim), Treblinka, Majdanek, Sobibór, and other
concentration camps scattered throughout the country. In April 1943 the Jews of
the Warsaw Ghetto, rather than wait for destruction in the camps, rose in
rebellion against hopeless odds. The Germans quelled the rising after three
weeks of fighting. At the end of the war estimated civilian casualties numbered
more than 5 million, most of which were inflicted by the Germans. Polish military
casualties in the war totaled about 600,000. The material losses suffered were
similarly enormous.
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The Liberation
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The liberation of Poland from German domination
began shortly after the Anglo-American invasion of France in June 1944. During
June, July, and August the Soviet armies, taking advantage of the situation,
inflicted a series of devastating defeats on the Germans in the east. Before
the beginning of September the Soviet army, aided by contingents of Polish
troops, had begun operations on Polish territory. In August 1944 Polish
resistance forces, known as the Home Army (Armia Krajowa), took control of
Warsaw, but the Soviets did not support them. The Germans recaptured the city
by October and burned it to the ground after evacuating the population. The
remains of Warsaw were occupied by the Soviet army in January 1945, and the
last of the German invaders were driven from the country in March.
In July 1944 the Soviet government had
sponsored the formation of a Polish Committee of National Liberation, an
organization largely dominated by Communists. The committee, which established
headquarters at Lublin after the liberation of that city, proclaimed itself the
provisional government of Poland in December 1944. After several attempts, a
reconciliation between the Polish governments in London and Lublin was
accomplished. In June 1945, after the Germans had been expelled, a coalition
established a Polish Government of National Unity. This government was
officially recognized by the British and U.S. governments in the following
month, having gained Soviet promises of free elections at the Yalta Conference
in early 1945.
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Postwar Boundary Changes
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At the Potsdam Conference, held after Germany’s
surrender in 1945, the Allied powers placed Upper and Lower Silesia, Danzig,
and parts of Brandenburg, Pomerania, and East Prussia under Polish
administration pending the conclusion of a final peace settlement. Of a
population totaling about 8.9 million in the German areas assigned to Poland,
more than 7 million were Germans. Most of the Germans fled the Soviet Army or
were subsequently expelled to Germany. The eastern frontier of Poland was
determined by the terms of a treaty concluded by the Polish and Soviet
governments on August 16, 1945. On the basis of this document, which
established the Polish-Soviet frontier considerably to the west of the prewar
boundary, the USSR acquired a large amount of former Polish territory. The
inhabitants of this territory totaled approximately 12.5 million. Of this
number, nearly 4 million were Poles, most of whom were repatriated to Poland
and resettled in the areas obtained from Germany.
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The Emergence of the Communist State
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Communist-Socialist strength in the government grew steadily
during 1946 and 1947. In the 1947 parliamentary elections—denounced by the
United States as undemocratic—the two-party coalition won more than 85 percent
of the vote.
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Stalinist Takeover
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Beginning in September 1948 the Polish Communist Party
purged itself of many thousands of so-called national Communists who were
accused of approving Yugoslavia’s defiance of the USSR. Among those jailed in
the purge was Władysław Gomułka, secretary general of the party and first
deputy premier. In December the Socialists and Communists merged to form the
Polish United Workers’ Party, in which pro-Stalin Communists were dominant.
Soviet Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky was installed as head of the Polish armed
forces in 1949. Thereafter Poland appeared to be one of the most faithful
satellites of the USSR.
Pro-Soviet Communist leaders then sought to implement
industrial and economic goals for Poland in conformity with the economic and
social system of the USSR. The major problem was the effort to collectivize
agriculture, which was unsuccessful and later abandoned.
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Church-State Conflict
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After the Vatican excommunicated all Communists in
1949, the Polish government confiscated many church properties, ordered the
closing of church schools, and established a youth organization to counteract
the influence of the church.
In the 1950s the government assumed
supervision over the appointment of clergymen, requiring a loyalty oath of each
candidate. Stefan Cardinal Wyszyński, archbishop of Warsaw and Gniezno and
primate of Poland, resisted the measure and was suspended from office.
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Gomułka’s Return
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During the postwar period, Poland became an active
member of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and the Warsaw Pact, both
Soviet-dominated organs. In 1952 Poland adopted a constitution modeled after
that of the USSR but explicitly recognizing certain property rights.
During the liberalization that followed the death of
Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in 1953, Polish artists, intellectuals, students,
and workers raised demands for government reforms and a greater measure of
freedom from Soviet control. In June 1956 workers staged demonstrations in
Poznań; the quelling of the uprising left 53 people dead and several hundred
wounded. Leaders of the demonstrations received relatively light sentences. In
October Gomułka, who had been readmitted to the party, was named first
secretary with great popular support. Rokossovsky and other Stalinist officials
in high Polish posts were dismissed, and Cardinal Wyszyński was freed from
detention.
Gomułka became the dominant figure in Poland,
steering a careful course between pro-Soviet and nationalist sentiments and
introducing limited political reforms. In the 1957 elections, slates included
some non-Communists and independents; moreover, there were nearly twice as many
candidates as posts to be filled. By the early 1960s, however, Gomułka had
tightened the party’s hold on Poland and halted most of the reforms.
Popular discontent erupted once again in Poland in the
spring of 1968, as demands by students and artists for greater freedom of
expression were met by severe government repression. Student demonstrations
began in Warsaw in March, at the university and at the polytechnic, and soon
spread to the universities in Poznań, Lublin, and Kraków. The students demanded
liberal reforms similar to those instituted in Czechoslovakia at the time.
Seeking to stifle dissent, the government launched a campaign against Jews.
Hundreds of Jews and reformers were dismissed from government, party,
university, and newspaper positions, and many left Poland for the West or
Israel. During the conferences in Warsaw in June and Bratislava,
Czechoslovakia, in August 1968, the Warsaw Pact powers condemned the political
and cultural reforms taking place in Czechoslovakia. On August 20 Poland
participated in the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, sending
a contingent estimated at 45,000 troops.
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Reconciliation with West Germany
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Early in 1970 economic problems prompted the
government to make a major adjustment in its foreign policy. Hopeful of obtaining
economic and technological aid from prosperous West Germany (now part of the
Federal Republic of Germany), the Poles opened political talks with West
Germany in January, and the Polish and German foreign ministers reached
agreement in November. In December Chancellor Willy Brandt of West Germany went
to Warsaw to sign the resulting treaty, in which West Germany formally accepted
the postwar loss of 103,600 sq km (40,000 sq mi) to Poland and the
establishment of the Oder-Neisse line as Poland’s western frontier. In return,
West Germany received informal Polish assurances that Polish residents who
claimed German nationality (believed to number several tens of thousands) would
be permitted to emigrate from Poland. Both sides agreed to settle disputes exclusively
by peaceful means and to move toward full normalization of relations. Full
relations were restored after the West German parliament ratified the treaty in
May 1972.
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The Gierek Regime
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An economic crisis assumed major proportions late
in 1970. Polish industry had fallen short of planning goals. Bad weather again
contributed to a poor harvest and resulted in the costly import of grain. In
addition, the prices of coal, food, and clothing were drastically increased.
Outraged at the increases, Polish workers, mainly from the Baltic seaports of
Gdańsk, Gdynia, and Szczecin, staged demonstrations that led to riots, arson,
and looting. A week-long state of emergency was declared, and the protests were
forcibly suppressed with considerable loss of life.
In the aftermath of the rioting, party
secretary Gomułka and other party leaders were removed from the Politburo (the
executive committee of the Communist Party). Edward Gierek, a prominent
Politburo member from Silesia, became party secretary. Prices were frozen at
their previous levels, and in the early 1970s Poland enjoyed a period of
political liberalization and economic prosperity based on foreign loans.
Improving relations with the West were symbolized by
visits to Poland by U.S. presidents Richard M. Nixon in 1972, Gerald R. Ford in
1975, and Jimmy Carter in 1977. Also in the 1970s Poland began the repatriation
of some 125,000 ethnic Germans to West Germany.
After a proposed price increase was prevented by
strikes and demonstrations in 1976, political life stagnated and worker
opposition developed. Karol Cardinal Wojtyła of Kraków was elected pope as John
Paul II in 1978. Living standards deteriorated, and hundreds of thousands of
Polish workers responded to a large food price hike by going on strike in the
summer of 1980. In August the country was paralyzed when workers in Gdańsk and
other Baltic ports conducted sit-in strikes in their shipyards for three weeks
and started making political demands. At the end of the month the Communist
authorities were forced into making unprecedented concessions to the workers.
These included the right to strike, wage increases, the release of political
prisoners, and the elimination of censorship. The recognition of the right to
organize independent trade unions led to the formation of the Solidarity
federation in mid-September. The ill and discredited Communist Party leader
Gierek stepped down in favor of Stanisław Kania shortly afterward.
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O
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Solidarity Triumphant
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The standoff between Solidarity and the Communist
Party took place during a period of increased economic decline, and social
discontent caused a growing number of dangerous confrontations. Partly because
of Soviet pressure, the government was unable or unwilling to carry out the
necessary reforms. In February 1981, General Wojciech Jaruzelski was made
premier, and in October he became the head of the Communist Party. To control
the situation Jaruzelski used the demands of the Solidarity movement for economic
improvements and greater political freedom as a pretext for imposing martial
law. In mid-December the Solidarity organization was suspended, and its leader,
Lech Wałęsa, was interned. Thousands of other Solidarity activists were either
arrested or interned, and nine activists were killed.
All industrial and political opposition was banned
and suppressed, and Communist Party reformers were also disciplined. Polish
authorities retained many of the expanded emergency powers even after the
lifting of martial law in 1983. Solidarity lost its mass base but survived as
an underground opposition force with sufficient popular support to force
gradual concessions from the regime. It was backed by the increasingly powerful
Roman Catholic Church, which had been strengthened by papal visits in 1983 and
1987. The Jaruzelski government gradually loosened its grip on power and
attempted to introduce economic reforms. These failed to gain sufficient social
support, however, and were never completed.
The political and economic stalemate in Poland
during the 1980s was broken by the appointment of Mikhail Gorbachev as Soviet
leader in 1985 and the resulting liberalization of Soviet policy. Reform became
possible in Poland. Spurred on by industrial unrest in 1988, Jaruzelski’s reformist
Communists and Wałęsa’s Civic Committee negotiated an agreement in early 1989.
Political and civic freedoms were conceded, Solidarity was relegalized, and a
freely elected Senat (upper legislative house) was established. Jaruzelski was
elected to the presidency with Solidarity’s approval.
In the 1989 legislative elections, Solidarity won
99 of the 100 Senat seats as well as the 35 percent of the Sejm (lower house)
seats that it was allowed to contest. Although the political balance in the
Sejm was now held by the Communists’ minor party allies (the peasant and
democratic parties), these parties refused to endorse the Communist police
chief, General Czesław Kiszczak, as prime minister. In August, Tadeusz
Mazowiecki, a close aide to Wałęsa, formed a coalition government in which
Communists controlled the defense and interior ministries. Mazowiecki, Poland’s
first non-Communist premier in more than 40 years, dismantled the Communist
system and consolidated the transition to democracy. His influential finance
minister, Leszek Balcerowicz, curbed the swelling hyperinflation and initiated
Poland’s rapid transition to a free-market economy.
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Democratic Poland
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In 1990 Solidarity split into two opposing groups,
with one group supporting Wałęsa and the other supporting Mazowiecki. In
November Wałęsa, Mazowiecki, and a maverick émigré millionaire, Stanisław
Tymiński, ran in a presidential election. Mazowiecki was eliminated on the
first ballot while Wałęsa won the runoff against Tymiński. Wałęsa was unclear
about how to define his office, however. This led to an ambiguous distribution
of presidential, prime ministerial, and parliamentary powers in Poland’s
transitional “Little Constitution,” adopted in 1992. Post-Communist Poland thus
suffered from a confused, unstable, and conflict-ridden political process.
Proportional representation adopted for the 1991 legislative elections produced
a Sejm composed of a dozen significant political parties. Between 1991 and 1993
Poland was governed by a succession of short-lived parliamentary coalitions.
Poland established or renewed diplomatic relations with
the European Community (now the European Union), the republics of the former
USSR, the Vatican, and Israel, and signed cooperation treaties with the newly
unified Germany and a number of other European states. The country joined the
Council of Europe and negotiated associate membership of the European Union.
Full national sovereignty was regained in 1992 with the evacuation of most of
the Soviet troops stationed in Poland. The withdrawal was completed in August
1993.
The September 1993 legislative elections simplified
the party system by excluding all but the six parties who succeeded in gaining
the minimum electoral threshold of 5 percent of the vote (8 percent for
coalitions). The Communists’ successor parties, including the Social Democracy
of the Polish Republic (SdRP) and the Polish People’s Party (PSL), benefited
from popular dissatisfaction with the socioeconomic costs of the transformation
and gained a large majority. Waldemar Pawlak, the PSL leader, became prime
minister, but his government was harassed by Wałęsa and accused of trying to
slow economic reform. In early 1995 Wałęsa threatened to dissolve parliament if
the Pawlak government was not replaced. Betraying his intention to position
himself for the 1995 presidential election, Wałęsa nominated a likely election
opponent, Aleksander Kwaśniewski, for the position of prime minister. He was
overruled by parliament, and Józef Oleksy, a member of the Democratic Left
Alliance (SLD) and former Communist, was eventually nominated. Amid this
atmosphere Pawlak’s government lost a vote of confidence. Pawlak resigned as
prime minister in March and was replaced by Oleksy.
In the presidential election held in November 1995,
Wałęsa, who had discredited himself among the Poles through his personal
failings and political mistakes, was unseated by Kwaśniewski, a former
Communist and the founder and leader of the SLD. Kwaśniewski pledged to
continue the process of economic reform and to seek full membership for Poland
in the EU and NATO. In a move intended to help heal the political rifts
resulting from the election, Kwaśniewski resigned from the leadership of the
SLD later that month. Kwaśniewski was reelected president in 2000.
In January 1996 Prime Minister Oleksy resigned in
the face of a formal investigation into allegations that he had been spying for
Russia for more than a decade. Oleksy, Poland’s seventh prime minister since
the collapse of Communism, had once served in the Communist Party’s Central
Committee. Although he admitted to having a friendship with a Russian
intelligence agent who had been stationed in Warsaw since the 1980s, Oleksy
denied the espionage charges and declared his innocence. Włodzimierz
Cimoszewicz, also of the SLD, replaced Oleksy as prime minister in February. In
April the military prosecutor investigating the charges against Oleksy decided
to drop the case due to insufficient evidence of criminal activity.
In October 1996 the Sejm voted not to charge
Jaruzelski and other former Communist officials with constitutional violations
in connection with the imposition of martial law in 1981.
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A New Constitution for Poland
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In 1997 a special parliamentary commission,
dominated by former Communists, completed the task of drafting a new
constitution. Following parliamentary approval of the document in April, a nationwide
referendum was held in May in which 52.7 percent of voters approved the new
constitution. A coalition of right-wing groups associated with Solidarity and
some Catholics strongly opposed its passage, claiming some of its provisions
were overly secular. A synthesis of seven competing versions, the 243-article
charter delineates the powers of the presidency, guarantees basic civil rights,
ensures civilian control over the armed forces, and commits the country to a
market economy and private ownership of enterprise.
In October 1997 the conservative Solidarity
Electoral Action (AWS) and the pro-business Freedom Union (UW) formed a
coalition government after winning a combined majority of seats in both the
Sejm and the Senat in legislative elections the previous month. Kwaśniewski
appointed Jerzy Buzek, a former Solidarity activist in the 1980s and an AWS
legislator, as prime minister. A liberal reformer, Buzek pledged to accelerate
the privatization of state-owned industries and to decentralize government
power. In December 1997 the EU invited Poland to begin the process of becoming
a full member.
In July 1998 the Polish government approved a
plan to slash the number of provinces from 49 to 16, and to invest each
province’s elected officials with more authority. The administrative reform,
which took effect on January 1, 1999, was part of Poland's efforts to bring its
laws and procedures in line with EU standards for admission. Government leaders
celebrated Poland’s accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
in March, about two years after it was invited into the historically western
alliance.
The Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) emerged as the
largest party in the September 2001 legislative elections and it formed a
coalition government with the Polish People’s Party (PSL). Leszek Miller, SLD
leader and a former member of the Polish Communist Party’s Central Committee,
became prime minister in October. Miller vowed to reduce Poland’s growing
budget deficit and to win membership for Poland in the EU. The elections were a
stunning defeat for the Solidarity-led AWS, which was ousted from the
legislature after failing to win the minimum 8 percent of the vote required for
coalitions.
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P2
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Poland Since Its Entry into the EU
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In a nationwide referendum in June 2003, Polish
voters overwhelmingly supported Poland’s entry into the European Union (EU).
The vote gave President Kwaśniewski popular approval to ratify Poland’s
accession to the EU, which formally occurred in May 2004. Rising unemployment
and mounting economic problems ahead of Poland’s entry into the EU led to
widespread dissatisfaction with Prime Minister Miller’s government. In March
2004 Miller announced his intention to resign. A few days later the president
named Marek Belka, an economist, as his successor.
However, persistently high unemployment and corruption
scandals undermined the governing SLD, and support for the party plunged
heading into the September 2005 parliamentary elections. The elections brought
the lowest voter turnout—about 40 percent—since the fall of Communism in 1989.
The socially conservative Law and Justice Party (PiS)
won the most seats in the election, followed by the pro-business Civic Platform
(PO). Talks between the two parties to create a coalition government failed,
and Law and Justice instead formed a minority government with the support of a
number of smaller parties. Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, a noted economics expert,
was named prime minister. Shortly after the parliamentary elections, Lech
Kaczyński of Law and Justice won Poland’s presidency in a separate vote.
Marcinkiewicz stood down as prime minister in July 2006 and was replaced by the
president’s twin, Jarosław Kaczyński.
Prime Minister Kaczyński made rooting out corruption his
highest priority and to this end formed the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau. His
government also sought to remove former Communist officials from public
positions. Relations with other EU countries, especially Germany, became
strained as the prime minister pursued a more isolationist path for Poland.
The Law and Justice Party’s unstable coalition
collapsed in August 2007, forcing early parliamentary elections in October. The
elections had the highest turnout since 1989, with 53.8 percent of voters going
to the polls. Civic Platform (PO) emerged as the clear winner, taking 209 seats
in the 460-member Sejm, while Law and Justice trailed with 166 seats. The
election outcome continued a trend: No government had been reelected in Poland
since the fall of Communism. The Civic Platform victory was largely attributed
to higher turnout among younger Poles, who favored the party’s pro-EU policies.
Civic Platform leader Donald Tusk became prime minister and formed a coalition
government with the Polish People’s Party, thereby securing a comfortable
majority in the Sejm. Tusk’s highest priorities included improving relations
with other EU countries and meeting stringent economic requirements for
Poland’s eventual adoption of the euro, the currency of the EU.
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