Poland, 1918-1945 is a challenging, revisionist analysis and interpretation, supported by documentary evidence, of a crucial and controversial period in Poland's recent history
Poland continues to be a puzzle for the West, partly because its history remains unfamiliar. Recently, however, the country has produced a number of excellent historians whose work is highly esteemed by specialists but has not yet penetrated to the general reader. The present collection of studies by thirteen of Poland's leading historians will acquaint the layman with the basic issues of Poland's historical evolution, and offer specialists radical reinterpretations of some of those issues. It is intended both as an overview of recent trends in Polish historiography and as a summary of Polish history from its origins to the mid-nineteenth century. Historically, Poland represented the great exception to the emergence of centralized bureaucracy in Europe. The Polish Commonwealth became a fully elective monarchy which extended the franchise and citizenship rights to almost 10 per cent of its population, thereby making the state a unique example of gentry democracy. The nobility played a role in Polish history unlike that of any comparable class everywhere in Europe, and this unique phenomenon serves as a thread unifying the various themes in these studies of a 'republic of nobles.' -- from dust jacket.
The Spring Will Be Ours focuses on the turbulent half century from the outbreak of World War II in 1939, which started the chain of events that would lead to the communist takeover of Poland, to 1989, when futile attempts to reform the communist system gave way to its total transformation. Andrzej Paczkowski shows how the communists captured and consolidated power, describes their use of terror and propaganda, and illuminates the changes that took place within the governing elite. He also documents the political opposition to the regime - both inside Poland and abroad - that resulted in upheavals in 1956, 1968, 1970, 1976, and 1980. His narrative makes evident the pressures that the elite felt from above, from Moscow, and from below, from the population and from within the party. The history of Poland and the Poles is of special interest because on numerous occasions in the twentieth century this relatively small country influenced developments on a global scale.
The thirteen authors of this collective work undertook to articulate matter-of-fact critiques of the dominant narrative about communism in Poland while offering new analyses of the concept, and also examining the manifestations of anticommunism. Approaching communist ideas and practices, programs and their implementations, as an inseparable whole, they examine the issues of emancipation, upward social mobility, and changes in the cultural canon. The authors refuse to treat communism in Poland in simplistic categories of totalitarianism, absolute evil and Soviet colonization, and similarly refuse to equate communism and fascism. Nor do they adopt the neoliberal view of communism as a project doomed to failure. While wholly exempt from nostalgia, these essays show that beyond oppression and bad governance, communism was also a regime in which people pursued a variety of goals and sincerely attempted to build a better world for themselves. The book is interdisciplinary and applies the tools of social history, intellectual history, political philosophy, anthropology, literature, cultural studies, and gender studies to provide a nuanced view of the communist regimes in east-central Europe.
This 2012 Article IV Consultation discusses that the economy of Poland fared well throughout the crisis. The growth was robust and well balanced in 2011. The banking sector remained profitable and well capitalized. Declining provisioning boosted profitability and the average capital adequacy ratio remained high at about 13 percent. Executive Directors have commended the authorities for sound macroeconomic management, which has underpinned the good performance of the Polish economy in a challenging environment. Directors have broadly supported the ongoing fiscal adjustment, which is necessary to rebuild fiscal buffers.
Józef Piłsudski (1868-1935) is the heroic and controversial leader of the reconstituted Poland that emerged out of World War I. He was a revolutionary who defeated the Red Armies outside of Warsaw and although he never held an elected office, he placed his personal stamp on the development of the Pre-War Polish Republic. In some ways he was a visionary for the era (A Federation of Eastern States, free education, woman’s suffrage) he also was responsible for a dominant military presence and a coup against the elected government. Dr. Lenkiewicz examines the life of this hero of Poland based on original documentation and people who knew him.
This staff report for the Republic of Poland’s 2013 Article IV Consultation highlights economic development and policies. The current account in 2012 was primarily financed by EU transfers and foreign direct investment (FDI), notwithstanding a reduction in net FDI inflows. Moderate outflows from the domestic banking system were more than offset by strong portfolio inflows into the government bond market. The current account deficit and real effective exchange rate are broadly in line with medium-term fundamentals and desirable policies according to the External Balance Assessment models. The largely foreign-owned banking system has remained well-capitalized, profitable, and liquid.
Contains the verbatim text of the notorious "Blackbook" of notes and recommendations, used by government censors in the Office for the Control of the Press, Publications, and Entertainment.
Being Poland offers a unique analysis of the cultural developments that took place in Poland after World War One, a period marked by Poland's return to independence. Conceived to address the lack of critical scholarship on Poland's cultural restoration, Being Poland illuminates the continuities, paradoxes, and contradictions of Poland's modern and contemporary cultural practices, and challenges the narrative typically prescribed to Polish literature and film. Reflecting the radical changes, rifts, and restorations that swept through Poland in this period, Polish literature and film reveal a multitude of perspectives. Addressing romantic perceptions of the Polish immigrant, the politics of post-war cinema, poetry, and mass media, Being Poland is a comprehensive reference work written with the intention of exposing an international audience to the explosion of Polish literature and film that emerged in the twentieth century.