| History of Poland |
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The history of Poland from 1945 to 1989 spans the period of Soviet Communist dominance over the People's Republic of Poland in the decades following World War II. These years, while featuring many improvements in the standards of living in Poland, were marred by political instability, social unrest, and several crippling economic depressions. Eventually, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, increasing pressure from the Roman Catholic Church, trade unions and other groups, and massive foreign debts, the Communist Party in Poland disbanded, and the Solidarity trade union federation assumed control of the government.
In the aftermath of World War II, the German forces were driven from Poland by the advancing Soviet Red Army, and the Yalta Conference sanctioned the formation of a provisional Polish coalition government which heavily favored the Communist Party. The new government in Warsaw subdued a guerrilla resistance in the countryside, and increased its political power by slowly picking away at the influence of its non-Communist foes. Over the next two years, the Communists, under the leadership of Bolesław Bierut, solidified their consolidation of power by forming the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR), a fusion of the Polish Workers' Party and their leftist allies, in the newly-formed People's Republic of Poland, which would become a postwar Soviet sphere of influence in Eastern Europe.
A liberalizing "thaw" in Eastern Europe followed the death of Joseph Stalin in early 1953, sparking the desire for reform among intellectuals, workers, and even some Communist Party members. The de-Stalinization of Soviet policy, however, left Poland's Communist Party in a difficult position. Realizing the need for new leadership following a large worker strike, the PZPR selected Władysław Gomułka to become the head of the reform movement, and Gomułka soon thereafter took on both the top party and government offices. However, after an initial burst of new reforms, changes slowed down as the government re-established firm control. Poland enjoyed a period of relative stability over the next decade, but by the mid-1960s Poland was experiencing increasing economic, as well as political, difficulties. In December 1970, the government suddenly announced massive increases in the prices of basic foodstuffs in an attempt to prevent economic collapse. A wave of strikes followed as the outraged populace demonstrated against the heavy increases, and Gomułka was forced to resign. He was replaced by Edward Gierek, who introduced a new economic program based on large-scale borrowing from the West to buy technology that would upgrade Poland's production of export goods. The program resulted in an immediate rise in living standards and expectations, but it faltered as a result of the 1973 oil crisis. In the late 1970s, Gierek was forced to finally raise prices, and this led to another wave of public protests.
This vicious cycle was finally interrupted by the 1978 election of a Polish Pope, John Paul II. This unexpected event had an electrifying effect on the opposition to Communism in Poland. In early August 1980, the wave of strikes reached the politically volatile Baltic coast. Among the strike leaders was an electrician named Lech Wałęsa from the Gdańsk Shipyards, who soon became a figure of international fame, along with his independent trade union, "Solidarity" (Polish Solidarność). The membership of Solidarity rapidly expanded, and strikes intensified throughout Poland. In December 1981, Wojciech Jaruzelski, who had become the Communist Party's national secretary and prime minister that year, declared martial law in Poland and imprisoned most of the opposition leaders.
However, change was inevitable; in 1988, the talks which became known as the "Round Table Talks" radically altered the structure of Polish government and society. In April 1989, Solidarity was again legalized and allowed to participate in the upcoming elections; its candidates' striking victory in those limited elections sparked off a succession of peaceful transitions from Communist rule in Central and Eastern Europe. In 1990, Jaruzelski resigned as Poland's leader, and was succeeded by Wałęsa in December. By the end of August, a Solidarity-led coalition government had been formed, and in December Wałęsa was elected president and the communistic People's Republic of Poland became the Republic of Poland.