Poland

C

Art and Cinema

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.

D

Libraries and Museums

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.

V

Economy

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.

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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 2005, when it reached $303 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.

A

Labor

The total active labor force in Poland numbers 17.3 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.

B

Agriculture

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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