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What was better in Poland under communism?

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posts: 55

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Sep 22, 10, 11:19 #1

For those old enough to remember, what aspects of life under communism, if any, are fondly remembered by you? Would you like some of them to come back? If so, which?
Personally, I feel a major loss was the demise of the net shopping bag or classic 'siatka'. The transition to those filmy plastic bags in which even a single apple or bread roll is placed into, plus all the other excessive plastic and paper packaging, has contaminated the landscape, plugged up drain pipes (exacerbating the flood situation in palaces) and necessitated a huge and costly recycling campaign. Finally someone thought up the reusable eco shopping bags and is raking in the dough selling them. But all of that would have been unnecessary if the humble but effective 'siatka' had survived. The small stretch type could be rolled up and kept in a pocket or lady's handbag always ready for use.

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Edited by: zetigrek Sep 22, 10, 11:37 #2

My dad see lots of advantages of those times but it's because people remember their youth usually as the best time in their life, so does my father who idealizes 70s.

Certainly streets were much safer
People felt more secure about their future
There was no very rich people so there was no divisions in society and jelousy like now it's slowly begining to exist

Among the "small" things:
No graffitis!

southernThreads: 116 Posts: 10,955 Joined: May 17, 07 ♂	Sep 22, 10, 11:41 #3
I was told that during communist times there existed more solidarity among people in Poland.One helped the other.

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Sep 22, 10, 11:53 #4

zetigrek:

Certainly streets were much safer
People felt more secure about their future
There was no very rich people so there was no divisions in society and jelousy like now it's slowly begining to exist

Among the "small" things:
No graffitis!

exactly, and nothing more. i remember lines for basic products such as toilet paper or sugar, reglamentation of meat and gasoline, etc. communism was ******.

SeanusThreads: 22 Posts: 30,158 Joined: Dec 25, 07 ♂	Sep 22, 10, 12:26 #5
Pol3, do you always wake and bake? ;) Based on what my mother-in-law told me, people felt more secure in their jobs given the emphasis on full employment.

ZedThreads: - Posts: 304 Joined: May 25, 10 ♂	Sep 22, 10, 15:07 #6
People felt more secure about their future? What a joke! Nothing was better under communism, thank God it's long gone...

baniorThreads: - Posts: 6 Joined: Sep 18, 10 ♂	Sep 22, 10, 15:16 #7
southern: I was told that during communist times there existed more solidarity among people in Poland.One helped the other. I agree. I remember these times.

SashaThreads: 2 Posts: 1,597 Joined: Apr 19, 08 ♂	Sep 22, 10, 15:55 #8
How about people?..

bimber94Threads: 9 Posts: 400 Joined: Mar 13, 09 ♂	Sep 22, 10, 16:10 #9
You could exchange dollars for PRL money 'na czarnym rynku' and get much more money for your money, buy amber/silver jewellery and sell it in the West. Beer - standing in a queue - was about 2p in English money (say 25p today). Happy cheap days if you weren't being beaten up by some nice milicjant doing his duty and maintaining peace and harmony in his workers paradise.

HarryThreads: 62 Posts: 8,508 Joined: May 2, 07 ♂ [Suspended]	Sep 22, 10, 16:36 #10
Polonius3: The small stretch type could be rolled up and kept in a pocket or lady's handbag always ready for use. You not seen the Onya range of bags? http://www.onyabags.co.uk/shop.php?crn=232

zetigrekThreads: 59 Posts: 2,709 Joined: May 20, 10 ♂	Sep 22, 10, 16:43 #11
Zed: People felt more secure about their future? What a joke! yes. Many say that.

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Edited by: Plastic Pole52 Sep 22, 10, 16:55 #12

Get a life people.PRLwas NOT a communist country!Some people have had private bussineses and you could exchange złoty for USD or DM or bony PKO on the black market then go to Pewex or Baltona and buy whatever you needed to.I remember half a liter of Wyborowa was $1.50 in Pewex.My first computer (Atari 800 xl) was bought in pewex for $110 in 1986.You could buy western cars in Pol-Mot for "dewizy".And you could travel (if you had "dewizy"),sell stuff abroad, bring stuff to Poland and make money.There were 2 kinds of passports,1 valid only for socialist countries and the other for the rest of the world.I would NEVER leave Poland if it was still PRL. edit you were buying a "diesel" car and you never had problem with fuel.All you needed to do was to stop any trucker any he hooked you up with fuel.

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Sep 22, 10, 17:04 #13

Poland was called the merriest barracbks of hte communist camp. Esp. under Gierek (who pledged never to open fire on protesters and kept his word!), people say life was more pleasant and less oppressive than in hard-line countries like the GDR, Czechoslovakia or the USSR itself. On the other hand, today's dyed-in-the-wool consumerists migth have preferred the higher living standards enjoyed by East Germans or Czechs.

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Edited by: AdamKadmon Sep 22, 10, 17:52 #14

Polonius3:

PRLwas NOT a communist country!

From after the second world war to 1956 the system could be best described as stalinist totalitarianism, which is not in the least communism. From 1956 to the very end Poland was a semi-independent state, of which, nevertheless, many people, being currently at the bottom rung of society, have fond memories. As Andrzej Gwiazda said in a TVN programme, discussing 30 anniversary of the strike in August of 1980: When we wanted to hammer the "communists" we were looking for a homeless person, finally, we found one somewhere in Słupsk.

zetigrekThreads: 59 Posts: 2,709 Joined: May 20, 10 ♂	Edited by: zetigrek Sep 22, 10, 17:52 #15
Plastic Pole52: Some people have had private bussineses my grandparents had private business.

Marek11111Threads: 49 Posts: 1,954 Joined: Aug 6, 09 ♂	Sep 22, 10, 17:54 #16
you could make money on black market, and I did.

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Edited by: Plastic Pole52 Sep 22, 10, 18:13 #17

zetigrek:

my grandparents had private business. You are right about the socialism but it is common term communism which is used to describe that period

My parents also had private bussines and never had any idea to run away from PRL even though they traveled to western countries and could easily stay there.Ofc in 50ies it was not that sweet and you were opressed if you wanted to be on your own,but it has changed in 70ies.You could run your own bussines but could hire no more than 15 workers.Calling PRL communist is kinda ignorant considering definition of communism.Only westerners call it communist but they have no clue what PRL was about.And hey, we did have western movies on public "communist" TV.

IronsideThreads: 59 Posts: 6,786 Joined: Feb 26, 09 ♂	Sep 22, 10, 18:13 #18
sure for some anyway\

Plastic Pole52Threads: - Posts: 112 Joined: Sep 18, 10 ♂	Sep 22, 10, 18:20 #19
He he martial law.I remember on New Year eve my drunk father went out and brought home 2 soldiers.It was the first time I held AK 47 in my hands.

trener zolwiaThreads: 5 Posts: 2,786 Joined: Jun 8, 10 ♂	Sep 22, 10, 18:50 #20
Plastic Pole52: Calling PRL communist is kinda ignorant considering definition of communism.Only westerners call it communist but they have no clue what PRL was about. This is quite true. Most here think of P-Land a having been Commie back then. I include myself in this ignorance.

AdamKadmonThreads: 38 Posts: 1,120 Joined: Apr 23, 10 ♂	Sep 22, 10, 21:30 #21
What did the Solidarity want in the August strike: 21 demands of the Solidarity Trade Union:

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Sep 22, 10, 23:08 #22

1. Acceptance of free trade unions independent of the Communist Party and of enterprises, in accordance with convention No. 87 of the International Labor Organization concerning the right to form free trade unions.
2. A guarantee of the right to strike and of the security of strikers.
3. Compliance with the constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech, the press and publication, including freedom for independent publishers, and the availability of the mass media to representatives of all faiths.
4. A return of former rights to: 1) People
5. Availability to the mass media of information about the formation of the Inter-factory Strike Committee and publication of its demands.
6. Bringing the country out of its crisis situation by the following means: a) making public complete information about the social-economic situation. b) enabling all social classes to take part in discussion of the reform programme.
9. Guaranteed automatic increases in pay on the basis of increases in prices and the decline in real income.
14. Reduction in the age for retirement for women to 50 and for men to 55.
16. Improvements in the working conditions of the health service.

and this what I need in U.S.

NorthMancPolakThreads: 6 Posts: 708 Joined: Jun 13, 10 ♂	Sep 22, 10, 23:17 #23
Marek11111: What was better under communism? There was no open-door immigration policy back then :D

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Sep 22, 10, 23:28 #24

AdamKadmon:

What did the Solidarity want in the August strike:

And this is why the government eventually came down on Solidarity with the iron fist - the demands were unreasonable and not possible to implement.

The economic situation was dire in 1980 - and to this day, Solidarity have absolutely no idea what is realistic when it comes to work. Retirement at 55 for men? I mean - come on! Many of the problems Poland has today is to do with such over-generous practices.

IronsideThreads: 59 Posts: 6,786 Joined: Feb 26, 09 ♂	Sep 22, 10, 23:49 #25
delphiandomine: Many of the problems Poland has today is to do with such over-generous practices. What are you buzzing about, generous ?Are you trying to tell that in Poland pay, and economical realities are generous and people are spoiled? You must have be from the otter planet!

ZedThreads: - Posts: 304 Joined: May 25, 10 ♂	Sep 23, 10, 00:15 #26
**** the communists.... it was all so bad........

Marek11111Threads: 49 Posts: 1,954 Joined: Aug 6, 09 ♂	Sep 23, 10, 03:07 #27
What was better under communism? you can not compare as it different live but you could answer like this " nothing and everything "

beckskiThreads: 19 Posts: 2,148 Joined: May 15, 07 MEMBER ♀	Sep 23, 10, 03:28 #28
My relatives in Lublin still practice some Russian customs. For example, a three kiss greeting on the cheeks. A sincere thanks PF, for putting up with me FIVE terrific years, muah!

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Edited by: plk123 Sep 23, 10, 07:13 #29

beckski:

Russian customs. For example, a three kiss greeting on the cheeks.

that's not a russian only custom.. many slavs, greeks, italians and arabs to the very exact same thing.

Zed:

Nothing was better under communism, thank God it's long gone...

that's not true..

Zed:

People felt more secure about their future? What a joke!

as funny as that may sound, that is actually true

Seanus:

Pol3, do you always wake and bake? ;)

pretty sure he does.

Harry:

You not seen the Onya range of bags?

no, the somewhat resembled onion bags.

Plastic Pole52:

Get a life people.PRLwas NOT a communist country!

you're are plastic as that is just a dumb statement as one can ever find on these forums

Plastic Pole52:

Calling PRL communist is kinda ignorant considering definition of communism.Only westerners call it communist but they have no clue what PRL was about.

by strict definition of that term, there has never been a truly communist country.. btw. not only westerners called the eastern block communist.. the rulers of poland called themselves communist too/

trener zolwia:

This is quite true. Most here think of P-Land a having been Commie back then.

it was communist tho

Ironside:

You must have be from the otter planet!

he is..

from what i gather, maybe some education was better?

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Edited by: zetigrek Sep 23, 10, 08:57 #30

Ironside:

Are you trying to tell that in Poland pay, and economical realities are generous and people are spoiled?

Universities free of fees IS a sign of spoiled society...
Well I think that too much money in Poland is wasted on pepole who don't need help (check welshguy posts #40 and #42 in this thread) but it's rather more a communism legacy...

plk123:

you're are plastic as that is just a dumb statement as one can ever find on these forums

it's not the first time when I hear that Poland wasn't technically communistic country as the real communistic country is North Korea...

From wikipedia keyword PRL:

Kwestia określenia ustroju społecznego PRL jest sporna - oficjalnie było to państwo socjalistyczne, sami komuniści twierdzili, że nie osiągnięto jeszcze teoretycznego stadium komunizmu, a według Konstytucji państwo demokracji ludowej. Przez przeciwników ustrój ten określany był jako komunizm.

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