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History and Government
History: For much of the medieval and early modern period, Poland was one of the largest states in Europe, although generally cut off from the mainstream of European life. By the 18th century, however, the combination of an antiquated social structure, the emergence of powerful neighbours, a king with no real power and a parliament that was able to veto any legislation if so much as one member voted against it (the Liberum Veto) had reduced Poland to the role of little more than a confused buffer state between Austria, Prussia and Russia. One observer commented on how the Polish state had ‘legalised anarchy and called it a constitution.’
The situation was finally resolved between 1772 and 1795, when – as a result of three partition treaties signed by Austria, Prussia and Russia – the country was carved up. A small area around Warsaw briefly enjoyed a form of independence between 1807 and 1831 – as the Grand Duchy of Warsaw and Congress Poland – but subsequently became a province of Russia. Poland did not re-acquire independence until 1918. In 1926, a military regime ousted the civilian administration and governed Poland until the country was once again dismembered by its powerful neighbours, Germany and the Soviet Union, after the 1939 Anti-Aggression Pact between the two. Prior commitments by Britain to defend Polish sovereignty led the former to declare war on Germany and initiate World War II.
In 1941, Germany drove the USSR out of Poland, to be ejected, in turn, by the Soviets four years later. At the end of World War II, the Soviet-backed Polish Workers’ Party formed a coalition government under Wladyslaw Gomulka, until he was dismissed for ‘deviationism’ in 1948. In the same year, the Polish Workers’ Party merged with the Polish Socialist Party to form Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza (Polish United Workers’ Party, PZPR). In 1956, three years after Stalin’s death, Gomulka returned amid growing unrest to implement a plan of gradual liberalisation of society and the economy. Following disturbances in the industrial port of Gdansk, Gomulka was replaced as First Secretary of the party by Edward Gierek. Opposition to the regime was, significantly, led by elements of the industrial work force – in contrast to movements elsewhere in Eastern Europe which were led by intellectuals, such as Charter 77 – and supported by the Catholic Church, a major political force in Poland that the communists had never been able to suppress fully.
This was a vital factor in the rapid growth of the Solidarnosc (Solidarity) labour movement in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The PZPR’s initial response to this challenge was confused. Gierek was forced into retirement (through illness). His successor, Stanislav Kania, proved no more able to stop the growth of Solidarnosc or the declining prestige and influence of the PZPR. In December 1981, with the backing of Moscow, the former army chief-of-staff, General Wojciech Jaruzelski, who had replaced Kania two months earlier, imposed martial law and established a Military Council of National Salvation to run the country. Solidarnosc was banned and its senior figures detained, including its leader, shipyard electrician Lech Walesa.
The restrictions of martial law were gradually eased as the situation stabilised over the next few years, but it was clear that some accommodation between the government and Solidarnosc was inevitable. The changes in the Soviet Union from 1985 onwards made this task easier. In 1988, following the near-collapse of the economy, the PZPR government resigned and was replaced by an interim Council of Ministers, which included several non-PZPR members, although it remained communist-dominated. It held serious negotiations with Solidarnosc on economic and constitutional reforms. Solidarnosc was finally legalised in 1989, to pave the way for elections to the new bicameral National Assembly (see below) in June of that year.
Solidarnosc swept the board in the one-third of seats it was allowed to contest. It subsequently formed a coalition government with two smaller parties, with Tadeusz Mazowiecki becoming the first non-communist Prime Minister of a Warsaw Pact country. General Jaruzelski was re-elected as president. The government was almost immediately faced with a deep recession, which it tackled by introducing market reforms. This was the high-water mark for Solidarnosc. The 1990s saw the movement go into steady decline, beginning with a deep split in the movement between Walesa and Mazowiecki, mainly over economic policy.
The first wholly free presidential election was held in November 1990; Walesa and Mazowiecki, respective leaders of their factions, both stood. Walesa won, with Centre Alliance backing. Mazowiecki was replaced as prime minister by Jan Krysztof Bielecki. October 1991 saw elections to the National Assembly. In all, 29 parties, including the Friends of Beer, gained representation in the Sejm (lower house of the national assembly). The introduction of a five per cent threshold has since sharply reduced this number and made stable government a more feasible proposition.
The bitter and closely fought 1995 presidential campaign pitted Walesa against the ex-communist and government negotiator with Solidarnosc, Alexander Kwasniewski, standing for the Democratic Left Alliance. Against most predictions, Kwasniewski was victorious in the head to-head run-off against the former trades union leader. Walesa’s defeat surprised many in the West who failed to appreciate how unpopular he had become at home. Kwasniewski also comfortably won the most recent presidential poll in 2000.
The Sejm elections of 1997 saw the right recover and take control of the government. In November that year, the new government adopted a programme that included as priorities accelerated privatisation and rapid integration with the EU and NATO – which Poland had joined in July that year, along with Hungary and the Czech Republic. EU negotiations have since proceeded apace, with the main problems concerning subsidies for Poland’s substantial agricultural sector, free labour movement and the country’s poor record on pollution. However, the problems have been largely overcome and Poland is almost certain to join the EU, along with nine other countries, at the beginning of 2004. There are still doubts, especially in rural communities, about the consequences of membership. At the most recent Sejm poll held in September 2001, the Democratic Left Alliance, under Leszek Miller, had successfully tapped into this reservoir of uncertainty. The ruling centre-right coalition was all but wiped out. Another notable feature of the election was the rise of a new far-right party, Samoobrona (Self Defence), which espouses a populist, xenophobic platform.
Government: Under the new constitution, which came into force in October 1997, legislative power in Poland is vested in a bicameral national assembly. The 460-seat lower house is the Sejm, while a new 100-seat Upper Chamber has been created with the power of veto over all legislation put forward by the Sejm. Elections are by proportional representation.
Copyright © 2003 Columbus Publishing Ltd.
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