Poles embraced Communism at the end of WW2

There are people around who want to rehabilitate Communism, in an understated way of course.

The fact was that at the end of WW2 Poles overwhelmingly wanted to rebuild Poland. Later on, everyone was affected by the totalitarian regime to a lesser or greater extent. Like it or not. Lives had to be lived - most people just wanted to get on as normally as they could, despite the bizarre situation.

However, it was an illegal regime founded on the threat of violence. The Czechs have acknowledged this in law, and handed back the stolen property. Poland's political elite decided it should stay stolen. The regime's crowning glory came in its last few years, as its elite handled the transition to perfection - keeping their ill-gotten gains.

Now we have people, like the moderators of this forum, doing the final bit of PR work connected with the transition. The villains weren't that bad, and if they were, it all happened a very long time ago and nobody is squeeky clean, are they?

Discuss.

Poland's "political elite" are in the majority the old commies, which means that Poland is still not a free country...
I reckon they should enforce Lustracja just the way they did in Eastern Germany when they were joing the Western part.
Without it Poland will be always poor, full scandals and just not important...

Cheers

You do realise that the Communists weren't as unpopular in the post-war period as you make them out to be? They enjoyed a wave of popularity after WW2, not least because it was a clear rejection of fascism.


Actually, their property restitution process is every bit as slow as Poland's.


Not quite.


Yes, like Jaroslaw Kaczynski. Son of a PZPR member, previously a member of the AK - the worst kind of turncoat traitor.


Why? The majority is against it - good Catholics believe in forgiveness, and sensible people can't see any benefit from digging up old wounds.


Most of us don't want Poland to be important. Poles are quite sick of the countless years of wars, battles, wars, battles, etc.

Then again goofy, if you care so much about Poland, why are you in the UK?

Because:


Isn`t it a nice pretext to stay in UK or US?: Poland isn`t a free country. :):):)

The Polish church was never a supporter of this, for obvious reasons.

Thanks guys, for proving my points one by one!

Communism = a force for good

Anti-Communists = twisted

Theft is fine

No-one in a totalitarian system remains squeeky clean

"Nuff said"

Then he should come and free it, if he thinks it isn't free.


One has good reason to suspect that the Polish Church was at the forefront of keeping things locked up, not least because of the internal battles that would arise.

The damage done to churches in East Germany after the revelations of widespread collaboration is one good reason why the RCC wouldn't want this stuff in the open.

I'd love to see some robust data on that.

While I agree that the Communists were quite possibly more popular in post-war Poland than is currently acknowledged, I don't think the statement


has any basis in fact.