Work / Snow Plowing in Poland - is it a worthwhile job? [18]


Wrong. A work permit is needed in many cases. Only those here through marriage to an EU citizen are exempt from the requirement to hold a work permit.

News / The yesterday's referendum in Poland? Results? Attendence less than 8%. [24]

He must have been rather naive not to realise that, to be honest. It's the problem of democracy that no-one is going anywhere without influential backers. In this sense, it's exactly the same as communism.

I think he was also heavily hurt by some naive things - he went on and on about Poles being robbed, but he had no plan to deal with the inevitable revelations that he also lived in a huge mansion.

News / The yesterday's referendum in Poland? Results? Attendence less than 8%. [24]

I think the problem with Kukiz was that he fell into the usual trap of these fringe candidates - he failed to attract any support from the established political order, so he lost his way and ended up lurching so far to the right that it's destroyed any hopes that he has. He actually had a chance of repeating what Ruch Palikota did in 2011, but his politics became so extreme and ridiculous (to the point where he made Duda's financial promises seem realistic!) that almost everyone abandoned him.

He did himself no favours by getting into internet wars with people like Pawłowicz as well.

News / The yesterday's referendum in Poland? Results? Attendence less than 8%. [24]


Would that also involve abandoning the silly romantic ideals and instead focusing on business and science, like Dmowski advocated?

The other curious thing about him is that he would have little time for the current nostalgia for the II RP.

News / President Duda wants fairer distribution of wealth in Poland [6]


Indeed. I notice that he's rather silent on those - probably because most of them don't vote PiS.

KRUS should be abolished as the very first step of ensuring fairness in society. The extra money injected into ZUS as a result can be used to provide higher pensions for teachers, nurses and others.

News / President Duda wants fairer distribution of wealth in Poland [6]

So if it needs to be fairly distributed, that means that Duda is for abolishing KRUS, right? It's entirely unfair that some of us have to pay high ZUS contributions while rich farmers pay next to nothing on KRUS.

I mean, fairness is that everyone pays taxation fairly, right?


Entirely untrue, as shown by how Jarosław Kaczyński refused to give a payrise to nurses.

As for "fairer distribution of wealth", it reminds me of this.

PiS and Communism, entirely the same thing.

News / The yesterday's referendum in Poland? Results? Attendence less than 8%. [24]

Polonius, my observation now is that Kukiz has gone far, far too much to the right for PiS to consider. Maybe I misunderstood it, but it seems that Kukiz has two or three people at #1 from Ruch Narodowy for instance. Even Kaczyński quite clearly distanced PiS from RN a while ago - so if Kukiz has gone into bed with them, it's pretty much game over. PiS surely wouldn't make the same mistake as in 2007 - relying on a RN-supported Kukiz would cause such immense anger (again) among the centrists.

Anyway, results are showing a clear win for JOW, but on a pathetic turnout, there's no way that it will progress. I imagine PO will make reformation of the tax system to be a campaign pledge along with scrapping funding of political parties, but JOW is finished.

Work / Job offer in IT company ( Wroclaw ) - help needed [15]


Yes, if you want to do a Masters in Poland, it should be easily achievable on that salary. You might even be able to negotiate that they pay for some of your studies - it's quite common in Poland for employers to do this.

A tip - with a year's experience in Poland in that position, you should be able to get a decent payrise after that time.

Law / Can't get a social security number/PESEL in Poland (I'm from UK) [56]

It is very simple to register. Go to the Urzad Miasta with your passport and title to the property that you wish to register at (for instance, a lease, or the purchase document) and you'll be registered for 3 months without any fuss. If you want to register the car for longer, you need to register your right of residence at the Urzad Wojewodzki.

Law / Can't get a social security number/PESEL in Poland (I'm from UK) [56]

You cannot register the car in your name without a registered address in Poland. End of story.

Genealogy / Where are the Lemkos now? Do they still exist in Poland? [32]


I think you might be getting mixed up here - there were no Russian speakers in that part of the world. They would have spoke Lemko, which is also considered a dialect of the Rusyn language by some people. It is confusing, I know - but I can almost guarantee that they wouldn't have spoken Russian. However, most English language sources mix up Rusyn/Ruthenian/Russian.


Post-WW2, there was a very heavy Polonization campaign, so it would only be expected that he would speak Polish. Minority languages such as Lemko were subject to heavy discrimination campaigns - people would have spoken them only at home.

Religion is a bit odd - the division within the Lemko people is most obvious with religion. But yes, some were Russian Orthodox, some were Ukrainian Greek Catholics and some were Roman Catholics. If you consider Lemkos to be part of the Rusyn people, then it gets even more confusing.

Genealogy / Where are the Lemkos now? Do they still exist in Poland? [32]


Lemko is not quite Ukrainian, although very close to it. They are separate people and they have a separate language, although the entire Lemko community is rather divided as it straddles three countries. It's a bit of a mess - you could consider Lemko to be a dialect of the Rusyn language, but I'm not sure that Lemkos in Poland are able to communicate with those from Serbia for instance.

Best thing is to consider Lemkos a separate people with a separate people, but they are closer to Ukrainian than Polish. But they aren't Ukrainian unless they specifically identify themselves as such.

From what I understand, part of the confusion is caused by Ukraine considering Lemkos to be Ukrainian and for their language to be considered a dialect of Ukrainian.

Law / Chance for citizenship of Poland; my great grandmother born in 1898 - confirmation, granting by the President? [8]

They weren't born in Poland for a start, so no.

Work / Snow Plowing in Poland - is it a worthwhile job? [18]


Have you actually done any research whatsoever into Poland before making such plans?

News / Referendum to cost Polish taxpayers nearly 130 mln zl amid uncertain turnout [29]

I'd argue that there's no need for the Senate at all, or simply decrease it dramatically by allowing two senators to be elected by each province. If people want it to stay, then it should be composed of 32 candidates voted for at the same time as the provincial elections - 2 from each province should do the job. It absolutely should not be elected at the same time as the Sejm, as it just means that the Senate majority is held by the biggest party in the Sejm.

History / WWII - who really was the first to help Poland? [900]


I don't think it was clear to Britain at least that the new balance of power would be between the USA and the USSR. That would've only became apparent in late 43, early 44 when it became obvious that Nazi Germany couldn't beat the USSR. Remember, the USSR had real problems with defeating even little Finland - it wouldn't have been obvious at all that they were capable of becoming a superpower.

On the other hand, I suspect the US was quite happy to see the Soviets take half the responsibility of Europe out of American hands.

News / Referendum to cost Polish taxpayers nearly 130 mln zl amid uncertain turnout [29]


That's democracy. We elected the Senate to prevent populism as displayed by Duda.


Legislation can be advanced regardless of turnout. The 50% mark is only when it becomes binding.

History / WWII - who really was the first to help Poland? [900]


Heavily so, given the large amount of losses that the USSR suffered.

Law / Polish certificate exam level B1 and institution / few questions about the Polish language [39]

Can you tell us where you heard that? I didn't know about any change...

News / Have PO (Platforma) operatives in Poland fallen into a panic? [332]

So you're in favour of gay marriage, then?

News / Have PO (Platforma) operatives in Poland fallen into a panic? [332]

I only remind you that Poland has a long tradition of centralised, proscriptive education and it has no tradition of parental choice.

News / Have PO (Platforma) operatives in Poland fallen into a panic? [332]

Polonius, do you think that any party in Poland supports genuine lustration in which everyone is free to look at everything?

I would - personally - support a thorough lustration process. But it only really happened in East Germany because the state no longer existed, and West Germany had more or less put West Germans into every single position of power in the former East Germany. It also seems that no-one has a credible answer on how to deal with the false files, which is always going to be a huge barrier there.

By the way, while on the topic - can you find a list of the 58 professions that were supposed to be subject to the lustration process as proposed by PiS in 2006-7?

News / Have PO (Platforma) operatives in Poland fallen into a panic? [332]


Of course, that would be entirely the point of lustration. What happens then is entirely up to the people. It would be fair, thorough and the results would be there for anyone to see. I'm completely for lustration, provided that it is done like the German system where all is revealed and no-one is 'safe'. The problem is that now, the files have obviously been so heavily meddled with that it's unlikely that it could be trusted.


Yes, I think it's something that the conservatives are struggling to deal with. There were collaborators on all sides, and a thorough lustration process would have been required to deal with it.

Are you familiar with the Yugoslav ideas? It's not a million miles away from what you say - of course, the actual implementation was heavily flawed, but it shows what could be possible. There were definitely some East Germans as well that were hoping for something that wasn't quite pure capitalism or pure socialism. I wouldn't object to genuine worker self-management - for instance, with the coal mines, I would heavily support clearing their debts and granting 100% of the shares to the workers. How they run the mines from then on would be their responsibility - they would elect their own management and every worker would be responsible for the success or failure of the mine.

News / Have PO (Platforma) operatives in Poland fallen into a panic? [332]


Depends on their perspective, doesn't it? They might not be too happy to spend their lives working in menial jobs because they missed the boat at 25-30 and couldn't get onto the corporate 'ladder' at that point.

I saw a CV not so long ago from someone who had graduated at 25, obviously had kids and now wanted to get back into the job market at around 32. But the problem was that her skills were 7 years out of date - she wasn't familiar with the latest software, she wasn't familiar with the trends in that type of business (which changes yearly) and she didn't do anything during those 7 years to even keep her knowledge up to date. In short, she was utterly unemployable, and that was before considering the issues caused by labour contracts.

One area in which PO could do very well would be to offer workplaces the possibility of operating nurseries and creches with public money.

News / Have PO (Platforma) operatives in Poland fallen into a panic? [332]

It's an issue for women more than men - if you consider that in Poland, women tend to get pregnant earlier - so if they don't start work until they're 25 and then get pregnant at 27-28 and a second at 30, then they've effectively shut themselves out of the job market.

And yes, before you say it - it is a problem with the Western style of service-based work, where someone can be 'too old' at 35.

News / Have PO (Platforma) operatives in Poland fallen into a panic? [332]


There is one slight difference though Polonius - our kids might go at 4/5 in the UK, but that first year is pretty much identical to "zerówka".

News / Have PO (Platforma) operatives in Poland fallen into a panic? [332]


The best argument in favour is that it means that kids will finish school by 18, and will put a stop to the ridiculous situation when 19 year olds in school are being treated like children. It means they'll also enter the workforce by 23, which is badly needed.

I'm not personally in favour of the reform, but this is based on my experience as a teacher of 6-7 year olds. Most fellow teachers in my school are pretty much indifferent.

News / Have PO (Platforma) operatives in Poland fallen into a panic? [332]


PiS don't demand justice Polonius. It's one of the biggest myths about PiS - the reality is that they only want justice in so far as it relates to their enemies. For instance - do you think PiS would be willing to undergo a thorough examination of what Rajmund Kaczyński did in the 44-53 period? What about Lech Kaczyński? Would you be happy if it was discovered that his dad pulled some strings to get him released quickly from prison?

PO on the other hand wisely realise that communism has been dead for 25 years and many of the most important people are now either old men or are already dead. There's no point wasting energy on what happened - far better to move on, and the general population agrees. There was no appetite in 1989 for "revenge" - and nor is there any appetite now.

Anyway, Olszewski's government fell because of far more complicated matters than that. The clumsy way that lustration was attempted was the final straw for the Sejm, but he also suffered because of his constant fighting with Wałęsa. It would take a book to explain why Olszewski fell, and even the KPN were against the way that he tried to perform lustration.

It's worth pointing out that the law in question that led to the vote of no confidence was ruled illegal by a vote of 11-1 by the Constitutional Tribunal, and furthermore, Macierewicz's list was found to be very inaccurate. Olszewski's biggest mistake was to trust Macierewicz - a man that we all know has absolutely no problems with lying constantly and who has always had a rather tenacious grip on the truth.

News / Have PO (Platforma) operatives in Poland fallen into a panic? [332]


Most of the arguments are utterly invalid. For instance, there's one claim that they can't go to school "because the toilets are too big". They usually go silent when you ask them if the toilet at home is also adapted for their small child.

Life / Christian Fellowships & Prayer groups in Poland - Szczecin [43]

They might have an allied presence through these guys - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_Catholic_Church - they're in full communion with the Anglican church through the Union of Utrecht. From what I know, the Polish Catholic Church is very accepting towards everyone, so they might be able to help.