News / Poland's Lost Generation [172]

True! Let the people budget what they have better, that's what I say. As a Scot, I see the merit in thriftiness. The crisis was the last imposed austerity measure. People, not knowing the machinations of it, just decided to save more.

Language / Need Advice On Polish-English language barrier (my Polish boyfriend and his family) [59]

Precisely! I've made the effort to learn Polish both for myself and for others. It would make no sense whatsoever to speak English to them. That really bugs me about some Polish people. They just expect you to speak Polish when they travel. I've seen it on Itaka tours to the Balkans and Baltics. They just assume sufficient familiarity of their natives with the language. I was irritated by that!

English, as I see it in the case above, is an ideal compromise language. If they can't use it then it's 'do widzenia, bitches'.

Life / How do you celebrate Easter in Poland? [29]

I like to have Jesus round :) He turns my water into wine :)

Food is the main celebration. Eggs are loved both here and in Scotland so that suits me down to the ground.

Confession??? Of what? Please elaborate, Pol3.

Language / Need Advice On Polish-English language barrier (my Polish boyfriend and his family) [59]

Then just use English with them, it's your God-given right to do so. English is a world language. What, they would rather you spoke Romanian? I don't think so somehow.

News / Poland's Lost Generation [172]

But PO are exacerbating it and that's the point. They are more than happy to widen the gap. Still, I wouldn't vote for a party that relies on the mohair beret brigade and their ultra-Catholic BS like PiS.

News / Poland's Lost Generation [172]

They certainly are! Debt is what the banks want and what the punters are prepared to sink into.

News / Poland's Lost Generation [172]

Antheads has a point. You can go the GUS website and observe progressive/slight increases in salaries but inflation here is highly noticeable and credit companies are sucking people in, playing on their material/competitive instincts to have what their neighbours do. Don't make the mistake of assuming that having more cars is due to them being much richer.

Under PO, the rich/poor divide will only get worse, that's true.

News / Poland's Lost Generation [172]

Poland has already punted off many workers. Most haven't the confidence to come back.

History / Poland's 1945 - 1989 under communism or during socialism? [65]

Wow, a very thorough article which leaves no stone unturned. Thanks :)

Well, that's what I've been asking you, warsz. If you believe that Poland became classless and stateless then that's highly suggestive of communism. The best way forward for us would be to formulate a checklist based on ticks. We may find that there is much more substantive overlap between socialism and communism than most political commentators could ever have imagined. They are seen as synonymous by some Eastern political scientists. That's the impression I get anyway.

We cannot really say Poland was independent if it couldn't freely make decisions without the Soviets' say so.

News / Poland's Lost Generation [172]

No :) We have special services too :)

News / Poland's Lost Generation [172]

Aha, the absent generation may be better as the lost can always be traced :)

History / Poland's 1945 - 1989 under communism or during socialism? [65]

True, B! By saying 'in times of socialism' would be to very strongly imply that Poland never knew it before which just isn't true. They knew it all throughout the Partitions which lasted for a very long time. Lud Polski started it all off. Now, to really get down to the nitty gritty is to look at Lelewel when he sought to justify agrarian Communism and place it under the umbrella of socialism. That was back in the 19th century but the two can be differentiated and indeed should be.

Warsz, so you believe that Poland ceased to be an independent state during communism? I ask any older members here to tell me the significance of Nov 11 during the Soviet occupation. Was it freely celebrated or did the Soviets, in their traditionally brutal way, stamp it out?

History / Poland's 1945 - 1989 under communism or during socialism? [65]

They are doing it in raising VAT in an increasingly consumer-oriented Poland. It will be up at 25% before too long, mark my words. Income tax is way higher than an advanced, technological society like Japan.

The period in question, as per the thread.

Thanks, B :)

I don't think Poland would have fought with such vigour to throw off mere socialism. That's the key point!

History / Poland's 1945 - 1989 under communism or during socialism? [65]

I think Poland is trying to edge towards the taxation levels of Nordic countries without raising salaries enough but that's for another thread.

So do you feel that Poland became classless and stateless, warsz?

History / Poland's 1945 - 1989 under communism or during socialism? [65]

There is no escaping from the reality that communism produces dictators, warsz. It is an extreme regime. Milder as in that socialism was closer to the centre? That's a Western teaching too, I'd say.

Then if the model of 'socialism' didn't fit Poland then why weren't those who were behind it ousted long before? I think we both know the answer to that question.

History / Poland's 1945 - 1989 under communism or during socialism? [65]

I was gonna watch that film but never got round to it :( There's still time :)

So, warsz, what separates communism from socialism? Where are the demarcation lines to be drawn?

History / Poland's 1945 - 1989 under communism or during socialism? [65]

True, warsz, but both were operating under the notion of democracy and free elections. Communism has produced dictators whereas socialism has merely offered itself as a counter to capitalism.

If Poland was indeed socialist, meaning common ownership by the people, then why were so many jubilant when the regime changed in 1989?

History / Poland's 1945 - 1989 under communism or during socialism? [65]

I was interned into a gulag but I'm out now :) :0 Damn communists caught me, or were they socialists? ;) Hi Rock :)

History / Poland's 1945 - 1989 under communism or during socialism? [65]

That expansionism lies within the realms of geopolitics, warsz, not domestic politics. We are talking about the socialism/communism dichotomy within Poland.

Life / Did you already bless your Święconka? [31]

Thanks, Nathan :) We all suffer from one thing or another ;) Happy Easter to you too :)

History / Poland's 1945 - 1989 under communism or during socialism? [65]

I'd agree in the context of Republicans and Democrats in America but not between PiS and PO. I see where you are coming from but they still follow agendas. I really think most don't understand political systems and defining features properly.

Life / Did you already bless your Święconka? [31]

Oops, I meant Easter Sunday :) Palm Sunday next year too :) Given that I don't believe in the notion of a priest, I didn't bless any eggs.

History / Poland's 1945 - 1989 under communism or during socialism? [65]

Nothing changed? So Wałęsa and Balcerowicz did nothing? I was referring specifically to the case of Poland. Those who probe deeper can be a sneaky combination of communism and capitalism in the NWO but let's stay focussed on 1989 and its significance.

How can you say nothing changed? Do you regard PO as communists? Were PiS? Sorry, I don't see where you are coming from at all :(

Life / Did you already bless your Święconka? [31]

Salutes Nathan with Obolon :) :) I'm a big fan of eggs in any form. I was discussing Easter today with my mother-in-law and we both feel that changing positions, as the church has done, is unfortunate. It was the case that the eating of eggs was forbidden by the RCC as demolishing a key symbol but they adjusted their position. I'm looking forward to Palm Sunday :) :)

History / Poland's 1945 - 1989 under communism or during socialism? [65]

I figured that much :) We shouldn't judge the likes of Gomułka and Gierek by the stickers they slapped on themselves but by what they did.

History / Poland's 1945 - 1989 under communism or during socialism? [65]

Oh, my mother-in-law has never aimed to be trendy. Warszawski, what do you understand by the hackneyed phrase, 'collapse of communism'? What changed? It may seem basic to an educated man such as yourself but it serves an interesting purpose.

History / Poland's 1945 - 1989 under communism or during socialism? [65]

But it meant that 3 could be hungover whilst the 4th laboured away ;) ;) The rotation system seemed to work ;) A guaranteed 2000PLN gave certainty ;)

Don't you feel that communism, in that way, brought workers closer together as opposed to the dog-eat-dog model we see now?

Buying people with bribes is the sign of a sleekit rat. Undermining your country for your own political gains is the sign of a true creep! Sorry, he was communistic scum and far from being the wisest and most noble politician of those times.

History / Poland's 1945 - 1989 under communism or during socialism? [65]

My mother-in-law says za komuny. We should also pay heed to George Orwell's classic, 'Animal Farm'. As is so often the case, the reality was quite different from the theory. She liked the full employment aspect but disliked the heavy-handed approach of some of the leaders.

History / Poland's 1945 - 1989 under communism or during socialism? [65]

Firstly, he had a hand in the killing of Pilecki, a true Polish hero. He aided the communists, the same fools who have suppressed the records relating to his death for many a year. Secondly, he went with what was on offer in 1935. He bided his time til he could reveal his true colours. Betraying his country in such a fashion really smacks of a communist weasel. He garnered support in order to become PM and part of that involved siding with the communist rats.

History / Poland's 1945 - 1989 under communism or during socialism? [65]

A sensible thing to do would be to see what Cyrankiewicz did in his 18-year reign. He was a self-confessed communist, having endorsed/sanctioned the formal merger between the Socialist and Communist parties. Perhaps he was just an opportunist like so many others but his iron-fist crushing of rebellion was more typical of communistic hardliners rather than mild socialists who merely strive for progressive social reform and the betterment of the proletariat.