Life in communist Poland - personal relations

Yes and no. In some cases goods were better king. E.g., paying with a can of deficit export ham mattered much more than cash.

There are people who like prison life. Housing and food are free, so is education is some cases. You can work if you want, and you even get paid. There is order. You get used to the rules and you become comfortable after a while. What's not to like? Even sex is available and there is not much homophobia. Very progressive.

Many inmates, when they get out, cannot adjust to the outside and they reminisce about all the good things they experienced while there. If they come from the margins of society, were raised in unprincipled and cowardly families, they will most likely raise their children in the same spirit, who in turn will not understand that their slightly modernized ( New Left) viewpoint of prison life, that they now are advocating for, will lead them back to their parents home.

..............also in bags

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Yes, but in late 1970s .... :):):):)

and '80's

and 90's

Yes, that`s what I meant. They originated in late 1970s (I still remember our shock when mother brought foiled milk home) and have remained till today.

Funny, but that foiled milk somehow tasted better than the bottled one.

your shock more than likely stemmed from the fact that the bag was leaking!
As was my experience more than 50% of the time.
Simply put, they were a big pain in the butt (not to mention having to have a dedicated milk container at home to pour the blasted milk into from the bag).

As far as taste goes, I prefered the glass (as I do my beer;)

Really? I don`t remember that.


No, glass milk tasted like shyt. Milk in a bag was professional! :):):)

PS. Shyt. I made a mistake! Foiled is the wrong term! :):) So what is the proper word for milk in a plastic bag?

bagged milk was a nightmare :) but at least it was unpasteurised unlike the milk we buy now in cartons - fresh milk in glass always the best

thank you


really?
I didn't know that.
good for us and our GI tracts (back then) :)

Considering how awfully Poland was treated by various Communists/Marxists throughout the past 90 years, from Trotsky, to Stalin and beyond, i find it astonishing that any true Pole would support such a dehumanizing, anti-civilization, anti-Christian ideology.

Remember King Sobieski and Marshal Pilsudski - they were true Poles, not these red dogs!

Yes, except for private boutiques where prices varied considerably.


Not really. There were two or three dozen furniture manufacturers then, state or semiprivate, they produced quite a variety of stuff, I don`t remember seeing the same furniture like ours in my family`s / classmates` etc houses.


A little more.
Throughout 1970s and 1980s, cars produced or assembled in Poland: - Warszawa, Syrena, Fiat 126, Fiat 126, Fiat 127, Fiat 128, Fiat 131, Polonez, Zastava 1100, .
autokult.pl/2008/02/25/top-10-polskich-aut-epoki-prl-u

plus imported Skodas (Czechoslovakia), £adas, Wołgas and Zaporożec (USSR), Dacias (Romania), Trabants and Wartburgs (East Germany) etc etc.

This is the most interesting thread I've read on Polish forums. Thank you to everyone who is contributing constructively. I am learning a lot here.

and all those 2 cycle puht-puht engines spewing that god-awful blue exhaust fume into the air!
I still have that smell etched in my olfactory memory.
(Kraków was especially brutal in that regard)

Yes! My parents had a Trabant for a few years in 1970s! :):):):) We drove to the seaside in it, 4 people plus luggage. World record.

No,the record was set by my uncle-4 ppl,luggage,tent,gas cylinder and other staff in Maluch :)

excellent post, enkidu.
I don't really agree about people wearing the same clothes though, like uniforms. Just about every woman knew how to sew, or at least adapt what was available to the latest fashion.

We did 4 people in Trabant, luggage and camping gear, and tented it to Black Sea, all the way to Turkish border and back.

quite an intimate experience like mine: 4 guys, all taller than 5'10", packed with stuff from Berlin stores.
What a ride!
(the East Germans had no sense of humor)

OK, I give up my Trabant world record. :):):)


Yes! Enkidu made great job, providing real food for thought and material for further development. Thanks!


Yes. I still remember foreigners` comments on Polish women in 1980s- classy!


We never reached the Turkish border, only got to Golden Sands in our Trabant. :(:(:(:(


It is natural - they had orders to shoot any trespassers. To death.


Yes, true. Most people had similar earnings. Exchanged into foreign currency (at the black market rate) : 20 -30 $ per month.


Yes, after having worked in a factory, office, mine etc etc for a long time it was possible to receive a flat. But still you had to pay about 25% of its value.

However, such flats` quality was incredibly low. Even Polish comedies from 1970s noticed it and communist censorship had to close an eye because it was so notorious:

Amazing technical problems after moving in, from 1:15:

OR join the army become a low-ranking officer and get a new flat, like my ex's cousin


not his
it was newish with all the trimmings!

(from your last post on the first page of this thread.)

What would have happened if they did not attend?


What did they do with them?


Why? I only know the reference to blue birds in North America, it symbolises happiness but this is the first time I've heard about it as a phrase in Europe.


With everyone working and the communist police taking care of the homeless, there are no people left on the streets of the photos you posted :)

Good to see you're back Pawian, this place isn't the same without you.


They still sell milk in bags in Lithuania.

They could have problems at their workplaces.
But that was probably the only time they went because I don`t remember being taken to any other parades.


E.g., they could be taken to the police station and beaten with truncheons. After such treatment, they didn`t dare to appear on city streets. They slept in empty ruins in the outskirts or in freight carriages on railway stations. Some moved to the countryside and worked in communist farms.

A document on homelss in communism


Blue birds is from the Bible.


Taken at night when decent Poles used to stay in, watching TV and getting ready to bed.


Some guys think different. :):):)

What kind of problems would the communist party make for those people who did not attend their parades?

Just to clarify, I am asking about life in communism in general, not specifically about your parents.


Thank you for the link, I will watch it.


I must have missed that particular Sunday lesson.


But if they were to attract people (decent or otherwise) at night, where are the people? I just thought it was odd.


Ah sure PF is definitely a Love/Hate relationship :)
Well I for one enjoy your posts and pictures.

It isn`t the only interesting thread about communism in Poland. Check out other threads by our excellent popster, Rybnik:

https://polishforums.com/history/american-studying-medicine-prl-story-49762/

https://polishforums.com/history/poland-like-soviet-house-cards-fell-51702/

(wow. thanks for the kind mention Pawian :)

Relating the subject, this one might be interesting too

In drastic cases (depended on the workplace) those people could even lose their jobs and all benefits connected with it.


Of course, I don`t mind, I am not responsible for my parents` actions, but not ashamed of being their child, either. In 1980-81 both joined Solidarity and participated in protests and strike actions in Krakow before the martial law.


Of course. You have never lived in a communist country: :):):):):):):):)

Matthew 6:25-34 ESV
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ...


How could I forget?


In 1970s.
In 1980s the police had bigger problems than the homeless. I remember spending a night at Gdynia railway station in 1986. The departure lounge was full of shabby, mostly drunk, probably homeless guys and nobody cared.


In case you misunderstood, the link is an article in Polish, not a film.

Well .... as interesting as his post was, virtually everything he said has been disagree by various posters.

Not disagreed. Only enriched with details a little bit. Enkidu made a good post with general facts while others benefited from it and described details. Everything is fine.