Polish Government in Crisis Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski and his party PiS, Prawo i Sprawiedliwosc (Law and Justice), are in trouble. A scandal has erupted threatening the already unstable government. The situation is extremely unpredictable, and every day brings new revelations and new possible outcomes.
Understanding the Polish Situation Poles are tired. You can see this everywhere: on the streets, in shops, places of work, schools and universities. There is deep frustration, anger and cynicism about the political system. However, we also have to look at the situation from below, from the streets, where we are seeing protest movements arising like that of the students last year, and the nurses this year.
Crisis of the Polish right The collapse of Stalinism in Eastern Europe created a peculiar political situation, which is not easily understood from outside. Stalinism discredited the very idea of socialism, but what has replaced is a rather crude bourgeois political set up. However, below the surface, things are moving on. In Poland, where right-wing Christian views seem to dominate the scene, a crisis is brewing.
Polish Elections 2005: Shift to the right in the polls, shift to the left on the streets Parliamentary elections took place in Poland on September 25. The victory of the right wing is a direct consequence of the pro-capitalist policies of the outgoing Democratic Left Alliance government. The vote is against those policies rather than for the right wing.
The Pope is dead – an obituary for Karol Wojtyla (Pope John Paul II) On April 2, after long sufferings perfectly played out across the media, Karol Wojtyla, also known as the Pope, passed away. The media made an enormous spectacle of his death, allowing thousands to mourn and helping the Catholic Church enter a second spring – even if this may be only for a short period of time.
Pope John Paul II and the cult of personality in Poland Dear Comrades,I’m writing this letter to inform you about the ongoing paranoia in Poland which is related to the death of John Paul II. It is absolutely incredible and probably most of you will find it difficult to believe.
Anti-war demonstration in Warsaw, Poland: Big thirst for ideas as the movement develops As the war broke out also in Poland we've witnessed a quite spontaneous demonstration in front of the American Embassy. The preparation for the demo was organized quite badly: you couldn't see any posters on the streets, no gatherings at schools or in the factories were organized to explain the nature of the present war with Iraq. Nevertheless what has to be stressed is that the people in Poland are deeply shocked by the conduct of Bush & Co., and also the servile attitude of the Polish government to their plans. Recently published polls show that 62 per cent of Poles oppose war and as much as 75 per cent do not accept sending Polish troops to fight in Iraq. In spite of all this the...
The economic and social processes that led to the revolt of the Polish workers in the early eighties We publish an edited version of a document sent to us by Professor Jacek Tittenbrun of Poznan University in Poland. He gives an interesting and detailed account of the economic and social processes (especially the role of Western credit) that led to the revolt of the Polish workers in the early eighties, and to attempts by the Polish Stalinist bureaucracy to transform itself into a capitalist class.
