Posted on 06/02/2009 2:47:51 PM PDT by lizol
Poland: From Soviet satellite to 'Tiger of Europe'
7:26 a.m. EDT, Sat May 30, 2009
(CNN) -- Leszek Balcerowicz, Poland's former finance minister, recently said his country is enjoying "its best period in 300 years." CNN looks at how the country emerged from communism to become one of eastern Europe's most stable and thriving democracies. Solidarity leader Lech Walesa
Solidarity leader Lech Walesa addresses striking workers in Gdansk, Poland in 1989.
Modern Poland gained independence in 1918 only to be overrun by Germany and the Soviet Union during the Second World War. Almost six million Poles, including the majority of the country's large Jewish population, died during the devastating six-year conflict.
The shadow of Stalin continued to loom large over Poland after the war, when the communist-dominated government ensured that Poland would become a Soviet satellite state for the next 40 years.
The following decades were punctuated by revolts against the repressive authoritarian regime in Warsaw, but none had a greater impact on Poland's political future than events in 1980 at a shipyard in western Poland.
With a struggling economy and rumors of corruption and mismanagement within the state causing widespread discontent, a series of strikes by workers paralyzed the country.
Eventually the government was forced to negotiate and on August 31, 1980, workers at the massive Lenin shipyard in Gdansk, led by an electrician named Lech Walesa, signed a deal giving workers the right to strike and form trade unions. This heralded the creation of the Solidarity movement, which would ultimately be instrumental in bringing Poland's communist era to an end.
The presence in the Vatican at the time of Polish-born Pope John-Paul II was also a significant influence on the movement throughout the 1980s,
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Could it be that Poland is a strong Christian nation and the Lord has blessed her with prosperity?
I hope that Poland can endure whatever BS the Kenyan and his minions throw at it.
Any student of the history of WWII cannot help but admire the Poles-they deserve all the prosperity that freedom will provide them.
I wish we could show as much unity here.
They are a hardened and freedom loving people. They also account for themselves very well on a battlefield. These were the kind of countries that President Bush reached out to. Compare that to the countries the current President now bows to.
My Babci (Grandmother in Polska) prayed enough to make up for the rest of the planet. I can believe that God is truly Blessing them. They are really good people and really do have the best food and the best jokes @;>)
(I can feel my Babci’s hand slapping mine for making fun of her praying-sorry Babci)
She didn’t take any crap; one tough hard working woman! She taught me a lot about perserverence.
That, and after living under the boot of the USSR for decades, they’ve developed fine tuned detectors for communist B.S.
Much to the horror of the EU socialists and communists in Brussells, Poland has made it hard for 3rd world filth and especially the religion of peace to immigrate there.
Poland also benefits from strong trade school programs which turns out generations of skilled labor. While the lazy socialists and communists of western europe turn out kids who expect the government to provide for them everything and don’t want to work till they enter their 30s, the Poles come in and perform alot of the construction and daily infrasture management in the western european countries. They do a lot of the heavy truck driving, plumbing, building maintenance, and electrical work in western europe. The work the muslims and socialists believe is beneth them.
They also support the catholic church and go to church on Sundays which also horrifies the socialists and communists of the EU.
My father-in-law fought as a teenager in the Warsaw Uprising of 44’. He could never return to Poland with the Communist in charge so he came to America. The Poles truly do deserve a blessing for their country and people.
Bóg, Honor, Ojczyzna!
It's sad and ironic that Poland respects freedom and liberty more than the US now does.
Walesa, John Paul, Thatcher, Reagan ... when giants walked the earth.
Hi snippy_about_it, if I remember correctly it was SAMWolf’s father, right? Someone posted on Freerepublic.com his photo from the time of Warsaw Uprising, right?
Greetings from Poland!
http://www.worldwide-tax.com/poland/poland_tax.asp
From the FlatTax-Blosspot:
"In Poland the governing coalition under the leadership of Prime Minister Donald Tusk favors a flat tax, but the leading opposition party holds the office of president with the power to veto legislation. If and when Tusk’s party wins control of both parliament and the presidency, Poland will be poised to adopt a 19% flat tax on individuals to complement its 19% corporate tax."
My Babci lost her brothers in a war of some kind-I’m not sure which one but it was way earlier than WWII. My grandfather came here first from Russia and once he had a job, he sent for her. She was around 17 or 18 when she came here. Her sister stayed in Poland-in Warsaw and for the rest of her life (till she was 90), she sent her sister money every month. Most of it she got-but a lot of mail went undelivered and/or stolen. Piles of mail would turn up in dumps etc.
But she would be HORRIFIED and dare I say-really ticked to see what is going on now. They came here to get away from this kind of stuff and to give their children and grandchildren a better life. As you said, people DIED fighting against this way of life.-Thank God she’s no longer around to see this. She was a Democrat too-had the portrait of JFK next to the Pope’s pic on the wall in her never used tiny front parlor..she was a great lady. (and made THE best Kapusta!)
The Law and Justice party, which is more religious and socially conservative, is the more socialist of the two.
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