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Poland and its communist past
The series The Prime Minister addresses with incredible acuity the current political system in Poland and the tensions running through it. To understand this series, it is necessary to make a small return on the history of Poland. On the eve of World War II, Poland was invaded without warning by Nazi Germany, and reduced to a frightful destruction zone and extermination. In the twilight of War, Poland was victoriously liberated by Soviet troops and its borders were redefined at the conferences of Yalta and Potsdam.
The Government of the National Union formed in 1945 at the instigation of Stalin was succeeded by a "democratic bloc" and the Socialist Party, led by the Labour Party in 1947, which merged into a unified workers' party. The new Polish state was developed under the close control of Moscow. Its leader, Bierut, appointed by the USSR, was nicknamed "Polish Stalin”. But Poland is also an eminently Catholic country. The repression of the Church by the communist state was set to be troubled. Gomulka, more moderate than Beirut, and in favor of a "Polish road to socialism", was tipped to ease tensions. He began liberal reforms while Poland remained subservient to the USSR.
The election of Karol Wojtyla, archbishop of Krakow and Pope under the name of John Paul II encouraged the aspirations of the Polish intellectual and political freedom. Followed by repeated crises and social workers and student unrests, negotiations between the government and the opposition in 1989 led to a democratic institution. Between gratitude and revolt, we see how the Polish attitude towards communism was sometimes contradictory. The starting point of this series is the public discovery of the Prime Minister’s private life and his communist past: he is therefore forced to resign, plunging his country into a period of political instability. |
