The “Gryfice Scandal” In Poznań — Dealing with Abuses Committed in the Process of Establishing Cooperative Farms in the Poznań Region
PDF

Keywords

cooperative farms
kolkhozes
repressions in the countryside
Stalinism

How to Cite

Jankowiak, S. (2018). The “Gryfice Scandal” In Poznań — Dealing with Abuses Committed in the Process of Establishing Cooperative Farms in the Poznań Region. Studia Historiae Oeconomicae, 35, 61–79. https://doi.org/10.2478/sho-2017-0005

Number of views: 64


Number of downloads: 47

Abstract

Several years after the war, a revolution started in the Polish agriculture - even though until 1948, the authorities claimed that farms in Poland would not be collectivized. The new stage meant that things accelerated quickly. Central party authorities determined the number of cooperatives to be established per year in a top-down manner. The Poznań region was considered particularly opposed to the system, hence the pressure to establish cooperative farms was particularly intense. The quick pace of the operation and accountability of the party officials for its results meant that they often resorted to prohibited methods of forcing resistant individuals to enter into cooperatives. Though party guidelines emphasized that the process was voluntary, and formally banned any form of pressure, various forms of power abuse were tolerated in practice. Only when the situation rapidly escalated into scandals, the authorities stigmatized the illegal methods. However, after a while, the situation returned to normal, and the anomalies reoccurred. The problem was that the principles of the operation were flawed. One of the party activists claimed that establishing cooperatives according to the guidelines would have taken 200 years to complete. Farmers had to be coerced, otherwise they would never have joined cooperatives. Most cooperative farms established this way collapsed in 1956.

https://doi.org/10.2478/sho-2017-0005
PDF

References

Ideological declaration of the PUWP, “Nowe Drogi” [New ways], 1949, no. 1.

Jankowiak S. (1995), Wielkopolska w okresie socjalizmu 1948-1956 [Greater Poland in the period of socialism 1948-1956], Poznań.

National Archive in Poznań, Domestic Affairs Office, sign. 77, Situational report for the 2nd quarter of 1950.

National Archive in Poznań, PUWP Regional Committee, sign. 263, Minutes no. 52 from the session of the PUWP Regional Committee Executive Body on December 20, 1950.

National Archive in Poznań, PUWP Regional Committee, sign. 264, Minutes of the meeting of the PUWP Regional Committee Executive Body on January 31, 1951.

National Archive in Poznań, PUWP Regional Committee, sign. 46, minutes of the PUWP Regional Committee plenary session of January 11, 1951.

National Archive in Poznań, PUWP Regional Committee, sign. 48, Minutes of the plenary session of PUWP Regional Committee of June 13, 1951.

National Archive in Poznań, PUWP Regional Committee, sign. 53, minutes of the PUWP Regional Committee plenary session in Poznań, August 2, 1952.

National Archive in Poznań, sign. 263, the Resolution of the PUWP Regional Committee Executive Body of December 20, 1950.

National Archive in Poznań, sign. 265, a letter of PUWP Regional Committee in Poznań to B. Bierut, the president of the PUWP Central Committee in Warsaw of February 14, 1951.

National Archive in Poznań, sign. 271. Report evaluating the course of plenary meetings of the County and Municipal Committees on July 6 and 7, 1951.

National Archive in Poznań, sign. 963/II 250, shorthand report of the minutes from the meeting of the presidents of the County National Council Presidium, Ruling Councils, chief of the Citizens Militia, Security Office etc., November 2, 1952.

O budownictwie partyjnym. Uchwały Komitetu Centralnego Polskiej Zjednoczonej Partii Robotniczej 1949-1953 [On the Party construction industry. Resolutions of the Polish United Worker’s Party Central Committee 1949-1953], Warsaw, 1954.

Shorthand report of the plenary session of the PUWP Central Committee, April 13-14, 1947 [in] Archiwum Ruchu Robotniczego [Archive of the Workers’ Movement], vol. 7, Warsaw, 1982.

The Archive of New Files in Warsaw, PUWP Central Committee, sign. 237/VII-1792, Report of the PUWP Regional Committee in Poznań for the period from March 15 to April 15, 1949.