Poland

rebuilding social life

Jakub Karpiński

pp. 93-105

in: Vladimir Tismaneanu, Judith Shapiro (eds), Debates on the future of communism, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 1991

Abstract

According to official terminology, Poland is a socialist country (it belongs to the "family of socialist countries"). This means in practice that the state tries to control everything, including the economy. In most domains — outside agriculture — the state is the only employer, which gives it considerable power to influence careers by firing, hiring and advancing people, often according to political criteria.