Figure 1.--
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Figure 1.-- |
The most crucial country for a variety of cultural and geo-political reasonns was Poland. Poland because of its geographic location became the epicenter for the Cold War. For without a compliant Communist Poland, a the Communist East German regime was untenable. Unfortunately for the Soviets, Poland proved the most difficult Eastern European satellite country to control. It is interesting to specuale as to just why Poland proved so difficult for the Soviets to dominate. Poland was the only Eastern European satellite that had until the 18th century been a major European power. With the Polish partitions of the late 18th century, the Polish nation disappeared from the maps of Durope. What did not disappear was the Polish Catholic Church which became the repository for Polish nationaism for three centuries. Stalin spoke derivisely of the Vatican, asking how many divisions the pope commanded. In fact it was a Polish pope in the 1980s that would play a critical role in the unraveling of the Soviet empire Stalin constructed in Eastern Europe.
After the NAZI invasion of Poland rapid defeat of the Polish Army (September 1939), the Polish Government set up in London to coordinate resistance activities. Most of the word focused on NAZI occupied Poland and horrifying reports were carried in the Western press. The destruction of Poland was, however, a cooperative effort between Hitler and Stalin who at that stage of the War were virtual allies. Less information reached the West about Soviet-occupied Poland, especially the fate of the Polish army intetrned by the Soviets. Efforts by the London Government went unanswered. After the NAZI invasion of the Soviet Union (June 1941), POlish POWS in Soviet hands were allowed to fight either with the Red Army or to join the Western Allies. At this time the absence of large numbers of officers known to have been interened by the Soviets caused increasing alarm by the London Government. Then the NAZIs reported they had discovered the graves of large numbers of Polish soldiers in the Katyn Forrest which they claimed had been shot by the Soviets. When the London Government pressed Stalin, the Soviets set up their own more compliant Polish resistance government. When the Red Army reached the Vistula and the Polish Home Army loyal to the London Government rose up against the NAZIs in Warsaw. Stalin then ordered the Red Army to stop until the NAZIs has supressed the Hime Army.
Once certain of Polish defeat, Stalin ordered the Red Army to attack from the East. German and Russian forces met at Brest-Litovsk on September 18. Poland's
fate was sealed on September 17, when the Soviets invaded Poland from the east. Already shattered by the NAZI invasion, the Polish Army offered little resistance
to the Soviets. Polish soldiers were internened in camps by the Soviets. Soviet actions in eastern Poland were extremely brutal. An estimated 0.1 million Poles were killed by the Soviets (1939-41). The most publicized killings were the Polish officers shot by the NKVD in the Katyn Forrest, but this was only a part of the wide spread executions of Poles by the Soviets. Some estimates suggest that 2.0 million Poles were deported to Siberia and other areas in the Soviet Union.
The Yalta Conference was the final Allied conference before the NAZI surrender (February 4-11, 1945). The Big Three were reprented by President Franklin Roosevelt, Primeminister Winston Churchill, and Marshall Joseph Stalin. It was held at the Tsar's palace in the Crimean Peninsula on the Black Sea. Although President Roosevelt was in failing health, Stalin refused to leave Soviet territory. At the time of the Conference NAZI Germany had not yet been defeated. The Soviets were in complete control of Poland and had reached the Oder River. The Western Allies were on the Rhine. Both were preparing for the final assault on a Reuch devestated by the Allied bombing campaign. The Red Army was enormous, consisting of 12 million soldiers in 300 divisions. Eisenhower in contrast commanded only 4 million men in 85 divisions. Many authors date the Cold War from Yalta because Poland was a contntious issue at the Conference. Stalin demanded a Polish Government under Soviet influence. Roosevelt and Churchill argued for an independent Poland with a democrativally elected representative government. Among the Yalta provisions was a commitment of "free and unfettered" elections in Poland. This of course meant little in a country dominated by the Red Army. Some conservatives have accussed Roosevelt of selling out the Poles and other Eastern European countries at Yalta. There is no doubt that Roosevelt's declining health affected his performance at Yalta. There is no evidence that it substantially changed the outcome. The Red Army held Poland and Eastern Europe. The Western Allies did not have the ability to change this short of War and there was neither the military force in Europe or the support domestically for military action. The simple fact was that with the fall of France (1940) the military ballance in Europe had been irrevocably changed. Roosevelt was not pleased with the outcome, but as he admitted to an adviser Adolf Berle, "I didn't say the result was good. I said it was the best I could do." Roosevelt concluded that more could not be done with the Soviets during the War at Yalta, but the issue would have to be addressed in the new United Nations after the War. [Dallek] Interestingly. many of the conservative critics of the Yalta Conference were the same people that had fought Roosevelt's efforts to oppose Hitler in the years before America entered World War II.
After President Roosevelt's death (April 1945). Vice-President Truman became president. Roosevelt had not significantly involved Truman in the administration. When Truman first met with Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov, Truman not only explained he planned to insist on Polish self-determination, but lectured Molotov on the Soviet commitments mae at Yalta.
Molotov who had negotiated the Non-Aggression Pact with the NAZIs, complained, "I have never been talked to like that in my life." Truman replied, "Carry
out your agreements and you won't get talked to like that." Relations continued to deteriorate into what we now know as the Cold War.
Stlain used the Red Army and security forces which had occupied Eastern and much of central Europe to assist local communist parties to defeat other parties and establish communist dictatorships.
Repressive rule and low wages and poor working conditions resulted in strikes breaking out at Poznan. Workers wanted "bread and freedom" from Soviet rule. The Poles elect a reformist government which does not have Soviet approval (October 1956). The Soviets are unwilling to acceopt such defiance. Khrushchev visits Warsaw and Soviet armies mass on the Polish border. The Poles acceed to Soviet demands.
Poland gradually rebuilds its industrial base, iron, steel, shipping, and mining industries are expanded. The new plants operating under Communist economics are inefficebnt and uncompetitive with European industry. This means that Polish industry can not support wages offerong workers a decent standard of living.
Although Communist rule is repressive, they are unable to supress the Catholic Church. Not only does the Church survive the Stalinist era, but it florishes. The Church emerges as the most prestigious national institution, the only one that stood up to Soviet domination.
The popular Karol Wojtyla, the Archbishop of Krakow, who fought for a church at Nova Huta is elected Pope. As John Paul II, he is the first non-Italian pope in almost nearly 500 years and further strengthens the Polish Church (1978). The Soviets and Polish Communiss are unsure as to how to respond.
The Communist Government can control the press and supress discent. It can not control the iron laws of economics. Inefficent plabts and illconceived economic planning can not create wealth. Declining living conditions result in strikes and riots (1980). The center of the unrest is the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk (former Danzig). The Government to avoid supressing the strike with the Army reluctantly reaches an agreement with the
workers, allowing them to organize into an independent trade union--anetma in thec Soviet empire. The new union is Solidarnosc (Solidarity). Independent labor unions were unheard of in the Soviet Empire.
Solidarity elects strike leader Lech Walesa is elected as the head of Solidarity, and by November 60% of the Polish workforce is organized. Solidarity was organized by workers with limited politicl skills, but aided by the Church develops into a sophisticated non-violent, sociopolitical movement that Polish Communist authorities prove unable to control.
The Soviets sensing that Solodarity is gaining the upperhand in Poland, threatens to invade. Polish authorities to avoid Soviet intervention declare martial law and arrest Solidarity leaders (December 1981). Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski was the Polish Army commander who precided over the crack down on LechWalesa's Solidarity Movement (1981). The Polish Government officially disbands Solidarity, but a underground resistance continues (1982). And the economy continues to spiral downward. The cost of living rises over 100 percent during 1992.
One of the heros of the Cold War in Poland was Ryszard Kuklinski, a Polish Army officer who became a valued agent for the CIA. Kuklinski concluded that the best way to help achieve real Polish independence was to was to work for the COA as a spy. He operated for 9 years sending Washington a mountain of information on Poland, the Soviets, and the Warsaw Pact. He rose in the military hierarchy and help prepare Warsaw Pact war games. He was also a participant in the Polish military debates as to whther or not to declare marshall law and supress Solidarity by force. Kuklinski decided to leave Poland just at the time that the Soviets were threatening to invade (1981). [Weiser]
Finally it was in Eastern Europe that the whole Soviet system would begin unraveling. The Communist regime in Poland was brouht down by the very workers it claimed to represent. The Communists can not repeal the laws of economics. The Polish economy goes into a tail spin. Inflation reaches 100 percent. The Government decided to negotigate with Solidarity. The Government lifts martial law (1983). The Government permits Solidarity to operate openly (1989). The economy continues to derteriorate. Inflation reaches 250 percent. Poland holds its first democratic electin since World War II (December 1990). Lech Walesa is elected Poland's new president.
Dallek, Robert. Franklin Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy.
Weiser, Benjamin. A Secret Life: The Polish Officer, His Covert Mission, and the Price He Paid to Save the Country (Public Affairs, 2004). 383p.
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