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Artykuł jest próbą znacząco wykraczającego poza klasyczną recenzję odniesienia do wydanej w 2022 r. pracy Włodzimierza Mędrzeckiego Odzyskany śmietnik. Jak radziliśmy sobie z niepodległością w II Rzeczypospolitej, stanowiącej długo zapowiadaną i przygotowywaną przez Autora nową syntezę dziejów międzywojennej Polski, będącą jego osobistą, opartą na najnowszych wynikach badań wizją tych dziejów.

This article presents the transformations that occurred in Polish social policy between 1944 and 1950. The aim is to show the evolution of a fundamental reorientation of the ideas, objectives, and activities of Polish social policy, or even the actual dismantling of its many traditional elements, brought about by an ideological rationale. Through this process, the activities of the state authorities, instead of being aimed at solving social issues, became an instrument for supporting the processes of Socialist industrialization. This was yet another element of the socioeconomic transformations that took place in Poland, with the aim of adapting the system to the Soviet model. Towards the end of the period in question, Polish social policy became a part of the Stalinist system. The result was not only the redefinition of its objectives, but also fundamental changes to the way the social activities of the state were undertaken. This led to the use of fewer instruments, and a noticeable limitation to activities aimed at minimizing the numerous postwar social problems.

The aim of the article is to present, based on the results of the latest research, the basic phenomena in the field of economic and social modernization taking place in Poland in the interwar period. An introduction to the analysis is the opening balance, which discusses the conditions present in Poland in 1918. The following sections present the processes of economic and social modernization taking place in it. Within the framework of economic modernization, the basic limitations were the negative impact of the legacy of the partitions, war damage and the Great Depression. The currency reform of Władysław Grabski, the period of prosperity in the second half of the 1920s, and the modernization policy of Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski in the second half of the 1930s were favorable phenomena. In the case of social modernization, the state played an important role, introducing important institutional solutions from the very beginning, including equality of citizens before the law, compulsory schooling, women's suffrage. A special role was played by the social policy of the state, thanks to which hundreds of thousands of citizens entered modernity, who could take advantage of social security, modern labor legislation, employment policy, and health care. At the same time, there were visible processes of disseminating the achievements of modernity, including mass and popular culture. The conclusions of the analysis indicate that, despite many examples, modernization in interwar Poland had an island character. The processes related to it have only just begun, and the implementation of many projects undertaken in the second half of the 1930s, such as the construction of the Central Industrial District or the public health service, was interrupted by the outbreak of World War II.

Social policy of the Independent Polish Republic: The construction and the evolution of the system Twenty years of independence turned out not to be long enough for the process of the construction of a coherent system of social policy to be finished. A complicated opening balance sheet, unfavourable economic and social structure of the state and, last but not least, a permanent lack of resources made it impossible to create a system which would satisfy existing needs. It remained in its construction phase and, though it was becoming more and more comprehensive, it was still extremely underfunded and flawed. This is confirmed by its limited coverage, which resulted from structural barriers. It was impossible to remedy this in the short interwar period, although the scale of problems and shortages was known. With time, social policy in Poland became a mature sphere of state activity, which is confirmed by the new objectives that currently lay before it, and by the regulatory and practical activities undertaken at the end of the 1930s.

The interwar Poland was a poorly developed and unevenly developed country. The difference between regions was well to see between well-industrialized and so-called western "Poland A" and backward, agricultural and poor "Poland B" in the east. In the second half of the thirties of the twentieth century, Deputy Prime Minister Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski proposed taking action to eliminate the development differences between individual parts of the country. The government decided to build the Central Industrial District (COP), which was located in backward areas located in the central part of the country. The aim of the project was to implement a number of industrial and infrastructure investments and to make the first step on the way to blur the differences between "Poland A" and "Poland B". Further, the creation of another industrial district east of the COP was assumed. In 1938, E. Kwiatkowski announced the so-called Fifteen-year plan, which was to bring the level of economic development to the level of the entire country until 1954. The large-scale implementation of investment under the COP was interrupted by the outbreak of World War II, but it turned out that the investments undertaken in the second half of the 1930s had a lasting effect. Established in this period, enterprises still play an important role in the economy of present-day south-eastern Poland (Podkarpacie region) and constitute an important element on the way to sustainable development of the country.Keywords: Second Polish Republic, Central Industrial District, state modernization, leveling of development, Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski

In the period of the Second Polish Republic, social policy became an important field of activity for public authorities. It was distinguished by a high level of awareness of the prevalent social problems, progressive legislation, and advanced management. The only missing element was sufficient financing. In the budgetary policy of the Second Polish Republic, social expenses were of minor importance. For the most part of the period, they amounted to approximately 3% of all expenses. The Ministry of Social Care was underfunded, which was evident in nearly every aspect of its activity. Hence, if one wonders if the origins of the Polish welfare state can be traced back to the Second Polish Republic, the answer must be "no". Although extra funds (spent on tackling unemployment, pensions, or disability benefits) were found outside of the ministerial budget, the arguments presented in this article only confirm the hypothesis presented above.

Abstract
In the period of the Second Polish Republic, social policy became an important field of activity for public authorities. It was distinguished by a high level of awareness of the prevalent social problems, progressive legislation, and advanced management. The only missing element was sufficient financing. In the budgetary policy of the Second Polish Republic, social expenses were of minor importance. For the most part of the period, they amounted to approximately 3% of all expenses. The Ministry of Social Care was underfunded, which was evident in nearly every aspect of its activity. Hence, if one wonders if the origins of the Polish welfare state can be traced back to the Second Polish Republic, the answer must be "no". Although extra funds (spent on tackling unemployment, pensions, or disability benefits) were found outside of the ministerial budget, the arguments presented in this article only confirm the hypothesis presented above.

Problems of disable people were a very important social issue in the Second Republic of Poland. Social policy towards them was not unitary. It dealt with issues of war invalids (veterans and civilians), casualties of work accidents (who were insured) and poor disabled people (uninsured). A legal basis for these activities of the state and local governments was different and the support for the particular groups of disabled people was also various. The war invalids received more support than others. The help involved e.g. pensions, health care, prostheses and a chance to get a job. The casualties of work accidents received pensions and health care but their benefits were fewer than benefits for war invalids. Poor disabled people were in the worst position. The state, local governments, charity organisations tried to help them but their possibilities were too small in relation to the needs. Poor disabled people received neither benefits nor health care, they could not expect the help in retraining and finding a job and only few of them could count on a place in care facility (the number of these places was too small).

The process, by which social security gained importance in the state's security system was extended over time. The twenty-year interwar period formed an important, but still preliminary period of development of such activity of the state. This was particularly visible in Poland of the time, where the still very traditional social and professional structure of the population, based on the domination of agriculture and rural inhabitants, left most of them by definition outside of the social security system.Irrespective of that, the category of social security was clearly present in the politics of the Polish state, however, its subjective scope, and in certain areas, its objective scope, remained decisively insufficient. Despite the relatively enlightened goals, particularly in the second half of the 1930s, the modern, and in certain instances quite extensive legislature, and the developed institutional paradigms, the level of social security provided by the available insurance system was rather humble. Its most defining characteristic, and at the same time, its greatest flaw, remained the selective character of the social security offered to the citizens (approx. ¾ of the population had no access to the system).Key words: social security; social insurance; healthcare; social care; Second Polish Republic ; Процес набуття соціальною безпекою значення в системі безпеки держави проходив поетапно. Міжвоєнне двадцятиліття становило важливий, але все ще вступний етап розвитку цього типу діяльності держави. Це було видно зокрема в тодішній Польщі, де досить традиційна і базована на домінуванні сільського господарства і сільського населення суспільно-професійна структура населення автоматично розміщувала переважну його більшість поза системою соціального захисту.Незалежно від цього, категорія соціальної безпеки в політиці польської держави була помітно присутня, однак її суб'єктна сфера, а також в деяких елементах предметна, була однозначно недостатньою. Незважаючи на відносно добре усвідомлення, особливо в II половині тридцятих років, цілей, сучасного і широкого, в багатьох випадках, законодавства та опрацьованих інституційних взірців рівень забезпеченої доступною системою асекурації соціальної безпеки був швидше скромний. Найбільш характерною його рисою і одночасно найбільшою вадою залишався вибірковий характер пропонованого громадянам соціального захисту (близько 3/4 мешканців доступу до системи не мали).Ключові слова: соціальна безпека; соцзабезпечення; охорона здоров'я; соціальна опіка; Друга Річпосполита.

The Second Polish Republic developed an advanced and, in many ways, modern system of social care; however, the services which the citizens were entitled to seemed to be privileges available only to a small part of the population. The origins of this situation are to be found in the specific social and occupational structure of the population, low industrialization rate and the modest financial capabilities of the state and local governments. These resulted in a limited number of people with access to social insurances, a limited scope of public health care, a selective nature of access to unemployment insurance or radical differences in access to social care. And it is this unavailability of the social offer which determines the consideration of those benefits in Poland as privileges rather than commonly available rights of the Polish citizens.