Suchergebnisse

The article attempts to determine the usefulness of the concept of resourcefulness for research in the field of social history of the People's Republic of Poland. On the basis of examples concerning problems with provisions, housing, professional work and retirement benefits, an analysis of specific issues was made, where this resourcefulness manifested itself particularly intensively. The research shows that in many cases it was pathological. It meant a strategy of behavior consisting in achieving the assumed goals by individuals or various groups of people using means that are in conflict with the norms, rules, procedures accepted as appropriate in a given political and socio-economic order.

The article contains an analysis of two court cases concerning Belgian citizens: Albert Snauwaert and Louis François Quievreux, who were accused of espionage and convicted by a Polish military courts in 1949. The broad historical context of their arrest, conviction, and the efforts made to release them are presented. The findings are based primarily on the results of a query carried out in various Pol- ish archives (Archiwum Akt Nowych, Archiwum Ministerstwa Spraw Zagranicznych, Instytut Pamięci Narodowej).

Nowe otwarcie w polsko-włoskich stosunkach gospodarczych nastąpiło na przełomie lat pięćdziesiątych i sześćdziesiątych XX w.. Efektem tego otwarcia były umowy podpisane w 1958 i w 1960 r. oraz stopniowe zwiększenie obrotów handlowych. Kolejne etapy tej współpracy wyznaczają umowy: z 14 lipca 1965 r. (o współpracy gospodarczej, przemysłowej i technicznej) i z 18 lutego 1970 r. (o stosunkach handlowych i gospodarczych). Obroty handlowe z Włochami w 1969 r. stanowiły blisko 3% całości obrotów polskiego handlu zagranicznego z rozwiniętymi krajami kapitalistycznymi. W 1966 r. Włochy zajmowali czwarte miejsce (po Wielkiej Brytanii, RFN i USA) w polskim eksporcie do rozwiniętych krajów kapitalistycznych i drugie miejsce w imporcie z tej grupy państw. Polska eksportowała do Włoch głównie towary rolno-spożywcze oraz surowce (węgiel, siarka) a importowała maszyny i urządzenia oraz półfabrykaty hutnicze i chemiczne. W latach sześćdziesiątych władze PRL zdecydowały się na duże zakupy inwestycyjne we Włoszech. W 1965 r. władze polskie podpisały porozumienie z Fiatem na produkcję w Polsce samochodu średniolitrażowego (Fiat 125p), na co uzyskały duży kredyt. Współpraca z turyńskim koncernem była najbardziej rozpoznawalnym elementem polsko-włoskiej kooperacji przemysłowej w tym okresie.

The period 1945–70 saw a change in the approach to environmental contamination on the part of Polish authorities and the society. Before 1956, the imposed model of economic modernisation, which imitated and reproduced the Soviet patterns, glaringly contradicted the requirements of ecology. In the aftermath of the political turn of 1956, protection of waters and air against pollution finally became a matter of debate involving the authorities and the society. Basic legal solutions in this respect, meant to protect the environment against degradation, were adopted in the 1960s. The legislators generally followed the arguments and reasons behind the period's industrial policy, with the resulting limited efficiency of the legal acts adopted. In any case, between 1956 and 1970 awareness emerged in the society with respect to threats to the environment. This is attested by the letters sent to the authorities whose authors, individuals and groups, criticised the developments of industrial modernisation – owing, primarily, to its detrimental impact on their health.

The pivotal motive behind financial crime in the real socialist states was the chronic shortage of goods and services. In the case of Poland under the Gomułka administration (1956-1970), a factor which contributed to the prevalence of practices considered economically criminal was, ironically, the liberalization of the government in the period following Władysław Gomułka's rise to power. The procedure of issuing new licenses to private and co-operative manufacturing businesses fostered illegal practices, because the new businesses needed supplies of deficit resources. Private trade businesses struggled with similar problems. The authorities tried to prevent financial crime by concentrating on publishing new laws which allowed heavy punishment for those behind the biggest economic scandals. In this field, the penal policy was shaped by the top authorities of the communist party, and their decisions were binding for the institutions of the justice system. Such decisions of the top authorities of the Polish United Workers' Party (PUWP) were behind the death sentence for Stanisław Wawrzecki, who was charged with fraudulence in meat trade in Warsaw. Poles' attitude towards financial crime was not clear-cut. One the one hand, in their letters to authorities, many Poles expressed their support for severe punishment for those responsible for the biggest fraud, while others objected towards capital punishment for Wawrzecki. The information we have on the dynamics of confirmed financial crimes does not provide a clear answer whether it was actually related to the severity of the punishments.

The period 1945–70 saw a change in the approach to environmental contamination on the part of Polish authorities and the society. Before 1956, the imposed model of economic modernisation, which imitated and reproduced the Soviet patterns, glaringly contradicted the requirements of ecology. In the aftermath of the political turn of 1956, protection of waters and air against pollution finally became a matter of debate involving the authorities and the society. Basic legal solutions in this respect, meant to protect the environment against degradation, were adopted in the 1960s. The legislators generally followed the arguments and reasons behind the period's industrial policy, with the resulting limited efficiency of the legal acts adopted. In any case, between 1956 and 1970 awareness emerged in the society with respect to threats to the environment. This is attested by the letters sent to the authorities whose authors, individuals and groups, criticised the developments of industrial modernisation – owing, primarily, to its detrimental impact on their health.

Abstract
The pivotal motive behind financial crime in the real socialist states was the chronic shortage of goods and services. In the case of Poland under the Gomułka administration (1956-1970), a factor which contributed to the prevalence of practices considered economically criminal was, ironically, the liberalization of the government in the period following Władysław Gomułka's rise to power. The procedure of issuing new licenses to private and co-operative manufacturing businesses fostered illegal practices, because the new businesses needed supplies of deficit resources. Private trade businesses struggled with similar problems. The authorities tried to prevent financial crime by concentrating on publishing new laws which allowed heavy punishment for those behind the biggest economic scandals. In this field, the penal policy was shaped by the top authorities of the communist party, and their decisions were binding for the institutions of the justice system. Such decisions of the top authorities of the Polish United Workers' Party (PUWP) were behind the death sentence for Stanisław Wawrzecki, who was charged with fraudulence in meat trade in Warsaw. Poles' attitude towards financial crime was not clear-cut. One the one hand, in their letters to authorities, many Poles expressed their support for severe punishment for those responsible for the biggest fraud, while others objected towards capital punishment for Wawrzecki. The information we have on the dynamics of confirmed financial crimes does not provide a clear answer whether it was actually related to the severity of the punishments.