Poland And The Soviet Power: Background To Recent History (1961)

[Music] who for centuries has protected for restore the independence of our country forever and ever these are the words of a patriotic hymn once banned by Poland's communist government but now heard everywhere in Poland it has been this way since October 1956 since October to american-style jazz is background music for police style Jill's jokes openly kidding a communist regime what is the difference between capitalism and Congress answer under capitalism man exploits man under communism whether it's just the reverse [Music] October 1956 could not it is true wipe out wartime memories of inconceivable Nazi but the events of October did bring new hope at last to the people of post in November of 1956 Poland's communist leaders conferred with Soviet leaders in Moscow one month earlier Soviet tanks had threatened Warsaw jamilka the new police leader told the Russians to go home Khrushchev the Soviet leader backed down gheh mukha and poland had won a decisive battle the Battle of October 1956 to understand the meaning of October we must go back more than 20 years to September 1st 1939 December 1st 1939 was the day Nazi bombs began World War 2 within a week Hitler's armies and hidden feet within a month it was over a dog Hitler the conquerors oh no it's not [Music] it was a new kind of war which had engulfed Poland the blitzkrieg lightning warfare fast-moving German tanks had crushed Polish resistance and then it was the turn of the Soviet Union units of the Red Army crossed Poland's eastern frontier rolled westward and the next day join the Nazis at Rexford house a salute a handshake and a nod it was an old story to the people of poem conquest subjugation enslavement it had happened before in poland's troubled history but never was such in humanity but now the tides of history has turned in the two nations which divided Poland were themselves at war by the summer of 44 Soviet troops was freaking the Germans back all along the Eastern Front and the Red Army was flooding into Poland from the gates of Warsaw itself but here the generals of the Red Army often they're at back [Music] during the long years of occupation the a.k the police Home Army had fought the Nazis it's record was known to the world now in August of 44 for the Soviet Army is less than 10 miles away the time seemed right for a general uprising of the underground the result was tragedy for 63 days while the Red Army stood by and did nothing the wars all underground fought a hopeless battle with the German army [Applause] German occupation Soviet liberation to the people of Warsaw there seemed little to choose from [Music] May 7 1945 the armies of the Allies the United Kingdom the United States and France the Soviet Union China this was victory in Europe [Music] [Applause] [Music] but now the complex and subtle problems of the piece and Pollan was to become the first concern at the conference table at Yalta before the war's end the big three the United States Russia and England discussed Poland's future throughout history Joseph Stalin said Poland had been a corridor through which Russia's enemies had attacked her plus the Soviet Union must annex eastern Poland and in exchange Poland was to get part of eastern Germany these boundary changes were made but free police elections also part of the Yalta agreement were never held Pollin already occupied by the Red Army was taken over by Polish communists backed by Soviet power plus the postwar years revealed Joseph Stalin's grand design the reason the Red Army have refused to help the Polish underground they were not communists but Poland was not alone in the words of Winston Churchill wartime leader of England from Stephan in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an Iron Curtain has descended across the continent behind that line lie the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe and all are subject in one form or another to control from Moscow thus emerged a period of suspicion abuse recrimination the Cold War as for Poland there was a staggering task of clearing the rubble of war and rebuilding although many folds felt the war's end meant for Poland the exchange of one tyranny for another they set to work with an astounding will determined to know once again the uses of peace physically considerable progress was made Poland began to rise from the ruins then on the night of March 5th 1953 Joseph Stalin leaders the Communist world was dead and the man who would take his place was not in the front rank of mourners but three years later Nikita Khrushchev was to attack Stalin's memory in a secret speech first job spoke of Stalin's capricious and despotic character Stalin he said and ordered thousands of innocent persons arrested tortured and shot in addition Chris Josh said Stalin supported the glorification of his own person Stalin's death and Chris Jobs bitter condemnation of his policies for to have a profound effect throughout Eastern Europe the city of paws Nonya in Poland is in many ways like cities everywhere in its public parks mothers and grandmothers take the air gossip in the Sun and if need be rescue their children from the growing menace subtract yes it was here in Poznan a city of some 350,000 people but an event occurred which shook the Communist world to expound ation it began it's discovered a locomotive factory named ironically enough after Joseph Stalin on June 29 1956 15000 disco workers marched through the quiet streets but what started as a strike for higher wages became a riot and threatened to develop into a revolution [Music] the armed rioters were finally stopped but the uprising revealed the bitter unrest discontent and poverty of the Polish people under calmness only 12 young men were brought to trial for firing on members of the UV the secret police most of them were acquitted it was a popular decision for between the Poznan no riots in June and the trial in December a lot in a word October : led by vladislav DeLuca a communist a defied Christian and the Soviet Army five years earlier the Mucca had been imprisoned by Joseph Stalin for telling the Polish people what he now told them once again poland's independence must be respected [Applause] a tremendous wave of hope swept the nation October was to be the beginning of a better life [Applause] [Music] the theater of Warsaw once the vehicle for grim propaganda plays now blossomed out with political satires and with imports from France and America [Applause] polish artists once had to imitate official Soviet painting after October say to asserted their independent polish you became interested in everything under the Sun particularly the Western Sun [Music] October had been in quite a revolt of the intellectuals musicians poets science students it is said had been armed and ready to fight Soviet tanks after October they and their teachers felt intense pride once again in being polish but mostly perhaps October wasn't attitude this was pullin again we can talk laughs grumble Cosette we can even crack jokes about the communist regime and if they were so inclined poles could open up small stores and shops privately owned business in other words was to be permitted on a largest scale there were changes on Poland's Fox during the five years of gamora's imprisonment many Polish farmers and their families have been forced to pool their land labor and resources into huge collective farms after October more than 8,000 collectives were disbanded overnight along with the return of farms to private ownership came the free markets farm families no longer forced to sell and government-owned stores could now sell in the open market this then was Poland after October with goloka leading anything seemed possible except for one important thing [Music] Joseph Stalin's memory could be attacked communism itself could not be attacked these are seen in Budapest during the Hungarian Uprising Hungarian army eunuchs refused to fire on the people barricades were erected industry but then came the Soviet tank [Applause] it was soon over the Hungarians had appealed to the West for help that health which they expected did not come [Music] refugees poured across the borders in all more than 186,000 [Music] for Poland Hungary faith was a shattering warning and Gomulka drove his point home the Soviet Union could not be pushed too far polls could not depend on the West they must recognize necessity a necessity for the great mass of Polish people meant one inescapable fact Poland's economic life is not the Napoli's hat many calls work in mills and factories planned and built with Soviet aid the Soviet Union is Poland biggest customer for steel and coal our major exports more important perhaps is the Soviet determination that the nations lying on our European border be oriented to communist philosophy therma deviations but they must be minor deviations the Socktober did not mean a return to capitalism private enterprise is allowed as a temporary measure but taxes are high and government regulations restrictive it is becoming increasingly difficult for the small Polish businessman to stay in business nor did October mean any lasting change in poland's farm program after october the polish peasant was allowed to till his own land once again but sooner or later poland's farms will undoubtedly be pulled to form large-scale collectives soviet-style there are other things which October did not mean this is the ancient city of Gdansk it was once police then German between the two world was was a free city and has now pulleys once again this is the coal mine in Upper Silesia a rich industrial area before the war it was German and is now polish and here are some of the 3 and 1/2 million Germans who at the end of the war were expelled from this week [Applause] problems of Silesia are complex poles insist that justice is on their side and moreover they have the military backing of Soviet troops Garrison's in Poland thus October did not change police fears of a rearm Germany nor the dependence of the Polish government on Soviet power Vladislav jamilka believes that communism and polish Alliance for the Soviet Union are the answers to Poland's problems however fallen the Mokka insists must proceed along her own road to communist [Music] [Applause] Poland's Road to communism implies gyum oka says complete religious freedom one of his first acts after October was the release from prison of Stefan Cardinal Wyszynski Basinski like the Moga a bit imprisoned by Poland stalinís now they are the nation's two most powerful men the Catholic who cannot believe in communism and the communists who cannot believe in God [Music] Stalinism the long years of Stalinist rule is spoken of in Poland as the terrible past which may lie before us by this poles mean that their future is uncertain after October the Communist economic planners made efforts to improve Poland's production of consumer goods later developments however indicate plans once again to concentrate on the build-up of heavy industries in much of Poland war damage is still oppressive [Music] politics aside an adequate housing is perhaps the most irritating day-to-day problem the average pole has to live with families of three and four often live in one room as for Poland's intellectuals are scientists artists students they have as one American observer put it freedom of conversation and freeze you are interested in everything Westing on the other hand poland's newspapers are not free they are completely controlled once again by the Communist Party what do the people of Poland want one poll at least has put it this way we lived on our knees for six years under the Germans and for 12 more under the Russians now if we can have freedom to talk and freedom to work we won't ask for more except for one thing freedom to be polish [Music]