Donald Tusk keeps insisting that Poland is achieving enormous success. According to him, in terms of GDP per capita, we were supposed to surpass Japan. Of course, anyone even somewhat familiar with Japan knows that things are not quite that rosy – perhaps only in statistics. Poland has almost caught up with the European Union average, and that is a genuine success. For over 30 years, we have been in a phase of continuous growth, and despite many problems, it would be dishonest to deny our country’s great achievements. These are successes achieved by people of my generation – those who built a new reality after 1989. This happened thanks to the tremendous effort and sacrifices of millions of people, writes Tomasz Sakiewicz in the latest issue of Gazeta Polska weekly.
In 1989, we were left with an economy devastated by communism, utterly uncompetitive. The standard of living compared to Western Europe was six times lower. Workplaces were collapsing, and poorly implemented reforms – introduced without regard for social consequences – led to a wave of suicides in rural areas and turned former state farm regions into zones of poverty. The economic decline was halted at the beginning of 1992 during the government of Jan Olszewski. The prime minister departed from shock therapy policies and attempted to stop the devastation and plundering of state-owned enterprises. He did not last long in office, but some of the changes he introduced began to bear fruit.
Today, through enormous effort, we have made up for the catastrophe caused by communism and the mistakes of the early reform years. We are now at a point where, in a few years, we could leap into the ranks of the world’s wealthiest nations – or slide back at least to the second tier. Unfortunately, contrary to Donald Tusk’s declarations, there is no sign that Poland intends to seize this opportunity. Foreign capital is starting to flee from the Vistula, major infrastructure projects are slowing down, and EU funds are being wasted – or, to put it bluntly, embezzled. Agriculture once again faces potential disaster. Entire industrial sectors are beginning to collapse one after another.
The architects of the Third Republic are returning to their old methods. Fortunately for us, this is happening under completely different social and economic circumstances. It is not only trade unions or farmers that are resisting; even the business sector is beginning to push back. For now, this resistance is barely visible, but I personally receive more and more signals that the top ranks of Polish business are looking around for an alternative political arrangement. The inefficiency of the Polish state now terrifies everyone. Soon, this will set in motion processes of change that are still invisible for the moment.
Over the past generation, Poles have built something they are not willing to give up. It is worth noting that social and economic mechanisms have emerged that can themselves compel change. The coming period will indeed be a fascinating one.