Yeah, also people who already lived in the west were able to send foreign currency now, as socialist Poland disallowed that, and thus directly import treats from the west (the embargo on imports was lifted with the counter-revolution). On the other hand, unemployment, crime and poverty rose sharply as industry collapsed (or was collapsed due to the skyrocketing corruption) and immigration steadily drained the pool of young people and skilled workers.
Poland had the problem that socialism came in 1945 and until the end neither the population nor the communist party actually wanted socialism, so they did nationalism and constant infighting for the right to hate gays and ban abortion I guess. Also it had the worst food shortages in any socialist country in the early 80s (though the situation was improving in the late 80s), yet say the GDR, Czechoslovakia or Bulgaria only lacked in exotic foods like bananas... might have something to do with the decollectivization of agriculture in 1956? (Collective farms did still exist until the last one was privatized in November 1995, but were to my knowledge a minority)
Yeah, also people who already lived in the west were able to send foreign currency now, as socialist Poland disallowed that, and thus directly import treats from the west (the embargo on imports was lifted with the counter-revolution). On the other hand, unemployment, crime and poverty rose sharply as industry collapsed (or was collapsed due to the skyrocketing corruption) and immigration steadily drained the pool of young people and skilled workers.
Poland had the problem that socialism came in 1945 and until the end neither the population nor the communist party actually wanted socialism, so they did nationalism and constant infighting for the right to hate gays and ban abortion I guess. Also it had the worst food shortages in any socialist country in the early 80s (though the situation was improving in the late 80s), yet say the GDR, Czechoslovakia or Bulgaria only lacked in exotic foods like bananas... might have something to do with the decollectivization of agriculture in 1956? (Collective farms did still exist until the last one was privatized in November 1995, but were to my knowledge a minority)