ECONOMIC TRANSITION IN POLAND & RUSSIA
Since approximately 1988, Poland and the republic of Russia (formerly Soviet
Union) have gone through major economic reform. The main emphasis of this paper
is to identify the different approaches that the governments in these two
countries have taken and to look at the positive and negative effects that these
drastic changes have had on their economies. Specifically, the question asked in
this paper is, "Why has the economic transition in Poland been more successful
than in Russia? We will be looking at what factors are being used to measure
this success and what their prospects are for the future.
With almost
half of the world stayed under the communist ties, Poland took risk and applied
revolutionary economic reforms under which it started closing inefficient
plants, ended subsidies for plants working at a loss, introduces mass
privatization and lifted price controls. The shocking therapy successfully
introduced Poland to the path of rapid economic growth and made it the reform
model for other post-communist countries. Also, to increase the educational
quality and adjust its profiles to the present labor market needs, in 1998
Polish government implemented the education system reform. The modifications,
including every field of schoolwork, brought the system closer to the western
education standards and gave Polish students, and well as their teachers greater
flexibility in shaping their career.
For Decades, the Communist Party of
the Soviet Union swore that the red tide initiated within its borders would
sweep the world covering every nation with the ideals of Marxism. Karl Marx’s
promise of a communist utopia was embraced by the governments of many nations
and his philosophy became one of the prevalent worldviews of the 20th century.
However, in the late 1980’s, the leaders of the Communist Party bowed to a
revolution of different type. This concession was the result of the reform
efforts of Mikhail Gorbachev as the party agreed to end its monopoly on power in
the Soviet Union. As the world enters a new decade, Karl Marx’s bold statement
appears destined to be proven wrong. After a decade of massive social upheaval
in countries behind the Iron Curtain, the communist philosophy became a system
of a bygone era. The Soviet Union, the nation with the world’s largest land mass
and the leader of the communist world, has suddenly had its political power base
challenged and its economy shaken to the core.
As the reality of
Gorbachev's message dawned, Poland took the lead. Solidarity became a political
party, then won a parliamentary election, then-at Jaruzelski's request-put one
of its strategists, Tadeusz Mazowiecki, into the premiership. Soon Solidarity
leader Lech Walesa was President of Poland. Meanwhile, Hungary took down its
barbed-wire barriers to the West, literally dismantling a sector of the Iron
Curtain, and thousands of East German vacationers came through. Demonstrators in
East German cities discontinued Erich Honecker and his command, and on Nov. 9,
1989, they dismantled, almost stone by stone, the symbol of communism's
inadequacy: the Berlin Wall.
A similar bloodless onslaught, which Czech
leader Vaclav Havel called the "velvet revolution," snuffed out the communists
in Prague and then in Sofia. In all the East bloc, only the December 1989
uprising that ended Nicolae Ceausescu's reign in Romania touched off bloodshed,
when both the Ceausescu and his wife were executed. Still, the contemporary joke
had it about right: in the surge toward freedom, Poland took 10 years, Hungary
10 months, East Germany 10 weeks, Czechoslovakia 10 days and Romania 10 hours.
Gorbachev the liberator was not a success at home. The Soviet economy drifted
further into decline, strikes erupted, and most threatening of all--the forming
republics of the union began declaring their "sovereignty." Even so, Gorbachev
plunged ahead with his version of reform and in February 1990 directed an
overhaul of the Soviet constitution that eliminated Article 6, the provision
that gave the Communist Party a monopoly on political power.
According to
Gorbachev, communism has not been successful in the Soviet Union because there
is a need for further reform. Gorbachev’s goal is to implement democratic ideals
and freedoms in a socialistic structure. In the meantime, Soviet society is in
the process of recomvery and renewal. Gorbachev firmly believes that an ideal
communist society is in the process of recovery and renewal. Gorbachev firmly
believes that an ideal communist society can yet be created in which democratic
ideals are cultivated in the hearts of the people. When the Soviet Union is
revolutionized through perestroika, he claims, the people will submit willingly
to the structure of communism. In 1990, Gorbachev quotes, "Today our main job is
to lift the individual spiritually, respecting his inner world and giving him
moral strength. We are seeking to make the whole intellectual potential of
society and all the potentialities of culture work to mold a socially active
person, spiritually rich, just, and conscientious. An individual must know and
feel that his contribution is needed, that his dignity is not being infringed
upon, that he is being treated with trust and respect. When an individual sees
all this, he is capable of accomplishing so much".
Of all the republics
of the former Soviet Union, Russia being its successor has remained not only
economically the strongest state, but also a kind of "pacesetter" in democratic
reformation. Any law ratified by the Russian government inevitably evokes a
response in other republics. The deep crisis of the Russian legislature made the
situation more complicated. How should one consider decrees and laws ratified by
the Parliament that had been dissolved? The more so, as many of them are
contrary to standards of international law that were signed by Russian
officials.
One instance of this kind is an amendment of the 14th article
of Russia’s law "On Religious Freedom" that was ratified on July 14th, 1993
after a long and difficult discussion at the Supreme Council (Soviet) of the
Russian Federation. Debates flared up that forced the parliament into extreme
positions. Persistent opponents, as well as most earnest supporters of the
amendment, well understood that this step would mean a turn from the straight
path of reforming the totalitarian system to narrow and dirty ways of
bureaucratic willfulness. So what is the ratified amendment all about? According
to the latest version of the law, a person that does not possess a Russian
citizenship has no right to be involved in activities of religion, missions,
publicity, and propaganda in Russia. Other activities, such as acts of charity,
must be permitted by an authorized committee that gives exclusive permission for
particular activities. Documents to regulate a work of the committee must be
prepared by the Russian government. According to the amendment, any activity
that is to be permitted must correspond to "the interests of the State" and "the
harmony of the society". What kind of "harmony" this must be so that religious
activities may meet "the interests of the State" is not known. It might only be
clear to those registered religious organizations, which have been consistently
applying for the right to participate on activities in Russia.