Published: 2020-12-011

Agricultural policy guidelines in the programs of the main political parties and alliances in Poland (1939-1945/1946)

Radosław Gross
Echa Przeszłości
Section: ARTICLES
https://doi.org/10.31648/ep.6148

Abstract

The need for agricultural reform in Poland was recognized by all major political parties and alliances during World War II. Policy papers developed during and directly after the war presented both convergent and radically different concepts regarding the necessary changes in the Polish agricultural system. The only consensus reached by politicians from various factions was that large farming estates should be divided. However, different solutions were proposed for defining the boundaries of the parceled estates, the procedure of expropriating landowners, and the size of the resulting farms.

Poland became a member of the Soviet block of countries after the war, and all decisions regarding the agricultural reform were ultimately made by the communist government. The Polish People’s Party continued to exert a minor influence on the agricultural system in the first two years after the war. The agricultural reform conducted by the communist authorities was an “agrarian revolution” that aimed to pursue political, rather than economic goals. It cemented the fragmented agricultural system in Poland and led to the creation of weak, unproductive individual farms. Small-scale agriculture was replaced by collective farming after 1948.

Keywords:

agricultural reform, agriculture, farm system, Polish Workers' Party, Polish People’s Party

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Gross, R. (2020). Agricultural policy guidelines in the programs of the main political parties and alliances in Poland (1939-1945/1946). Echa Przeszłości, (XXI/1). https://doi.org/10.31648/ep.6148

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