ABSTRACT
The deep socio-economic crisis that hit Polish villages in early 1990 was followed by an equally deep socio-cultural and ecological crisis. The cause of the distressing phenomena lies in the largely inappropriate development strategy of Polish village and agriculture, elaborated throughout the nearly fifty years of socialism. The decline of demand in the internal market was followed by the collapse of markets in all the former socialist states and by opening the Polish market to cheap food products from Western Europe. Many inhabitants of rural areas also had to quit their jobs in towns because of their employers' bankruptcy or the high cost of transportation, which in the socialist economy was heavily subsidized by employers. Even though all social groups in Poland are paying the costs of the transformation from the centrally planned economy to the free market, it seems that Polish villages, which contain about one-third of the Polish population, have been hit especially hard.
