ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the more general political and economic conditions faced by the postwar Polish communist regime. Competitive parliamentary elections in Hungary had led to a defeat for the communist party. The communist regime that was poised to rule Poland at war’s end could have included pluralist, democratic, and nationalist features. Communist ideology could justify the need for a one-party state, but other factors contributed to the inevitability of communist hegemony. Factional activity pitting liberal against hardline communists and national against Muscovite communists occurred at regular intervals in the Polish party. The chapter looks at the antecedent regime, beginning with its general economic structure and its functioning and reviews socioeconomic development in People’s Poland. It discusses the international environment within which the socialist state operated, the country’s political culture, its main political groups, the political structure and performance of the regime, and, finally, its changing leadership.
