Word: polese
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Gomulka flirted briefly with liberalization after he was named party boss in 1956, but then clamped a repressive lid on the country. Initially Gierek delivered on many of his own early promises, allowing Poles freer access to Western cultural influences and more opportunity to travel abroad. "For the first few...
People still speak of Gierek as honest, sincere, a "good man." But more and more, Poles have come to view him as a well-meaning incompetent, mechanically committed to a Communist system that cannot solve the country's considerable problems.
Even before the strikers downed their tools in protest against prices and shortages, life was not easy for most Poles. In the cities, such commonplace items as fish, cheese, eggs, butter, fruit, vegetables and toilet paper are often hard to find.
The irony is that in the midst of shortages, almost everything is available-at the right price. Most Poles resort to an extensive black-market system where meat, food, clothes, jewelry, cars and appliances can all be had, provided the medium of exchange is not the zloty but the dollar...
The extensive black-market economy is condoned by the government. Desperate for Western currency, it allows citizens to maintain foreign currency bank accounts. More than 5 million Poles have such accounts, with estimated deposits of $400 million. The cash may be earned legally in various ways, sent in by relatives...