Otwarcie Trasy W-Z w Warszawie 22 lipca 1949

The Plan of Reconstructing the Economy ( pl, Plan Odbudowy Gospodarki), commonly known as the Three-Year Plan ( pl, plan trzyletni) was a

centralized Centralisation or centralization (see spelling differences) is the process by which the activities of an organisation, particularly those regarding planning and decision-making, framing strategy and policies become concentrated within a particu ...

plan A plan is typically any diagram or list of steps with details of timing and resources, used to achieve an objective to do something. It is commonly understood as a temporal set of intended actions through which one expects to achieve a goal. F ...

created by the

Polish communist Communism in Poland can trace its origins to the late 19th century: the Marxist First Proletariat party was founded in 1882. Rosa Luxemburg (1871–1919) of the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania (''Socjaldemokracja Królest ...

government to rebuild Poland after the devastation of the Second World War. The plan was carried out between 1947 and 1949. It succeeded in its primary aim of largely rebuilding Poland from the devastation of the war, as well as in increasing output of Polish industry and agriculture.

Development and goals

Poland suffered heavy losses during World War II. In addition to significant population losses,US Department of State, Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs
Background Note: Poland
(March 2007). Retrieved on 2007-04-07 it suffered catastrophic damage to its

infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and priv ...

during the war; the losses in national resources and infrastructure amounted to over 30% percent of pre-war potential. Rebuilding of the economy was also made more difficult by the major

territorial changes of Poland after World War II At the end of World War II, Poland underwent major changes to the location of its international border. In 1945, after the defeat of Nazi Germany, the Oder–Neisse line became its western border, resulting in gaining the Recovered Territories f ...

. See als
other copy online
The Three-Year Plan was developed and monitored by the Central Planning Office (''Centralny Urząd Planowania''), a body of the government tasked with creation of

economic policy The economy of governments covers the systems for setting levels of taxation, government budgets, the money supply and interest rates as well as the labour market, national ownership, and many other areas of government interventions into the e ...

, and in the early years dominated by a more liberal

Polish Socialist Party The Polish Socialist Party ( pl, Polska Partia Socjalistyczna, PPS) is a socialist political party in Poland. It was one of the most important parties in Poland from its inception in 1892 until its merger with the communist Polish Workers' P ...

(PPS) faction. Among the economists involved in its development was the then CUP director,

Czesław Bobrowski Czesław Bobrowski (17 February 1904, in Sarny – 18 May 1996, in Warsaw) was a Polish economist. In postwar Poland, he was a director of Central Planning Office (''Centralny Urząd Planowania'') from 1945–1948, author of the Three-Year Plan. ...

. CUP centralized planning for the entire Polish economy was previously broken into separate bodies working on planning for separate branches. The plan, significantly influenced by the PPS, was designed to create a balance between the

private sector The private sector is the part of the economy, sometimes referred to as the citizen sector, which is owned by private groups, usually as a means of establishment for profit or non profit, rather than being owned by the government. Employment The ...

, the

public sector The public sector, also called the state sector, is the part of the economy composed of both public services and public enterprises. Public sectors include the public goods and governmental services such as the military, law enforcement, infra ...

and the

cooperatives A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

. Instead of

ideology An ideology is a set of beliefs or philosophies attributed to a person or group of persons, especially those held for reasons that are not purely epistemic, in which "practical elements are as prominent as theoretical ones." Formerly applied pri ...

, commonly stressed by later communist plans, it concentrated on the realistic problems and ways to address them. On 21 September 1946 the

State National Council Krajowa Rada Narodowa in Polish (translated as State National Council or Homeland National Council, abbreviated to KRN) was a parliament-like political body created during the later stages of World War II in German-occupied Warsaw, Poland. It was ...

(KRN), a

-dominated unelected Polish parliament accepted the plan for the Polish economy up to 1949. On 2 July 1947 the newly elected

Sejm The Sejm (English: , Polish: ), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (Polish: ''Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''), is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of t ...

declared that: "The primary goal of the national economy in the years 1947-1949 is to raise the

living conditions Habitability refers to the adequacy of an environment for human living. Where housing is concerned, there are generally local ordinances which define habitability. If a residence complies with those laws it is said to be habitable. In extreme e ...

of working classes to above the pre-war levels." The plan as described by the above bodies was designed to develop industry and service sectors, foreign trade and ensure the supply of basic consumer items. The plan specified the size of industrial and agricultural production to be achieved in the following years. In 1949 both the industrial and agricultural productions were to be above the pre-war levels. The industrial output was also to be higher than agricultural output. The plan did not involve creation of new industrial centers, only the rebuilding of the old ones (unless they were over 50% destroyed).

Results and assessment

Due to the dedication of substantial resources to industrial rebuilding, and the successful adoption of the

Stakhanovite movement The term Stakhanovite () originated in the Soviet Union and referred to workers who modeled themselves after Alexey Stakhanov. These workers took pride in their ability to produce more than was required, by working harder and more efficiently, thu ...

(the

communist propaganda Communist propaganda is the artistic and social promotion of the ideology of communism, communist worldview, communist society, and interests of the communist movement. While it tends to carry a negative connotation in the Western world, the t ...

of that time created a new "hero of the working class",

Wincenty Pstrowski Wincenty Pstrowski (28 May 1904 – 18 April 1948) was a Polish miner, known as the Polish Stakhanov Stakhanov may refer to: * Stakhanov (surname), a Russian surname * Stakhanov, Ukraine, a city in Ukraine * Stakhanov coal mine, Ukraine * Stakh ...

), where workers were encouraged to work above their quota, the expected increase in industrial output was reached ahead of schedule. However, the agricultural output did not increase as much as predicted, partially due to bad weather in 1947, partially due to inefficiencies involved in

collectivization Collective farming and communal farming are various types of, "agricultural production in which multiple farmers run their holdings as a joint enterprise". There are two broad types of communal farms: agricultural cooperatives, in which member ...

of farming and finally, partially due to side-effects of the

battle for trade The battle for trade ( pl, Bitwa o handel; also translated as trade battle or battle over trade) was an element of the state politics in the early period of communist takeover of Poland (1946–49) according to which new laws and regulations succ ...

, which damaged traditional

supply chain In commerce, a supply chain is a network of facilities that procure raw materials, transform them into intermediate goods and then final products to customers through a distribution system. It refers to the network of organizations, people, acti ...

s. In 1948 industrial production was 30% higher compared to 1939, but agricultural production was 30% lower (compared to the 1934-38 period). The battle for trade, pushed for by

Stalinist Stalinism is the means of governing and Marxist-Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin. It included the creation of a one-party totalitarian police state, rapid industrialization, the theory o ...

hardliners like

Hilary Minc Hilary Minc (24 August 1905, Kazimierz Dolny – 26 November 1974, Warsaw) was a Polish economist and communist politician prominent in Stalinist Poland. Minc was born into a middle class Jewish family; his parents were Oskar Minc and Stefan ...

, suggested that both the cooperative and private sectors should be eliminated and the public sector should be dominant, assumptions contrary to the foundations of the three-year plan which stated that all three sectors are equal. The battle for trade also resulted in a decrease of the

craftmanship Workmanship is a human attribute relating to knowledge and skill at performing a task. Workmanship is also a quality imparted to a product. The type of work may include the creation of handcrafts, art, writing, machinery and other products. Workman ...

sector.Polska. Gospodarka. Przemysł.
Encyklopedia PWN Already in 1949 the stress was moved from

consumer goods A final good or consumer good is a final product ready for sale that is used by the consumer to satisfy current wants or needs, unlike a intermediate good, which is used to produce other goods. A microwave oven or a bicycle is a final good, but ...

to producer goods, and

light industry Light industry are industries that usually are less capital-intensive than heavy industry and are more consumer-oriented than business-oriented, as they typically produce smaller consumer goods. Most light industry products are produced for ...

development was slowed. The next plan in the Polish communist economy was the

Six-Year Plan Six-Year Plan (1950–1955) was the second - after the Three-Year Plan (1947–1949) - centralized plan of the People's Republic of Poland. It concentrated on increasing the heavy industry sector. By 1950 the Polish government was dominated by Sta ...

(1950–1956), much more critically assessed by modern historians and economists, as by 1950 the CUP and Polish government were dominated by Stalinist hardliners, and PPS economists responsible for creation of the Three-Year Plan were no longer influencing government policy. The Six-Year Plan, designed to bring the

economy of Poland The economy of Poland is an industrialized, mixed economy with a developed market that serves as the sixth-largest in the European Union by nominal GDP and fifth-largest by GDP (PPP). Poland boasts extensive public services characteristic of m ...

in line with the

Soviet economy The economy of the Soviet Union was based on state ownership of the means of production, collective farming, and Industrial engineering, industrial manufacturing. An administrative-command system managed a Soviet-type economic planning, distinc ...

, concentrated on heavy industrialization, with projects such as

Nowa Huta Nowa Huta (, literally "The New Steel Mill") is the easternmost district of Kraków, Poland. With more than 200,000 inhabitants, it is one of the most populous areas of the city. Until 1990, the neighbouring districts were considered expansions o ...

. Rebuilding of the Polish economy was also slowed in 1947, as Soviet influence caused the Polish government to reject the American-sponsored

Marshall Plan The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred over $13 billion (equivalent of about $ in ) in economic re ...

, designed to aid European economies in post-war rebuilding. Schain, Martin A. ''The Marshall Plan: fifty years after'', Palgrave, 2001,
Google Print, p.132
/ref> With the simultaneous rebuilding of the cities, substantial migration from rural areas to urban centers occurred, increasing

urbanization Urbanization (or urbanisation) refers to the population shift from rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. It is predominantly t ...

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

and other ruined cities were cleared of rubble and rebuilt with great speed during those years.A brief history of Poland. Chapter 13: "The Post-War Years, 1945-1990."
Polonia Today Online. Retrieved on 28 March 2007. In 1939, 60% of Poles worked in agriculture and 13% in industry; in 1949, the figures were 47% and 21%, respectively. The three-year plan is widely considered a success and the only efficient economic plan in the history of

People's Republic of Poland The Polish People's Republic ( pl, Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa, PRL) was a country in Central Europe that existed from 1947 to 1989 as the predecessor of the modern Republic of Poland. With a population of approximately 37.9 million nea ...

. It succeeded in its primary aim: mostly rebuilding Poland from the devastation of the war, as well as in increasing output of Polish industry and agriculture.

Development and goals

Results and assessment

See also

Notes

Further reading