COMMUNIST INFLUENCES ON DAILY LIFE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00046R000200080024-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 3, 2013
• Sequence Number: 24
• Publication Date: August 31, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/06/04 :CIA-RDP82-000468000200080024-5
S E C R E T
SECURITY INFORMATION
REPORT NO.
COUNTRY Poland
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DATE DISTR. 31
SUB7ECT Communist Influences on Daily Life NO.OF PAGES
PLACE
ACGIUIRED
DATE
ACQUIRED
DATE OF IN
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THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
NO.OF ENCLS.
(LISTED BELOW)
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
-elati ?r~s~hiT,s Hetween Workers
1. Relations between workers were, for the most-part, 'cool. The
exe,eption,.which was raot very common, was when individu8l workers
had been friends for many yaars. It was the intention of the
Party to prevent the cultivation of friendships, as it was con-
sidered that these frieAdshipa would make Party eontr?1 over''
individuals more difficult. This policy of the Party was not
generally k>aow>n.. The Party -- through the directors of firms,
personnel directors, and the secretaries of firm Party organiza-
. tions --strove to give the appearance of friendliness, at the
swab time encouraging the employees to fear one another; so they
would be induced to report one another's activities and conversa~
Lions. This type of atmo8phere was not difficult to create when
am?ng the employees there were PZPR members who belonged to the
t'irm organization of the PZPR. The ignorant sort of person was
always the aaoat e>~thusiastic Party member.
Party Meetings
2. Party meetings were nightmares for the employees. An employee
could count cl~a at least one or two meetings per week, and m?re,
if he belonged to a number of organizations. If there was not
a general meeting on production and the fulfillment of plan
(Aiarada Produkcy~na) there was the Trade Union (Zwiazek Zawodowy)
>laeeting. If not the Trade Union meeting., there was the Polish-
Russisn Friendship Society (Towarzszystwa Przy~azni Polsko-
Radziecke~ -- TPPR) meeting. If not the TPPR meeting, there
was the. mass meeting (Masowka).
S E C R E T
FORMATION
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/06/04 :CIA-RDP82-000468000200080024-5
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/06/04 :CIA-RDP82-000468000200080024-5
S E C R E T
All meetings took place of ter ~vorking hours, .and the sub,~ects
cuseed at these meetings were often the lames improving tMe'
quality of one t s work, worl~ing k~arder in order to fulfill 'the:
j3,lana working harder 3.n celebration of RIERUT?s birthdav..ar
~c~r~a.rag Hera, wn~.cn would be Poland's best answer to the
imperialists' warmongering.
The reason given for absence ,from a meeting wad checked' closely:,..
.and each individual was reminded again and again of his duty to
attend the ~aeetings-: An employee who enjoyed being conscientious
about his work, or whn liked his fob and had the required abilit
y,..
-strove to restrain himself from doing his best, lbecause his
id
nt
ev
e
en~oysraent of his work would. have been held up as pane of
the successes of the Party, and the person would be obliged to tell.
at meetings how willingly he worked for the good of the Party.
The same people regularly took active part iri-all the meetings.
The secretary of the PpP, the personnel director of the. firm, the
firm chairman of the Polish Youth Union (Zwiazek Mlodziezy Polsk3~e~
ZMP), the chairman of the trade union
and the department head
,
s..
could always be counted on to speak and were expected to have some-
-thing to say at the meetings. Most oP the other a'ttendants~ on''
the other .hand, rarely heard all that was beib,g said and often
voted on issues that they had not paid attention to, after the.
meeting asking ore another what it was they had voted on.
Influence of the Trade Unions ~Zwiazek Zawadowy)?
~. The vrorkers .seemed to hike the trade unions better than the. 'other.
Party orgat3lzatiors, f'or althbugh the trade unions had much in a the
were 3
t
;
.
y
It was admitted that-most of the enemies of the Par
universities, and a ~rery high ps~centage ~.+~perh~ps
ae high as 80 or 90~ of older university professors secretly did
not accept the Party doctrines. In additiman, a high pei*eeantage. mf
the students were from an intellectual backgrouand..
Social Relationships
.~,._ r.~
16. Outside of work, relationships were similar to relationships +sn:
-- - ~ - - ----'.~qsr- L_ ..~_,.-.~. ....a nw'.~~o~r,i-fl MA~sa .A 7+
W.iG dvw. i vvly +..+ .. .+-.. ...~~..~~._...-.-w
frieanda. They preferred to stay in circles of friends vaham th,~~r;
had kmt?wn a bang time, where they. were more at ease.and could ~tle
say what they thought, especially on political shb~eats, 1~it~r~~~
Pear of havirsg their words reported . In gatherings where everye~~-e .
'
ra`7~aply
w'as 'not very well known, conversations were guarded, ps.rtic
d
~;:o,:
in respect to political opinions-and opini?ns about radio 1~rva
assts from the West.
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/06/04 :CIA-RDP82-000468000200080024-5
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/06/04 :CIA-RDP82-000468000200080024-5
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~Ied...~ '~.a
17. .Little in the line of medicaments was available except perhaps
for headache powder and purgatives. Before the pharmacies
became state-owned in the Spring of 1851, one was still able
to gg_et some kinds of medicaments, and with a little search one
could usually find streptvmycine or penicillin, most of which
cafe from relatives in England. Althaugh?it was a violation of
Comm+cnist law to sell these drugs in Poland, the se111ng f
these drugs to private physicians seemed to be condoned
of no one arraigned for such a transaction.
~,~, Warsaw, a subsidiary of the Retail Trade Store e~ski
Handel Detaliczny -- MHD) was buying the contents of packages .
that were sexit f~?om abroad, particularly medicines and coffee..
The prices for these were supposed to be as high if not higher
than black market prices.
Movies and Theatres
18. Movies and theater were the Communists' strongest propaganda
.media. When there was a movie that was considered excellent.':
propaganda-wise, employers w?uld sometimes release th,e employees
at one in the afternoon, and the employees were admitted to
see. the movie gratis. At these times, when the auditorium
was fi11Cd ta`capacity, pictures were taken which appeared later..
~in a newspaper or illustrated-magazine with the explanaton.~t.h
the film was a huge success and that the people had-all-but..
rushed en masse to see the film. The vs~luntary attendance at
moat of the features with propaganda themes was sparse. Jokes
were circulated about the old woman who want to a movie armed
with a knife. -When asked why she carried the knife, she
answered that she was afraid to sit alone in an-empty auditorium.
Of those attending, children were in the majority. ~blder peop~.e.
ware mostly interested in films from abroad, which were usually
pre-World War II films of French, English, or .Swedish or~.~in.
Up until 1948, US films ,could still be seen, When "S~tt'was
shown, it ran 'far fo~ir weeks to a continually ovex-a~Q+a~F:
audience, which was a record in Opole.
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/06/04 :CIA-RDP82-000468000200080024-5