Flashpoint Poland

Flashpoint Poland details Poland’s situation during the 70s. The title examines how wartime and postwar events have contributed to the formation of the Poland’s attitudes and to the situation during Edward Gierek’s time. The text chronicles the various events during the 70s contemporary Poland, along the various diplomatic, social, and economic concerns. The book will be of great interest to political scientists, sociologists, economists, and historians.

Acknowledgments

Introduction: A Look Back in Anger

List of Abbreviations

Part I: Gierek's "Miracle": December 1970-June 1976

1 Gomulka's Legacy

2 One Week that Shook the Communist World: December 1970

3 A Year of Agonizing Reappraisals: 1971

4 Forward with Gierek: 1971-1975

5 Foreign Policy: 1971-1977

6 From Boom to Reality: December 1975

7 The Growing Social Tension: 1975-June 1976

Part II: The Fulcrum of Poland's Fate

8 One Friday in June 1976

9 Events Speak for Themselves: June 1976-March 1977

10 The Economic Necessity

11 Who Rules the Country

12 After June: Confusion

13 New Measures: Who is Leading Whom

14 Gierek: Prisoner of the System

15 Playing for Time: 1977-March 1979

16 The Pope from Poland: Has History Smiled on Poles

Part III: Conclusion

17 Testing the Limits of the Possible

Notes

Selected Bibliography

Index

About the Author