In the year 1970 a man named Edward Gierek became the First Secretary of the Polish Workers' Party (i.e. the Communist dictators). He stayed in power for 10 years until 1980. In 1981 he was subsequently jailed by the new Communist Military Dictator Wojciech Jaruzelski because the economy of Poland during his reign had nearly collapsed (Comrade Gierek was later released). Gierek was a well known Francophile educated in France (where he was member of the French Communist Party until his deportation to Poland). He was also briefly a member of the Communist Party of Belgium. As we can see, he was a real internationalist and revolutionary (he spent most of his time in France and Belgium organizing strikes for which he was later deported).
So what was the gist of this article I read yesterday? Well, the author praised Mr. Gierek for being the greatest investor and developer of Polish housing industry ever! I assume he was comparing Gierek's policies with what he currently says is failure (because of course it is the responsibility of the government to house everyone, no?). So here are some things he really liked about Gierek's development plan:
1. Gierek's government built 270 thousand apartments per year (it is highlighted that this is more than twice the "poor" 2010 results).
2. The "block" style architecture may not be aesthetically pleasing, but it is durable and efficient. It used latest Communist technology - those nasty concrete panels that everyone associated the former Eastern Block with.
3. Gierek did all this while incurring only $70 billion in debts.
4. The size of the apartments built in "blocks" constructed under Gierek seem to conform with the currently most marketable size of apartment everyone wants in Poland.
Now let me just say, this guy was serious when he wrote this article. Let me now analyze his points one by once with the necessary objections which just jump out at any non-Communist person out there:
1. It is not the government's job to steal money collectively from everyone and then house the entire nation! Whoever thought this could even be achieved is a total imbecile!
2. In response I will just post this picture of the great architecture.
I believe the technical term for this type of structure is "concrete shit".
3. Ahhh, those uninflated dollar numbers pop up not just in the US but everywhere! The author of the article should have known that $70 billion in the 1970's is some serious money right now. By the way, Poland is still paying this debt off! As of 2010 we still owe $118million to Japan (to be payed off by 2014) and $350million to the London Club (to be payed off by 2024). Does 50 years of debt seem like a fair price to pay for the deeds of one man?
4. So Mr. Gierek 40 years ago predicted 2010 market trends better than builders in 2009? Wow, maybe I don't give him enough credit...
Now I will not lie, I am thankful for the work of Comrade Gierek (pictured above on the right while "advancing Polish national interest"). After all Gierek is the one responsible for the utter bankruptcy of the Polish Communist state! He is the reason why in the 1980's martial law had to be instated (to prevent food riots) and price controls had to be put in place to keep the people from starving to death. On the whole I'm very thankful for him destroying the Commies from within. He was, of course, an evil dictator, but at least a very self-destructive one. What I cannot understand and never will, is why now, in 2011, people have started to look upon this guy with nostalgia and continually praise his work. Even the supposedly "conservative" candidate in the last Presidential elections, Jarosław Kaczyński, called him a Polish patriot...
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