Polish People's Republic shares border with Czechoslovakia
The Polish People's Republic (Polish: 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 near the end of its existence, it was the second most-populous communist and Eastern Bloc country in Europe. A unitary state with a Marxist–Leninist government, it was also one of the main signatories of the Warsaw Pact alliance. The largest city and official capital since 1947 was Warsaw, followed by the industrial city of Łódź and cultural city of Kraków. The country was bordered by the Baltic Sea to the north, the Soviet Union to the east, Czechoslovakia to the south, and East Germany to the west.
Between 1952 and 1989 Poland was ruled by a communist government established after the Red Army's takeover of Polish territory from German occupation in World War II. The state's official name was the "Republic of Poland" (Rzeczpospolita Polska) between 1947 and 1952 in accordance with the temporary Small Constitution of 1947. The name "People's Republic" was introduced and defined by the Constitution of 1952. Like other Eastern Bloc countries (East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Albania), Poland was regarded as a satellite state in the Soviet sphere of influence, but it was never a part of the Soviet Union.The Polish United Workers' Party became the dominant political faction in the Polish People's Republic, officially making it a socialist country.  During this period Poland was a de facto one-party state but had more liberal policies than other states in the Eastern Bloc and was characterized by constant internal struggles for democracy. Throughout its existence, economic hardships and social unrest were common in almost every decade. The nation was split politically between those who supported the party, those who opposed it and those who refused to engage in political activity. Despite this, some major achievements were established during the People's Republic such as improved living conditions, rapid industrialization, urbanization, and access to universal health care and education was made available. The birth rate was high and the population almost doubled between 1947 and 1989. Some of the government's most successful accomplishments were the rebuilding of ruined Warsaw after World War II and the eradication of illiteracy.Poland maintained a standing army the Polish People's Army. In addition to the Polish Army, Soviet Army units were also stationed in Poland as in all other Warsaw Pact countries. The Ministry of Public Security (UB and later SB) was the chief intelligence agency that acted as the secret police, similar to the East German Stasi and Soviet KGB. The official police organization, which was also responsible for mass surveillance and violent suppression of protests, was renamed Citizens' Militia (MO). The Militia's elite ZOMO squads committed various serious crimes in order to keep the communist government in power. This included the harsh treatment of protesters, arrest of opposition leaders and in extreme cases, murder, with at least 22,000 people killed by the regime during its rule. As a result, Poland had a high imprisonment rate but one of the lowest crime rates in the world.The PRL was dissolved following the 1990 Polish presidential election, but the post-communist Third Polish Republic retained the 1952 constitution, with amendments, until the introduction of the current constitution on 17 October 1997, abolishing the socialist structure entirely and replaced with the parliamentary system.Geography
Geographically, the Polish People's Republic bordered the Baltic Sea to the North; the Soviet Union (via the Russian SFSR (Kaliningrad Oblast), Lithuanian, Byelorussian and Ukrainian SSRs) to the east; Czechoslovakia to the south and East Germany to the west. After World War II, Poland's borders were redrawn, following the decision taken at the Tehran Conference of 1943 at the insistence of the Soviet Union. Poland lost 77,000 km2 of territory in its eastern regions (Kresy), gaining instead the smaller but much more industrialized (however ruined) so-called "Regained Territories" east of the Oder-Neisse line.
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