APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200070023-3
of the Communist system and its ideological imperatives virtually inviolable. At the same time he seems committed to removing those features of the past that for so long contributed to national weakness: the gulf between the people and the Communist rulers, lagging economic development, the willingness of the government to risk social friction to further its political and economic goals, and official unresponsiveness to popular aspirations. If he succeeds even partially, then the demonstrated capability of the people to unite in the pursuit of popular and attainable goals could substantially ease his task of improving material conditions and of giving Polish society a more dynamic image on the world stage. For most Poles it is difficult to shed the skepticism that has so often proved to be well-founded. Nevertheless, most of them appear to believe that their rulers how share to a greater degree than before the popular hope that improved living standards, reduced East-West tensions, and a deemphasis of doctrinal considerations will enable Poland to assume a more prominent role in European society.
B. Structure and characteristics of the society
Poland's geographical location—astride the flat plains of the north-central European corridor—has been the principal factor governing its almost uninterrupted struggle for national identity and territorial integrity in the face of real or threatened domination by neighboring powers. This overriding element of national history, in turn, has been the main determinant of the ethnic, linguistic, religious, and social characteristics of the people. (U/OU)
A strong attachment to the land, so often thwarted by claimed as well as actual domination by foreign powers, has engendered a finely honed nationalism and a highly developed sense of the need to protect basic national interests. Active patriotism, born of the willingness to struggle against overwhelming authority, was thus historically raised to the level of the chief national virtue and became the most important force for social cohesion among the Polish people of all classes. (U/OU)
The same historical conditioning which made for national cohesion in the face of a foreign enemy, however, held the seeds of internal discord, class divisions, and lack of clear national purpose when projected solely into a domestic context. Long periods of partition and domination by as many as three different foreign powers—Orthodox Russia, Catholic Austria, and Protestant Prussia—all with widely differing philosophies of rule and social order—generated among the Polish people inherently different views concerning the correct targets and methods of the struggle for the preservation of national identity. The long absence of indigenous domestic authority and the moral righteousness of resistance to foreign viceroys strengthened the native individuality of the people, but at the same time weakened their social cohesion and their ability to subordinate individual and group interests to social and political discipline. (U/OU)
Despite the force of events which have engulfed Poland in this century, the social character of the Polish people has not been appreciably affected. The interwar interlude of weak civilian and military rule was followed first by the brutal rule of Nazi Germany and then by indirect domination by Soviet communism. Both forms of domination, although widely different in character, were initially fiercely resisted, and subsequently were punctuated by outbursts of popular resistance to Nazi brutality and Communist misrule—the Warsaw uprising in 1944, the quasi-revolt of 1956, and the workers' riots of December 1970 resulting in the first instance in history of the overthrow of a Communist regime by the working class. Despite the strong efforts of the post-1970 Gierek regime to tackle some of the root causes of the national malaise and to instill in the people both discipline and a new sense of viable national purpose, many ingrained elements of the national character continue to pose a danger to the stability and unity of the society. (C)
1. Physical characteristics and language (U/OU)
Ethnically, the Poles are a highly complex people, being an amalgam of the Nordic, Neo-Danubian, East Baltic, Alpine, and Dinaric physical types of the Caucasian race. Among the Poles there is no distinct national physical type, and most Poles could be taken for natives of almost any country in central Europe. Wartime dislocations and postwar shifts in population have contributed to further ethnic homogeneity. Based upon a sampling of military recruits in the mid-1960's, Poles have a mean stature of about 5 feet 6 inches, the average for Europeans, a mean weight of about 140 lbs., and a moderately heavy build. Except in the south, the skin is almost uniformly light, the hair colors are commonly medium to dark brown and dark ash-blond, and the eyes are predominantly light-mixed, frequently with shades of grey. The dominant Nordic and Neo-Danubian elements account for the blond pigmentation in most of the population. The
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APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200070023-3
