God’s Playground. A History of Poland, Vol. 2. 1795 to the Present

Its principal achievement was the construction of the Central Industrial Region

(COP) in the so-called 'Security Triangle' on the confines of the palatinates of

Cracow, Kielce, and Lwow. Two major installations, the hydroelectric station

at Roznow and the steel combine at Stalowa Wola were well advanced by the

time that War intervened. In this same short period, all branches of industry

showed clear signs of rapid recovery from the Slump. In terms of the Industrial

Index of 1928 (= 100), the Polish performance by 1938-9, at 119, was superior

to that of either Belgium at 81 or France at 82. For post-war analysts, who for

political reasons have often painted the unplanned pre-war capitalist economy

in unflattering colours, the very existence of the State Plan of 1936-9 with its

accompanying industrial record represents a unique embarrassment. To

uncommitted observers, it is less surprising that broadly similar dictatorial

regimes, pre-war and post-war, faced with broadly similar problems, should

have followed broadly similarpolicies.^22

In the educational sphere, daunting problems faced the new authorities.

When Polish-speakers formed barely two-thirds of the population, and when

barely two-thirds of the Polish speakers were officially literate, one arrives at the

stark conclusion that literate Poles formed only 44 per cent of society as a whole.

Despite immense progress in a short time, conflicts soon arose. A 'Teachers'

Sejm' assembled in 1919, to prepare programmes for the unified state system of

compulsory, free education which began to function three years later. By the

TWENTY YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE 309

Gross Industrial
Production

Coal Production
(million tons)

Iron Ore
(million tons)

Steel
(million tons)

Oil

(million tons)

Finished cotton

Salt

(million tons)

Sugar

(thousands of tons)

1913

(100)

41

(100)

0.493

(100)

1.677

(100)

1.114

(100)

(100)

0.193

57

(100)

1923

71.Z

36

87

0.449

91

1.129

• 
  


• 
  

—

• 
  

1929

85

46

112

0.660

133

1.377

• 
  


• 
  

_

822

1932

_

_

0.570

:

54.2

• 
  


• 
  

1935

70

• _ - -

309

1938

98.7

38

92

0.879

178

1.441

93

0.507

45

84.7

0.647

(335)

491

(861)