418 POLSKA LUDOWA
welcome. In the summer of 1944, and again in 1945, the Soviet Army organized
squads of workers from the towns to collect food in the countryside at the point
of the bayonet. The peasants objected strongly. The PKWN decree on land
grants also imposed annual deliveries to the state at the rate of 15 quintals of
wheat per hectare on all farms over 2 hectares. These coercive methods were
hardly conducive to increased production, and were abandoned in 1946.^11
Meanwhile, elementary reconstruction was the order of the day. In Warsaw,
lines of men, women, and children attacked the ocean of rubble with their bare
hands; gangs of volunteers buried the thousands'of corpses, and somehow pub-
lic services were restored. The arrival of the capital's first post-war electric tram-
car provoked scenes of wild rejoicing.
Yet the vast tides of human movement, both military and civilian, which had
washed over Poland during the War, the Occupation, and the 'Liberation', con-
tinued to flow for at least two more years. In the era of the HTRJN, they were
swelled by the outbreak of civil war, by colossal programmes of Resettlement,
and by agrarian reform.
The so called 'civil war' had been provoked by the activities of the Soviet
security forces during the Liberation. Since the campaign was largely directed
from Moscow, many Poles thought of it not as 'civil' but as international war.)
By demanding total submission, the Soviets provoked armed resistance from
thousands of people who might otherwise have contemplated some form of
practical co-operation. By branding their opponents indiscriminately as 'terror-
ists', 'bandits', or 'fascists', they gave rise to the impossible situation in which
communist leaders were calling for a consolidated 'democratic front', whilst the
security forces were killing, arresting, and deporting the very people who were
supposed to co-operate. As always, violence bred violence. The Terror launched
by the Soviets was answered in kind. Village mayors, local electoral officers, and
police agents installed by the NKGB were murdered, or harassed and subjected
to reprisals. Entire districts, especially in the Carpathians, fell into the hands of
major 'bandit kings', like the terrible 'Ogiefi' (Fire) of Zakopane. From the
Soviet point of view, these developments proved most convenient, providing the
best possible excuse for perpetuating their hold on the security services. A spe-
cial Security Corps (Korpus Bezpieczenstwa) was raised for military operations
in the field. The Ministry of Security in Warsaw continued to be run almost
entirely by Russian, or by Soviet-trained, personnel.
Armed resistance centred on three distinct, and uncoordinated groupings.
The first, the National Armed Forces (NSZ), had started life during the War
as a brotherhood of right-wing, anti-communist partisans most active in the
Holy Cross Mountains. They actively feared the advance of the Soviet Army,
but had ceased to offer serious resistance by the end of 1945.^12 The second, the
Association of Freedom and Independence (WiN), was founded in September
1945 from the ranks of the disbanded Home Army. As shown by the title of its
political predecessor, the NIE (No) Organization, its basic aim was to prevent
a communist takeover. It continued to operate throughout 1946, especially in