THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC 451nizations in 1949, was entirely controlled by the Party and at the shop level was
organized on the basis of the state enterprises by whom all its members were
employed. The local branches acted as a transmission belt for the official rules
and conditions of work, and as an agency for enforcing productivity norms.
There was no machinery for wage-bargaining. Polish workers were at the mercy
of the unseen state planners who fixed both wages and prices. The non-con-
vertibility of the currency in which they were paid put them in the same position
as that of the wage-slaves of the old capitalist truck system, which paid its
labour-force in tokens from the company store. Comparative statistics about
wage levels and differentials, together with adverse information about health
and safety at work, were carefully withheld from the mass media. A scheme for
workers'self-management, launched in 1957, was never able to achieve its orig-
inal aims. The independent role of Workers' Councils was soon muffled by their
absorption into Party-con trolled Committees of Self-Management (KSR).^53
In theory, the benefits of the Welfare State were free and universal. In fact,
they were subject to many limitations, and were spread thinner than in Great
Britain, for example. Medical prescriptions, schoolbooks, and student hostels
were just three areas where extra fees were normally charged. The National
Health Service had not been available to the self-employed peasantry until 1972..
Overall, the standard of living could only be described as austere. Official
propaganda, which constantly harped on the advances made in relation to pre-
war conditions, overlooked the fact that similar or in some cases much greater
progress had been made in all European countries irrespective of the political
complexion of the regime. (In this connection, it is interesting to note that at the
time of the American Bicentennial in 1976 the Polish Censorship issued specific
instructions to suppress all adverse comparisons between the rise in the stand-
ard of living over the last thirty years of Poles in the USA and that achieved by
their relatives in Poland.) In the scale of economic priorities, consumer goods
and services had always taken second place to heavy industry. Not surprisingly,
therefore, there was still too much inconvertible money chasing too few goods.
Unable to invest easily in private homes, in motor-cars, or in durables, the Polish
consumer overspent on items of immediate consumption, especially on food and
drink, thus making existing shortages more acute. Inevitably, the precious qual-
ity of life was adversely affected. Alcoholism, bad drains, long queues, peeling
plaster, overcrowded homes and buses, polluted air, heavy falls of soot and
chemical dust, unmade pavements, sub-standard service, endless delays and
arguments with petty officials, all had to be accepted as part of everyday life.
Labour alone remained cheap and readily available. All manner of personal ser-
vices from nannies, domestic servants, and taxis to hairdressers, tailors, and
prostitutes, were cheaper than in the Western world.^54
The huge military establishment, whose expenditures were never disclosed but
which could reliably be estimated to run at levels between two and three times
above the corresponding budgets of Western Europe, provided a fundamental
cause of low living standards. The Polish armed forces had been designed on the