Six-Year Plan (1950–1955)
6개년 계획 (1950–1955)
The second centralized economic plan of the People's Republic of Poland, adopted by the Sejm on 21 July 1950 after the Three-Year Plan (1947–1949). It concentrated state funds on heavy industry (the Lenin Steelworks at Nowa Huta, and the Gdańsk and Szczecin shipyards), while investment in consumer goods, food, and services was suppressed. Rapid industrialization and agricultural collectivization lowered living standards and revived shortages and rationing, building worker grievances; the plan was revised several times but never fully completed.
In depth
Background and structure
The Six-Year Plan was designed in 1950, when hardliners such as Hilary Minc dominated the Polish government and the moderate economists behind the Three-Year Plan had lost influence. It aimed to bring Poland's economy into line with the Soviet system, resting on Soviet-style principles: centralized planning, restriction of so-called 'capitalist elements', and close cooperation with the Eastern Bloc.
The cost to workers
The priority given to heavy industry came at the expense of living standards. Investment in construction and other sectors was cut, while collectivization provoked resistance from farmers. Shortages of basic goods became common in the early 1950s and rationing was reintroduced. New urban housing districts drew residents from overcrowded villages, but the balance of supply and demand broke down and hidden unemployment spread.
Link to Poznań
The plan's only real achievement was rapid growth of heavy industry, while food and services lagged behind. Suppressed consumption and falling real wages accumulated worker grievances; at the Seventh Plenum of the Central Committee, held immediately after the June 1956 Poznań uprising, the party admitted the plan's failure and promised to shift resources toward consumer goods.
Related historical events
Sources
- Wikipedia (EN) second centralized plan of the PPR (1950–1955), Sejm adoption 21 July 1950, focus on heavy industry, falling living standards, collectivization, rationing, target never fully met
- Wikipedia (RU) Hilary Minc and hardline dominance by 1950, major investments (Lenin Steelworks at Nowa Huta, Gdańsk and Szczecin shipyards), underdeveloped services and food industry
- countrystudies.us overly ambitious Six-Year Plan of 1950-55 caused maladjustments, shortages and bottlenecks; wages reduced in the early 1950s industrialization drive; Poznań riots of 1956 forced a leadership change and consumer-oriented strategy