DISTRIBUTION AND CHANGED ECONIMIC AND POLITICAL STATUS OF POLISH RURAL POPULATION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700160287-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 8, 2011
• Sequence Number: 287
• Publication Date: February 23, 1954
• Content Type: REPORT

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/08: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700160287-5
STAT
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 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/08: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700160287-5
DISTRIBUTION AND CHANGED ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL STATUS
OF POLISH RURAL POPULATION
/omment: The following information taken from an article by
Jerzy Tepicht, director of the Institute of Farm Economy, entitled
"Worker Peasant Alliance Under the New Constitution," gives com-
parative figures on the distribution of the Polish rural population,
increased peasant earning power, individual peasant holdings, and
peasant participation in government administration. Although the
information is not recent, most of it is probably still valid and
indicates the changed complexion of Polish agriculture.7
Distribution of Rural Population
The change in the social structure of the Polish rural areas is shown in
the following table:
Percent of Total Rural
Population
1931 1950
Large estates
0.2
--
Farm laborers on private farms
11.9
1.9
Individual peasant farms (3 ha)
14.4
7.6
Individual peasant farms (2-5 ha)
26.5
20.4
Individual peasant farms (5-10 ha)
18.9
26.8
Individual peasant farms (10-14 ha)
Individual peasant farms (14 ha or more)
4.8*
7.5
Producers cooperatives, members
--
1.5
PGR (state farms) workers
Others (laborers, technical farm
--
3.4
experts)
20.3
26.9
* Date for 1931 gave holding limits in these items as 15 hectares, 1950
data as 14 hectares. The 1950 data, based on the 1950 census, are not final
since tabulations have not yet been completed.
Increased Peasant Earning Power
In 1938, the Instytut Pulawski (Pulawy Institute) collected information on
a group of families in Rzeszow Wojewodztwo; in the fall of 1951, the Instytut
Ekonomiki Rolnej (Institute of Agricultural Economics) collected information on
the same group. The large numerical increase in the group would have been con-
sidered catastrophic before World War II. Under present conditions, some family
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 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/08: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700160287-5
members are employed in industry and others are settled on farms in the Recovered
Territories, thus increasing the earning power of the families. For example,
in 1938 the value of clothing owned by one adult male was 49.86 zlotys, whereas
now it is 139.52 zlotys in 1938 prices. The average value of clothing for one
female increased from 50.84 to 121.35 zlotys at 1938 prices. The value of bed-
ding increased from 10.35 to 41.05 zlotys; annual per-capita consumption of soap
of these families increased from 1.16 kilograms to 6.55 kilograms, matches from
4 to 51 boxes, and sugar from 0.26 to 18.39 kilograms. These figures indicate
a great improvement in an area which before the war was among the most neglected
areas in Poland.
Individual Peasant Holdings
At present, the individual peasant farms comprise 97.5 percent of the total
agricultural land in Poland. /According to Nowe Drogi of August 1953, the fig-
ure was about 82 percent in 195-j7.
Peasant Participation in Government Administration
As of 1 April 1951, the People's Councils had 97,938 members. For each
council member there were at least ten members in various commissions and com-
mittees'checking on the activities or operations of the gmina cooperatives,
machine centers, credit offices, schools, or, in some instances, even managing
state property. Fifty percent of the hundreds of thousands engaged in these
activities are peasants. Forty percent of the members of People's Councils are
peasants and 12 percent are of peasant extraction.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/08: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700160287-5