"Echoes of the 1951 Gryfice and Drawsko incidents in Warmia and Mazury in the light of the materials of the KW PZPR and WUBP in Olsztyn (part 1)"
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Uniwersytet Warmińsko-Mazurski w Olsztynie, Polska
Submission date: 2022-04-27
Final revision date: 2022-07-06
Acceptance date: 2022-07-18
Online publication date: 2022-08-18
Publication date: 2022-08-18
KMW 2022;317(2):267-305
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ABSTRACT
The most serious crisis in the agricultural policy of the communist authorities in Poland broke out in 1951 as a result of disclosing the brutal methods of grain purchase and village collectivisation in the Gryfice and Drawsko poviats. Similar methods, although not as violent, were also applied in other regions of the country. These events echoed loudly across Poland, including in Warmia and Mazury. Therefore, the Stalinist policy towards the countryside broke down for several months and collectivisation as a process was hindered. The published documents (part 1) present the reaction of the voivodeship government structures to the Gryfice incidents and describe the situation in individual poviats of the Olsztyn voivodeship. The resistance of farmers towards the new agricultural policy was so strong that force was most commonly used to enforce the imposed benefits and persuade the farmers to join production cooperatives.