Land reform in People’s Poland (1944–89)

Abstract

Abstract The article describes the conduct of land reform by the communist regime of People’s Poland. The land reform fitted into the wave of analogous reforms carried out in the other communist countries of Eastern Europe. It was based on the Decree of the Polish Committee of National Liberation (PKWN) of 6th September 1944, which provided for subdividing landowners’ estates exceeding fifty hectares among peasants, such as small farmers, landless people and fornals. The article discusses problems faced by the founders of the reform and institutional measures applied in order to execute the Decree. Despite numerous obstacles, the reform was carried out quite efficiently and its effects were marked (6,070,100 hectares of landowners’ property was subdivided among 1,068,400 farms). However, those results were to a great extent possible due to the application of regime measures towards landowners (expropriation without compensation, arrests, and even capital punishment). Regarded as a crime and an atrocity by the landowners, for peasants the land reform was a blessing, which can be concluded from the recollections of both groups concerned, which are cited in the article. Despite its efficiency, the land reform did not manage to improve the agrarian structure in Poland, for it caused land dispersion and an increase of the number and the landed share of small farms.