Poland

Unlike Czechoslovakia and Hungary, Poland did not carry out a major reform in the economic mechanism in the 1960s. The changes made in the 1960s were of a minor nature and were primarily geared to an improvement in the incentive system. In 1968, the ruling Polish CP (officially called the Polish United Workers’ Party) took the decision to introduce an economic reform, starting with 1971. It was to be focused on the incentive system. Changes were also to be made in the planning of prices and in foreign trade regulation, to mention the most important features. The reform was not supposed to be by any means as radical as the Czechoslovak or Hungarian reforms; it was not to transgress the centralised model. An integral part of the reform was supposed to be a radical consumer price reform whose purpose was primarily to reduce subsidies on basic foodstuffs and bring about a restructuring of personal consumption (decrease the demand for food, mainly meat, and increase the demand for durable goods and textiles) and thus renew market equilibrium (for more, see Adam, 1979, pp. 27–8). The price increases, which were offset to some extent by price reductions, touched off riots which brought down W. Gomulka. This also meant an end to the economic reform.