Primary Sources
Soviet Negotiations with Poland
Description
During the economic and political crisis in Poland in the early 1980s, Polish officials often met with Soviet leaders to discuss the crisis and to determine how best to approach the situation in Poland. Following a meeting with representatives from Poland, the Central Committee of the Communist Party in the Soviet Union discussed the negotiations that took place between Soviet and Polish leaders, especially negotiations regarding economic hardships and needed assistance. As the meeting notes show, leaders of both countries were gravely concerned about the deteriorating economic situation in Poland. Poland was dependent not only on the Soviet Union but also on Western countries to help the country weather the economic crisis. This document points to the extent of the difficulties that both Polish and Soviet economies experienced during the early 1980s. Among other factors, the economic crisis was a catalyst for the eventual collapse of communism in Poland, and in the region more generally.
Source
CC CPSU Politburo, "On the Results of Negotiations with a Delegation from the Polish People's Republic," 26 March 1981, Cold War International History Project, Virtual Archive, CWIHP (accessed May 14, 2008).
Primary Source—Excerpt
...CHERNENKO. ... The Polish side put forth a request for deliveries of raw materials for light industry and for additional deliveries of oil, metal, cellulose, and other goods. A recommendation is made to agree to provide the PPR [Polish People's Republic] with additional supplies in 1981 of chrome ore, woodchip slabs, asbestos, and other materials, and also a certain quantity of cotton and barley.
ARKHIPOV. We're giving Poland a limited quantity of raw materials, because we're simply unable to give a larger quantity....
With regard to the economic situation in Poland, Cde. [Mieczyslaw] Jagielski [deputy prime minister in Poland] informed us that the plan for 1981 will be some 20 percent lower than the plan for the preceding year....
With regard to the financial situation, the indebtedness of Poland, particularly to capitalist countries, is 23 billion dollars, of which 9 billion was received through guarantees from the states involved.... Right now the Poles are faced with a situation in which they have to purchase different goods abroad for roughly 9.5 billion dollars.... They're requesting 700 million dollars from us. Of course we can't possibly come up with such a sum....
During the discussion, the Polish friends asked whether they should abide by a moratorium on credits or enter the International Monetary Fund and request additional credits from Western countries. Of course in either case it will be a concession to the Western countries and will not provide any sort of economic boost....
GROMYKO. The Polish comrades emphasized how serious the situation is with imported goods, because they suffer from being so dependent on these goods. But it's worth noting that they don't attach much importance to the supplies of raw materials from the Soviet Union. They consider that question to be merely a trifle. Whereas in fact what they're receiving, the cotton, should be ours, and the ore is also ours, and the oil.
ARKHIPOV. We are supplying 13 million tons of oil to Poland at 90 rubles a ton.... We could have sold all this oil for hard currency, and our earnings would have been enormous....