SO, IS THERE ANYTHING PATRIOTIC AMERICANS CAN LEARN FROM THE POLISH REVOLUTION OF 1980?
I think there are many similarities between Poland of the 1980’s and America today, but there are also tremendous differences. An average citizen of People’s Republic of Poland was not desperately poor or unemployed. Despite the stereotypes, life under late communism in Poland was materially tolerable. There were few luxuries but the basal needs were met. Except vagrants, there were no hungry or homeless. You did not have to fear bankruptcy if you fell ill – the socialized medicine was available to all for “free”; true, not the top notch of medical science, but a decent and quite reliable service, particularly in emergency situations. The whole society was literate and a large proportion was well educated and well informed, despite censorship and absence of Internet. The communist media were totally discredited, derided and, frankly, unattractive. It was impossible to sit in front of a TV-set for hours on end and get hypnotized, as it happens in America today. All the people (including
