Nowa Huta and its Struggle in Globalization

In one of my earlier blog posts, I had mentioned a city in Poland called Nowa Huta. I promised that I would discuss this in further detail. How does this relate to globalization, one might ask? Well, during the Cold War, most of the Soviet Union's actions were followed by the world, as people constantly worried about the enemy using the nuclear bomb and starting a nuclear war. This tension effected the entire world and set an uneasiness for a long period of time. The rivalries caused each country to pour lots of money into multiple projects and thus attempt to improve their societies. This can be seen in the Great Space Race, for one. What did the Soviet Union pour its money into? Why, developing its communist ideals of creating a single individual that all people were meant to mimic, but of course! This is where the little city of Nowa Huta comes in.

Above you can see a map of Poland (provided by Google Maps), and Point A is Nowa Huta. Nowa Huta is one portion of the well-known tourist city of Kraków. While it existed well before the Communist era, Stalin "gifted" the development of Nowa Huta to Kraków. Kraków was a highly artistic and cultural city, and such activities allowed individuality in a society that did not permit individual thought. Or well, they preferred people to follow their every whim, but people still went around it. Nowa Huta represented the ideal Communist town. It was set up surrounding the idea of work. Every person was easily capable of making their way to their job industrial job in the town. In fact, the town had the perfect layout: a semicircle so that most things were equidistant from one another and easy to find and access. Below shows the town's constructed layout.

The government provided every family the perfect and necessary apartment. These apartments were often cheaply built and had identical furniture and other accessories. Nowa Huta fought capitalism in every sense, because supposedly everyone had the same things and the same opportunities. However, this perfect industrial town did not prove the desired efficiency. At the time, in comparison to the world, its products resulted from backwards thinking. The Soviet Union refused to analyze or acknowledge the failure of its ideal Communist town. The steel mill employed 34.000 people; it was easily the biggest steel mill in Europe. The results did not reflect its size. In comparison to the United States, the size of the plant and the number of people employed proved to be less efficient. The steel mill wasted a tremendous amount of energy and manpower.

Stubbornness effected not only Nowa Huta, but all of Poland, as its industry growth reflected the poor political rule of the country. Because Stalin refused to admit that the United States produced more efficient industrial plants, the Soviet Union and all satellite countries suffered. Many of these countries only recently had a chance to catch up with the rest of the world, while others still struggle. Here, we see how this constant comparison amongst nations, this globalization of ideas and understanding that one country can easily effect another, can greatly alter the future of any nation, whether for the better or worse. While the poor performance of Nowa Huta resulted from Communist decisions, these decisions occurred as a manner to fight what they thought was wrong: Capitalism.

Well, that's my spiel for the blog post! I hope you enjoyed it as a specific example of economic and political globalization from the Eastern European section of our world. :)

Citation: Poland in Europe in the 20th Century Lecture, Fall 2011

Globalization Today and the USSR Yesterday

Cześć wszysty! This is Nell, and I'm still in Poland! Therefore, I'd like to focus this blog post on globalization today (in Central/Eastern Europe, specifically Poland). After all, I am experiencing it firsthand! Although, I will certainly try to include certain historical aspects from the USSR's impact on Eastern Europe.

Let's start with obvious examples of globalization today, and I'll focus this blog post on business. Many of America's typical business ideologies are slowly but certainly coming into this country. I was talking to a family friend just last night, and she mentioned how at one point, there were far more of the family-owned-like businesses just a few years ago. Now, however, all sorts of grocery super stores are opening left and right. There are Biedronka's, Lidl's, Kefirek's, Polo Market's, Carrefour's, and many others. Unfortunately, it's far easier to go to one super store and get all of your groceries as opposed to going from a butcher, to a bakery, to a fruit stand, and so on and so forth. Instead, at a super store, you go in, sometimes, if you're lucky, you run into someone willing to help you, and then you leave. Smaller businesses don't have the means to compete with these sort of stores if people lose the willingness to go through the various stores. Aside from that, I have seen a few American fast food chains, such as the obvious McDonald's, the somewhat surprising KFC's, and even a Burger King. Let me say, though, it's quite interesting how each chain adapts to it's local conditions. Let's look at the McDonald's in Krakow's square. You don't use cars to get around in the square; you walk. Therefore, the McDonald's has adapted by creating what I have dubbed a "walk-by" as opposed to a "drive-thru."

Now onto the lasting impacts from the USSR! I actually have a lot of prime examples of this from my stay here and through discussion with people, so it's a bit hard to just pick one specific point right now. But, I'll start with the religious impact. Religion and Communism do not mix. Therefore, all the countries under the Soviet sphere were often pressured to completely abandon their religion. Each country reacted differently to these pressures. Many of the Germans in my class have mentioned the difference between West and East Germany. In West Germany, many old Christian traditions and holidays have held through, and many topics are still taboo to discuss. However, East Germany has lost many of its Christian ties and have begun to recognize more secular holidays as opposed to the Catholic ones. In Poland, Russia had many troubles trying to restrict religion. For example, in the city of Nowa Huta (I will discuss this in more detail at a later time), the citizens placed a wooden cross in the middle of the city after much struggle with the government. Three years after this placement, the government tore it down, and the town rioted. In response, the government permitted the city to fund the building of a church. The architect in charge of this project designed a church in the structure of an ark, and he made the cross at the top of the building the foundational support for the entire building to prevent the Soviets from destroying the cross yet again. Here you see the absolute will power to ensure that the Communist regime would not shake their faith. Although, the Communists did partially succeed in hurting their faith. Here's an example of why: when Pope John Paul the II visited Poland, many many people came to listen to him. However, when he visited Ireland, the number of attendees was double that in Poland. Therefore, Communism certainly did have enough of an effect on religion in Poland.

Thanks for tuning in this week! :)