{"id":1926,"date":"2010-08-06T15:31:11","date_gmt":"2010-08-06T19:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/writingprogram\/?page_id=1926"},"modified":"2011-07-07T09:11:22","modified_gmt":"2011-07-07T13:11:22","slug":"migdalski","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/writingprogram\/journal\/past-issues\/issue-2\/migdalski\/","title":{"rendered":"The Portrayal of Despair in Poland after 1989: Stasiuk\u2019s “Nine” and Klein\u2019s “The Shock Doctrine”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gabrielle Migdalski<\/a>
\n(WR 150, Paper 1)<\/p>\n

Download this essay<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Naomi Klein\u2019s The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism<\/em> portrays Poland, immediately after its transition to a market economy, as a severely disorganized, poverty-stricken, and betrayed country. This is a country that hoped for a positive change, was promised one by the economists of the IMF and the World Bank, and was ultimately let down by these organizations through the rapid enforcement of strict measures on governing the economy. The depiction of this time period in Andrzej Stasiuk’s novel Nine<\/em> is no less optimistic, translating Klein\u2019s percentages and information into bleak and depressing images and descriptions of Poland in the wake of its transition. This depression is most visible through Stasiuk\u2019s vivid and detailed descriptions of Warsaw\u2019s landscapes and surroundings, in addition to his characters\u2019 alcohol and drug use. These images evoke the bewilderment, hopelessness, and loss that many Poles felt when their country\u2019s transition to a new economy did not reap the fruits that they had hoped for, hitting them quickly and with full force. Stasiuk\u2019s Nine<\/em> serves as a visual aid to Klein\u2019s assertions in The Shock Doctrine<\/em>, and together these two works demonstrate the damaging effects of Poland\u2019s shaky shift from a controlled to a market economy.<\/p>\n

Klein offers some telling statistics about Poland\u2019s situation after 1989, which are further reinforced by other sources discussing Poland\u2019s transition. After Poland\u2019s triumph over communism through Solidarity\u2019s legalization and victory in the country\u2019s election, the state of Poland\u2019s economy already seemed dire. Klein states that \u201cWhen Solidarity took office, debt was $40 billion, inflation was at 600 percent, and there were severe food shortages and a thriving black market\u201d (220). After Poland accepted the IMF\u2019s financial aid in exchange for the quick imposition of the IMF\u2019s economic measures, the standard of living dropped drastically within only a few years. Stanislaw Wellisz, in his 1991 article \u201cPoland Under \u2018Solidarity\u2019 Rule,\u201d states that \u201cfood now takes up over 55 percent of the average consumer\u2019s budget, vs. less than 40 percent in the first half of 1989\u201d (1). This illustrates how basic necessities were becoming more difficult to afford during this time period. Unemployment soared during this time, with 2.8 million people out of work in 1992, \u201cof whom 80 percent had been previously employed,\u201d according to Mieczyslaw Waclaw Socha and Yaacov Weisberg in their 1999 article \u201cPoland in Transition: Labor Market Data Collection\u201d (1). Klein points out that these high unemployment figures lingered on, even when Poland joined the European Union over a decade later, stating that Poland, according to the World Bank\u2019s figures at the time, \u201c[had] an unemployment rate of 20 percent\u2014the highest in the European Union\u201d (241). These depressing statistics propel Klein\u2019s fervent tirade against the IMF\u2019s and the World Bank\u2019s forced and drastic transition in Poland and other countries shifting from a communist to a capitalist economy.<\/p>\n

The Poles had seemingly triumphed over the Communists through the Solidarity movement, but had been forced into a radical transition that left them with lower standards of living than in times under communism. They felt lost and uncertain. In reference to poverty, Klein remarks that \u201c15 percent of the population of Poland lived below the poverty line in 1989, in stark contrast to 59 percent in 2003\u201d (241\u2013242). People had lost their savings due to inflation, and with food prices rising, they were barely surviving. These, among Klein\u2019s other compelling statistics, successfully support her claim that Poland\u2019s and other countries\u2019 transitions to capitalist economies were mishandled by the IMF and the World Bank. Though Klein does fail, at least in Poland\u2019s case, to offer an alternative to the \u201cshock therapy\u201d program, which would at least give her outburst against the negative aspects of \u201cshock therapy\u201d a bit more credibility, she nonetheless uses key facts and statistics that successfully uphold her argument, which can be reinforced by other sources discussing the same time period in Poland. These descriptions of Poland at this time demonstrate that the standard of living was far from ideal. Such a drastic transition was detrimental to society, especially if the country, nearly two decades later, is still showing the negative traces of the effects of its mishandled transition.<\/p>\n

Poland\u2019s instability and the damaging effects of its transition are convincingly illustrated through the imagery and descriptions of Warsaw\u2019s surroundings in Stasiuk\u2019s novel Nine<\/em>. The story follows a young businessman, Pawel, who is on the run to find the money to pay back loan sharks that ripped him off in the past. Throughout the novel, Stasiuk makes many diversions from the plot to describe the drab and depressing surroundings and landscape to evoke the struggle of the many who are barely scraping by in the aftermath of Poland\u2019s transition to a market economy. Homes are dreary and dull, \u201cgray and square-cornered\u201d (Stasiuk 4). In one instance, Stasiuk describes an area where \u201cthe buildings came to a sudden end to make room for the tapered bulk of a church,\u201d whose \u201cbrickwork had the color of congealed blood\u201d (4). The buildings are unattractive and austere, reflecting the poverty of many and also harking back to Klein\u2019s depressing statistic on Poland\u2019s poor. Gloom and despair are all that exist, as if hope for a better future is lost. Though these buildings were built years before Poland\u2019s transition to a market economy, they symbolize the fact that for many, nothing has changed for the better. People were promised a better life under a new system, but their lives remain difficult and stressful, just as the buildings remain shabby and depressing. A similarly bleak landscape is portrayed at the airport at Okecie, in which \u201cinky lights behind a chain-link fence summon the planes, and the distant control towers are like the tops of sinking ships. The roar in the sky makes the earth seem twice as large, and uninhabited\u201d (Stasiuk 50). The landscape is bare and desolate, as if death is imminent. The eerie image of \u201cinky lights . . . [summoning] the planes\u201d while the control towers resemble \u201csinking ships\u201d almost suggests that as the planes land at the airport they simultaneously descend into a kind of hell (Stasiuk 50). This dramatic and ghostly picture seems to serve as a pessimistic symbol for the present and future of Poland in the novel, implying that the end of an era has arrived, and that a new, unfamiliar, and difficult era has begun.<\/p>\n

The almost constant presence of cigarettes and cigarette smoke amongst these barren buildings reinforces this feeling of hopelessness. For example, Stasiuk describes, \u201cThe crooked wooden structures of Grochow, Kolo and Mlynow with walls in abstract patterns grimy from the smoke of filterless cigarettes, Mazurs, Sports, Wawels, and filter tips like Silesias and Zeniths,\u201d and later describes Pawel \u201c[lighting] a cigarette to measure time\u201d as the \u201cwind blew from around the corner, making sparks\u201d (43, 54). This emphasis on cigarettes evokes the idea of smoking as a distraction, to escape the fear and struggle of daily life during this time of instability in Poland. Characters throughout the novel are almost always smoking, whether with friends or with enemies, in groups or alone.<\/p>\n

Smoking is almost a way of life for these characters, as the constant references to cigarette types and brands also demonstrate. In the novel, specific types of cigarettes, filterless or filter tip cigarettes, and their brand names are associated with a certain social status. Filterless cigarettes seem to suggest an image of strength and wealth, one that perhaps Pawel, coming from a poor background, might aspire to. Pawel\u2019s first prized possession, which he saves up for while working, is an expensive Chinese cigarette lighter \u201cof the kind he dreamed about every time he passed a kiosk,\u201d which was \u201cdecorated with pictures of birds of paradise\u201d (Stasiuk 138). Though now many associate Chinese products with cheapness and poor quality, the lighter is a symbol of the exotic and of wealth to the teenage Pawel, who could seemingly escape from his difficult life and low social standing just by owning and using this foreign lighter. At times Stasiuk uses a brand as a key descriptor of a character. For example, a man, unidentified by name, wears \u201ckhaki shorts . . . a death\u2019s-head signet ring . . . [and] he [smokes] Wawels\u201d (Stasiuk 147). The fact that the brand of cigarette that the character smokes is juxtaposed alongside conventional descriptions such as physical appearance also emphasizes the importance of cigarettes in the novel and how the type and brand are labels of social status. The novel\u2019s many references to smoking and cigarettes signify the importance of smoking and cigarettes in these characters\u2019 difficult daily lives during this time in Poland.<\/p>\n

The constant presence of alcohol and drugs in the novel also reflects the worrying and uncertainty of the time. Bolek\u2019s wealth, due to his success from buying and selling drugs with his colleagues, attests to the demand for drugs and shows that many in the novel desire to escape their hard lives through the mental rush of a drug. Drinking alcohol to feel safe from the harsh reality the characters are faced with is another important aspect of the novel. One of the many examples illustrating this is when Pawel meets with the man in the purple tracksuit in Beata\u2019s apartment. The man orders Luska to pour Pawel a glass, and when Pawel appears hesitant, the man urges, \u201c\u2018Come on, just the one. Don\u2019t be shy. Tastes good, does you good,\u2019\u201d implying that the alcohol will help Pawel relax and perhaps improve his state of mind (Stasiuk 104). An example that perhaps encapsulates the idea of drinking as a means of escape from reality is when Pawel is waiting for Jacek at the Filipinka bar. Pawel worries that Jacek might not come back so \u201che [takes] a long drink to forget all that and [gets] back to his memories, which [are] safe\u201d (Stasiuk 75). This example shows Pawel using alcohol to distract him from his worries by relaxing him and bringing him back to stable and perhaps peaceful and happier memories. He is restless over his situation and how he will obtain the money to pay back the loan sharks, so he drinks when he can for temporary relaxation and for a release from his worries.<\/p>\n

The many images of alcohol and drug use in the novel are directly reflected in Klein\u2019s statistics on Russia, another country that faced a drastic economic transition. In reference to alcohol use there, Klein states that \u201cUnder capitalism . . . Russians drink more than twice as much alcohol as they used to,\u201d and in reference to drug use, she states that \u201cRussia\u2019s drug czar, Aleksandr Mikhailov, says that the number of users [of painkillers] went up 900 percent from 1994 to 2004, to more than 4 million people, many of them heroin addicts\u201d (300). Life for many was indeed fearful during this time, with many left uncertain about their futures as a result of their country\u2019s mismanaged economic transition. Stasiuk clearly illustrates the hopelessness, dreariness, and uncertainty of the times, reinforcing the idea that the IMF\u2019s and the World Bank\u2019s measures for modernization forced upon Poland and other countries were far too drastic and proved damaging to the lives of millions of Eastern Europeans.<\/p>\n

As emphasized by Klein\u2019s figures and Stasiuk\u2019s imagery and descriptions, it is evident that the strict measures enforced upon Poland\u2019s economy by the World Bank and the IMF proved detrimental to the plans for a smooth transition from a controlled to a market economy, causing many to suffer dearly under the drastic changes that took place. Though Poland and other countries were being transitioned into seemingly efficient systems that were intended to improve the lives of citizens who struggled under communism, the daily lives of many did not change for the better. Klein successfully proves her point that the lives of generations of Poles and other Eastern Europeans have changed for the worse as a result of \u201cshock therapy.\u201d Had Poland\u2019s economy been handled and changed over a longer period of time, perhaps with certain economic regulations and measures being implemented gradually, it is quite possible that the drastic rises in poverty and unemployment wouldn\u2019t have occurred. The country would have had time to adjust and so would its citizens. Regretfully, in Poland\u2019s and many other countries\u2019 cases, such a drastic adjustment from communism and a controlled economy to democracy and a market economy was simply mishandled. We must hope that if a need for such a transition arises in the future, that we will take time to examine and tend to each country\u2019s specific needs and to learn from past mistakes.<\/p>\n

Works Cited<\/h2>\n

Klein, Naomi. The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism<\/em>. New York: Metropolitan Books, 2007. Print.<\/p>\n

Socha, Mieczyslaw W., and Yaacov Weisberg. \u201cPoland in Transition: Labor Market Data Collection.\u201d Monthly Labor Review<\/em> Sep. 1999: n. pag. Web. 27 Jan. 2010.<\/p>\n

Stasiuk, Andrzej. Nine<\/em>. Trans. Bill Johnston. New York: Harcourt, 2007. Print.<\/p>\n

Wellisz, Stanislaw. \u201cPoland Under \u2018Solidarity\u2019 Rule.\u201d Journal of Economic Perspectives<\/em> 5.4 (1991): 211\u2013217. Print.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gabrielle Migdalski (WR 150, Paper 1) Download this essay Naomi Klein\u2019s The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism portrays Poland, immediately after its transition to a market economy, as a severely disorganized, poverty-stricken, and betrayed country. This is a country that hoped for a positive change, was promised one by the economists of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2844,"featured_media":0,"parent":3692,"menu_order":15,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/writingprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1926"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/writingprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/writingprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/writingprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2844"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/writingprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1926"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/writingprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3728,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/writingprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1926\/revisions\/3728"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/writingprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/writingprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}