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30 years has passed today since start of "#Balcerowicz reforms" in 1989 Poland, criticised by the left for being "hard on society".
Reality: Poland in 1989 was totally bankrupt. A bankrupt has no choice and the choice was taken away by communists.
In 70's they took billions of loans from the West (which they promised to "outrun") only to declare in 1980 (!) they won't be able to pay them back. Strikes (brutally suppressed) and shortages were daily routine since 70's!
It's not like Eastern Bloc started an well-meaning experiment with socialism that was suppressed by "evil West".
Quite the opposite: USSR forcefully captured Eastern Europe and enforced marxist-leninist economic policies, boasting about its superiority and threatening the West with imminent "overtake and overrun".
The Iron Curtain was built in 50's to prevent people from running *from* Soviet zone to the West on mass scale!