Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa a Trzeci Świat. Przełom z roku 1956
The Polish People’s Republic and the Third World: The 1956 Breakthrough

Summary/Abstract: Except for the Korean War and the Indochina conflict, during the Stalinist period, the non-European scene was of little interest to Warsaw. Political changes in Moscow and Warsaw in 1956 led to the political and economic opening of the PRL to non-communist Third World countries. It was considered a priority in Warsaw, in line with USSR policy, to develop good relations with India, Myanmar, Egypt and Afghanistan, followed by Syria and Indonesia. The rise in the international standing of PRL as a result of October 1956 facilitated Warsaw’s contacts with Third World countries, most of which were not interested in “building socialism” in its Soviet version, but wanted economic and military aid from the Kremlin. Support for national liberation movements in the colonies was one of the foreign policy goals of PRL. Władysław Gomułka, however, was pragmatic when it came to establishing contacts with countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa, and restrained in terms of providing them with economic aid.

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