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and thanks to his position in PKOl, he initiated the new development of competitive sport into a propaganda weapon of the Polish People’s Republic, which was meant to serve as a façade hiding the flaws in the development of sport. This all at the expense of mass sport.145
Period III – from 1957 to 1971 In June and October 1956, several protests by workers occurred in Poland and the existing system of government met with harsh criticism. All areas of life were strongly affected by Stalinism, including sport. Socio-economic reforms were demanded. In February 1957 in Warsaw, a National Conference of Sport Assets took place where critical opinions, although controlled by GKKF, about current development of sport were expressed. Following the discussion, GKKF issued a resolution in April 1957 which converted GKKF sports sections into Polish sport associations and sport circles into clubs and granted them the status of a juridical person. Under the same resolution, the existing sport associations became professional federations of sport clubs.146 These actions restored the state of the organization to that of 1950 and alluded, at least in part, to the prewar system (Polish sports associations, district sports associations, and sports clubs). At the same time, it brought into being two general sport organizations, developing mainly recreational sport. In May 1957, the Association for the Propagation of Physical Culture (Towarzystwo Krzewienia Kultury Fizycznej – TKKF) was founded, which according to its name promoted mass sport. In the same 145 Włodzimierz Reczek (1911–2004) was a politician and sport activist, closely associated with PPS and PZPR (from 1948). He studied law at the Jagiellonian University and graduated in 1936. Before World War II, he worked as a legal adviser. Between 1932 and 1938, he was active in the leftist student organizations and then in PPS. In 1945–1948, he was a secretary of the Chief Executive Committee of PPS, in 1948–1954, he was a member the Organizing Bureau of Central Committee of PZPR, and from 1948–1972 he was a member of the Central Committee of PZPR. He held a seat at the National Council as well as in Sejm from 1945 to 1956. After the war he was a director of Cooperative Publisher “Wiedza” and deputy director of Cooperative Publisher “Czytelnik”. From 1952 to 1973, he was a chairman of GKKF (GKKFiT from 1960). Later (1974–1980), he was also a rector of the Physical Education Academy in Katowice. From 1952 to 1964 he was president of the Polish Olympic Committee and from 1961 also a member of IOC (after his resignation in 1996, he remained an honorary member of IOC until his death). He was also President of the Polish Football Association (1981–1984). 90 lat na olimpijskim szlaku. Polski Komitet Olimpijski. Warszawa 2009, p. 49. 146 Kultura Fizyczna, 1957, No. 4; Szymański, L.: Ze studiów nad modelem kultury fizycznej w Polsce Ludowej 1944–1980. Akademia Wychowania Fizycznego. Wrocław 1996, pp. 57–60.
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year, the School Sports Association (Szkolny Związek Sportowy) was created on the basis of the existing Sport Association of Vocational Education “Zryw” and made children and adolescents the centre of its activities. The reforms of the Polish sport movement ended in 1956 and led to the creation of a “hybrid” system of sport, which combined the prewar traditions with new solutions introduced after 1945 in the new political reality of a totalitarian state.147 During this period, there were not that many significant political resolutions and parliamentary laws as in the years 1946–1950. New laws and resolutions by the Sejm of the PRL, the State Council decrees and orders of the Council of Ministers introduced only formal and organizational changes and adjustments to the organizational system of sport in Poland. These were mainly the structural changes to the Central Committee for Physical Culture (GFFK) (until 1960) and the Central Committee for Physical Culture and Tourism (Główny Komitet Kultury Fizycznej i Sportu) (1960–1970). At Sejm, the physical education, sport and tourism were addressed by the Commission of Health and Physical Culture (Komisja Zdrowia i Kultury Fizycznej) and occasionally also by the Commission of Education and Science (Komisja Oświaty i Nauki). The most active in this respect was the Sejm’s second term (1957–1961), when after the “October thaw” of 1956, the conviction of the possibility of reform of the governing system was still alive. The imbalance between expenses on high-performance sports and general sports (“sport for all”) continued to deepen. Particularly serious was the lack of the necessary sport facilities and the differences between town and country. In 1958, the spendings on physical education amounted to almost 15 Zł on one inhabitant of the country, in rural areas only 2.37 Zł. Equally disturbing are data related to the infrastructure and its poor condition. In 1959, out of 324 existing districts in Poland 265 (82%) had no gymnasiums, 233 (72%) lacked swimming pools and in 66 counties (20%) there were no sport fields. Only 3.21% of the total population were associated in sport clubs and physical education associations, but only 1.89% of the total population of the country were active players. In cities, 4.48% of the population living in the cities were members of associations and 2.23% were active players; in the country 2.9% of population living in the country were members of associations and 1.59% were active players. 147 In January 1958, W. Reczek stated that the building of the bureaucratic centralism was demolished and the Polish model of organization of physical culture was created. Kultura Fizyczna, 1958, No. 2.
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Central Committe for Physical Culture and Tourism
Council of Ministers
Presidiums of Voivodeship National Council Powiat National Council
Voivodeship Committe for Physical Culture and Tourism
Municipal National Council
Municipal Committe for Physical Culture and Tourism
(Gromada National Council)
Powiat Committe for Physical Culture and Tourism
Government macrostructures of physical culture
Local structures of physical culture
Gromada Committe for Physical Culture and Tourism
direct subordination political orientation, supervision coordination, cooperation
The distribution of state budget funds to the development of physical culture varied considerably as well. Powiats (Polish counties), which contained 80% of the population of the country, received only 20% of the budget for high-performance and mass sport. State expenses (excluding investments and wages for physical education teachers) in 1960 were 16.26 Zł per capita. While in 1954, the physical culture received 55% of the state budget expenditures, in 1960 it was only 40%. Also, spendings on one active player were not high, and in 1960 amounted to 496 Zł. In the years 1957–1970, state spendings on sport and tourism amounted to 0.18% of the total state budget. According to other sources (ministries and budget authorities) the spendings were higher and amounted to 0.5% of the total state budget. According to data from 1970, the central budget covered 70% of the expenses on sport and tourism and the local budgets covered 30%. In absolute numbers, state expenditures were 1,124.9 million Zł in 1965, and 2,094 million Zł in 1970. In the years 1957–1971, the expenditure on the development of physical education and sports increased; however, it did not lead to significant
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