Poland’s Iron Legend — it came from England! Part 1

This pretty farm tractor type, Ursus C-355 dominated the countryside and, in some extent, also the cities in Poland during the 1970s and early 1980s. Produced under industrial cooperation with Czechoslovakia, it was one of the most sturdy agricultural tractor types ever. It had, however, too high fuel consumption. Therefore the strategic decision was made to introduce the British agricultural machinery in the Polish croplands.

Source of the picture: Polish vintage farm tractors.Ursus C-355 and Ursus C-355M.

https://retrotraktor.pl/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=6036

CC BY-SA 4.0

Poland being a relatively small and weak, but for some reasons very important for Europe country, was never ruled by an extremely cruel and oppressive Communist government team. Especially after the destalinisation of the Soviet made regime, since the year 1956 this very particular nation became the Communism’s new face. After some hesitation the red Kremlin agreed to accept the Polish experiment, only to have a reliable ally in the very important part of Europe. You would say Poland enjoyed the home rule under the Eastern block. Under the experiment, among other things, the private ownership of cropland was allowed, although limited to the small and middle size farms.

The Polish Communist leader Edward Gierek speaks to the Polish people with two giant Polish eagles behind and in the front side, during the Labour Day, May 1, 1974. All these symbols were hardly communist ones. The red colour was the ancient Polish royal purple. Hence it’s justified to call him uncrowned King Edward. Few months later he begun the industrial cooperation with United Kingdom.

(A screenshot from YouTube Video, Edward Gierek, 1 maja 1974)

So, the State and Party leadership was relying on the peasants to feed the people and gain some surpluses in agricultural production for the export

A small but efficient and reliable agricultural machine was badly needed to do the work on the farms more effectively than whole soars of strong and healthy men. Simply because the most of the men leaved the countryside to work in the factories, mainly because of much better housing quality in the cities.

The Massey Ferguson machinery could suite every Polish farmer

... also by cutting the time wasted for repairs and reducing their costs. Small but powerful, unbelievably versatile and of long range because of reduced fuel consumption the Ferguson' tractors had no match throughout the world.

The employees of Massey Ferguson Banner Lane factory in the city of Coventry, England, had much work to do and needed good technical skills to perform their duties on a proper way. The Polish handymen in Ursus, Warsaw and elsewhere needed a lot of time to understand what is that all about.

(Screenshot from YouTube video; Banner Lane Factory From 1946 Until The 300 Series)

At first stage of license agreement negotiations there was already strong opposition from the ranks of Ursus’ engineers. They had their own project and their own views but...

The dominant historical verdict in Poland is that the imposed on Ursus works cooperation with the leading in the field of agricultural machinery production Western corporation was an economic time bomb, and even that it was another betrayal by the West. The true is, however, very different! The managers of Massey Ferguson agreed to bring to Poland one of the world's most thoroughly thought industrial and commercial packages.

As an established and major force in the highly competitive Northern American and European, also Asian and African agricultural machinery business Massey Ferguson developed also special techniques for lowering the costs of producing the tractors and keeping their prices low. The managers in Coventry offered all needed supplies of materials, the technical expertise and consulting services, the most favourable terms of help in the export of future tractors and engines surpluses from Poland. As well as at the planning and establishing the chains of deliveries from Polish contractors. The Britons agreed to take care of everything, if needed, and demanded only loyal cooperation in exchange! Oh my goodness! Gierek’s advisers insisted: Only short-term thinkers could regard that all as a too much expensive capital expenditure.

In the year 1974 the Polish Communist leader was most seriously warned by his chief economic advisor about the danger posed by consequences of oil price shock

The flagship of the Polish exports, the limousine Fiat 125P became much too costly in regard to its fuel consumption. According to this advisor all new licensed technical solutions bought in the West should be much more economical in regard to energy and fuels consumption than this doubtful, started five years earlier cooperation with Italians in the automotive industry. Otherwise a general disaster of Polish national economy would be impossible to avoid.

The Polish leader made immediately attempts to acknowledge this condition laying his plans for further nation’s development

To every bean counter in the notebook: The comparable Toyota Corolla model was also economical in terms of gasoline consumption, with 6 liters per 100 kilometers. In this regard the big Polish Fiat was a disaster: 10 liters per 100 kilometers. For fuel economy sake the drafted before the energy crisis the new Polish tractors family had to be rejected as too expensive for its future users. Soviet Union made it crystal clear; after 5 years time of grace the price for the Russian crude oil for Poland will be radically raised. On the other hand the new, efficient energy technologies were only occasionally sold to the satellite states of Soviet Union under the licensed technology transfer.

The British offer, being unusually beneficial also in regard of Ferguson’s vehicles fuel consumption, seemed to be an unique opportunity for Poland

The whole project was very advanced one, especially considering the conditions of Eastern Europe. It needed a lot of money and hard work, but the major principle of Massey Ferguson machinery designs was to give the maximum advantage for the host country for its money allocated for new production facilities as well as for British advisors payments.

Unfortunately, there was the third side who watched the whole situation. Someone who wanted Polish and British workers to be deprived of their jobs and finally had to whip of helpless vexation

However, this in the next part of this amazing and at the same time frightening story. Unfortunately, the history is not a merciful mother but an unmerciful and wicked witch who likes to watch bad boys cry bitterly and as they could kicked themselves.

Stalowa legenda polskich pól, która przybyła z Anglii. Cz. 1

Ten zgrabny ciągnik rolniczy Ursus C-355 nadał charakterystyczne oblicze wsiom, a także w pewnym stopniu miastom w Polsce w latach 70. i wczesnych 80. Produkowany w ramach współpracy przemysłowej z Czechosłowacją, był jednym z najbardziej wytrzymałych ciągników rolniczych jakie kiedykolwiek wytwarzano. Miał jednak zbyt wysokie zużycie paliwa. Dlatego też podjęto strategiczną decyzję o wprowadzeniu brytyjskich maszyn rolniczych na polskie ziemie uprawne.

(Whichusername - Praca własna, File:1975 Ursus C-355 uratowac od zapomnienia 4.jpg. Utworzony: 14 sierpnia 2017. CC BY-SA 4.0)

Polska jest stosunkowo małym i słabym krajem, ale z pewnych względów ma wielkie znaczenie dla Europy. Właściwie rzecz biorąc nigdy nie została poddana skrajnie okrutnym i opresyjnym rządom komunistycznym. Zwłaszcza po destalinizacji reżimu sowieckiego, od 1956 r. ten nasz naprawdę szczególny kraj pokazał światu nową twarz komunizmu. Po pewnym wahaniu czerwony Kreml zgodził się zaakceptować polski eksperyment, aby mieć wiarygodnego sojusznika w niezwykle ważnej części Europy. Można powiedzieć, że Polska rządziła się według swoich własnych reguł w ramach bloku wschodniego. W ramach tego eksperymentu dozwolona była między innymi prywatna własność ziemi uprawnej, aczkolwiek ograniczona do małych i średnich gospodarstw.

Polski przywódca komunistyczny Edward Gierek przemawia do narodu polskiego, z dwoma ogromnymi polskimi orłami z tyłu i z przodu, podczas Święta Pracy, 1 maja 1974 r. Wszystkie te symbole były tylko na pozór komunistyczne. Ta czerwień to pradawna polska królewska purpura. Dlatego też słuszne jest nazywanie go niekoronowanym królem Edwardem. Kilka miesięcy później rozpoczął współpracę przemysłową ze Zjednoczonym Królestwem.

(Kadr z wideo z YouTube, Edward Gierek, 1 maja 1974)

Tak więc kierownictwo partyjno-państwowe polegało na chłopach w dziedzinie wyżywienia narodu oraz uzyskiwania pewnych nadwyżek w produkcji rolnej, które można przeznaczyć na eksport

Mała, ale wydajna i niezawodna maszyna rolnicza była pilnie potrzebna do wykonywania pracy w gospodarstwach wiejskich. Maszyna mogąca zastąpić całą gromadę silnych i zdrowych mężczyzn. Po prostu dlatego, że większość tych mężczyzn opuściła wieś, aby pracować w fabrykach, głównie z powodu znacznie lepszej jakości mieszkań w miastach.

Maszyny wytwarzane przez firmę Massey-Ferguson były w stanie zaspokoić potrzeby każdego polskiego gospodarza

Także znacznie zmniejszyć czas tracony na naprawy i obniżyć ponoszone na ten cel nakłady. Małe lecz wyposażone w potężny silnik, niesamowicie zwrotne, a zarazem zdolne – ze względu na małe zużycie paliwa – do pokonywania codziennie znacznych odległości, traktory od pana Fergusona nie miały sobie równych na świecie.

Pracownicy fabryki Massey Ferguson Banner Lane w mieście Coventry w Anglii mieli stale mnóstwo pracy do wykonania i potrzebowali sporych umiejętności technicznych, aby podołać swoim obowiązkom. Polscy pracownicy fizyczni w Ursusie, Warszawie i gdzie indziej potrzebowali wiele czasu, aby zrozumieć o co tu w ogóle chodzi.

Już na pierwszym etapie negocjacji umowy licencyjnej pojawił się silny sprzeciw ze strony inżynierów Ursusa. Mieli własny projekt i własne poglądy, tylko że ...

Polscy historycy są na ogół zdania, że narzucona zakładom Ursus współpraca z przodującym w dziedzinie produkcji maszyn rolniczych koncernem zachodnim była ekonomiczną bombą zegarową, a nawet że była to kolejna zdrada ze strony Zachodu. Prawda jest jednak zupełnie inna! Menedżerowie firmy Massey Ferguson zgodzili się sprowadzić do Polski jedną z najlepiej przemyślanych przemysłowych i handlowych ofert wiązanych na świecie.

Jako uznany i ważny gracz na odznaczających się ogromnym nasileniem walki konkurencyjnej rynkach Ameryki Północnej i Europy, również Azji i Afryki dział maszyn rolniczych Massey’a Fergusona opracował także specjalne procedury obniżania kosztów produkcji ciągników i utrzymywania ich niskich cen. Menedżerowie w Coventry oferowali wszystkie niezbędne dostawy podzespołów, wiedzę techniczną i usługi doradcze, najwyżej uprzywilejowane warunki pomocy w eksporcie przyszłych nadwyżek ciągników i silników z Polski. Także pomoc w planowaniu i tworzeniu łańcuchów dostaw od polskich poddostawców. Brytyjczycy zgodzili się załatwić wszystko co będzie trzeba i zażądali w zamian tylko lojalnej współpracy! Wielkie nieba! Doradcy Gierka nalegali; tylko ludzie ekonomicznie krótkowzroczni mogliby uznać to wszystko za zbyt kosztowny wydatek inwestycyjny.

W roku 1974 polski przywódca komunistyczny został niezwykle poważnie ostrzeżony przez swojego głównego doradcę ekonomicznego przed niebezpieczeństwem wynikającym ze wstrząsu naftowego

Sztandarowy polski towar eksportowy – limuzyna Fiat 125P, stał się zbyt kosztowny ze względu na zużycie paliwa. Wszystkie nowe licencjonowane rozwiązania techniczne zakupione na Zachodzie powinny być znacznie bardziej ekonomiczne pod względem zużycia energii i paliw niż ta wątpliwa, rozpoczęta pięć lat wcześniej współpraca z Włochami w branży motoryzacyjnej – sugerował Paweł Bożyk. W przeciwnym razie nie da się uniknąć ogólnej katastrofy polskiej gospodarki narodowej.

Polski przywódca natychmiast podjął próby, aby uwzględnić ten warunek kreśląc swoje plany dalszego rozwoju kraju

To zapamiętał każdy liczykrupa; model Corolla ze stajni Toyoty był ekonomiczny również pod względem zużycia benzyny – 6 litrów na 100 kilometrów. Pod tym względem polski duży Fiat był katastrofalny: 10 litrów na 100 kilometrów. Ze względu na oszczędność paliwa opracowana przed kryzysem energetycznym nowa seria polskich ciągników musiała zostać odrzucona jako zbyt kosztowna dla przyszłych użytkowników. Związek Radziecki nie pozostawił co do tego najmniejszych wątpliwości; po 5 latach karencji cena rosyjskiej ropy dla Polski radykalnie wzrośnie. Z drugiej strony nowe, energooszczędne technologie nader rzadko sprzedawano krajom bloku radzieckiego w ramach porozumień o produkcji licencyjnej.

Brytyjska oferta, niezwykle korzystna również pod względem zużycia paliwa przez pojazdy Fergusona, wydawała się być wyjątkową szansą dla Polski

Cały ten projekt był niezwykle ambitny i wymagający, zwłaszcza w warunkach wschodnioeuropejskich. Wymagał wyłożenia wielkich pieniędzy oraz włożenia weń ogromu ciężkiej pracy. Z tym, że naczelną zasadą firmy Massey Ferguson, stosowaną w przypadku kolejnych modeli jej maszyn było zapewnienie maksymalnych korzyści dla kraju gospodarza w zamian za pieniądze przeznaczone na budowę nowych zakładów produkcyjnych oraz usługi brytyjskich doradców.

Niestety, był ktoś trzeci, kto obserwował całą tę sytuację. Ktoś, komu zależało, aby polscy i brytyjscy robotnicy zostali pozbawieni miejsc pracy i musieli w końcu płakać krwawymi łzami

O tym jednak w następnej części tej fascynującej, a zarazem przerażającej historii. Niestety bowiem historia nie jest matką miłosierną, ale oschłą i sadystyczną czarownicą, która lubi patrzeć jak niegrzeczni chłopcy gorzko płaczą i plują sobie w brodę.

Ultra-modern Keyboards + only scanned historical newspaper = Living History. Using the example of the ´Neue Lodzer Zeitung´ (New Lodger Daily)

The only scanned German-language press archives in Poland are both a nightmare and a dream. Automatic text recognition seems to be the only way to process the vast amounts of content from such archives. But if you are a bit picky, then it is quite possible to do so on a smaller but significant scale, using the most suitable keyboards. After all, not everything is really important in it. In practical terms, only the historical press sources on politics, society and the economy are absolutely necessary to better understand the events of the age when Lodge was still the Polish-German-Jewish city. So, I repeat what the “Neue Lodzer Zeitung” once wrote: "History is not just a repertory of numbers and names, not just a commemorative plaque of what happened and is irrevocably over." (August Müller)

The "Neue Lodzer Zeitung" (New Lodger Daily) had been a very special newspaper. Founded in 1902 by young journalists of the old “Lodzer Zeitung”, it was distinguished by the Western European level of its journalism. Since its infancy, it has been, and still remains a treasure trove of valuable historical information about the late Russian Empire, Congress Poland and the Second Republic of Poland.

No other German-language newspaper in Poland had been so clearly friendly to the Polish people

… and later also to the Polish State during the interbellum. It reflected the high ideals of Polish Germans and the People of the City of Lodge. Under tragic circumstances (terrorist attacks by Hitler's Luftwaffe against the People of the City), she ceased her activity on 3 September 1939. On the same day, the "Volkszeitung" (People’s Daily, a quite similar newspaper) was published for the last time.

The digital archive of the historical newspaper is now available on the websites of the two major libraries of Central Poland

Unfortunately, its digitisation is by no means perfect. First, whole vintages are missing and some others have been left incomplete. The reason for this are the activities of the Hitler’s Youth, who visited all copies of the newspaper accessible to them with hatred and contempt in their hearts, in order to destroy them as waste paper. On the other hand, nothing was done to somehow organize the majority of the wonderful magazine paper pages, which had been saved from destruction, in the Third Republic of Poland, and to make it known a little more.

The main problem with the digital press archives of periodicals from the first half of the 20th century is that if the hundreds of thousands, even millions of essays and contributions scanned and put into their collections have been not indexed into searchable text databases (by the means of "OCR"), then ...

You are quite baffled by the huge jungle of content. Unless someone really likes to build a jungle camp and then tap into the fairytale wealth of the little-known interior for themselves and for others. I have to deal with this at the Neue Lodzer Zeitung. Quite different from the case of some other online press archives, like these of the Austrians, Swissmen and Luxembourgers (to stay in the German-speaking area), where the content is even accessible in full digital text. As a German language lover, I don't have to force myself to take on the whole jungle bloodless warfare and to shoulder this burden of history speaking to the present-time people. I would not meet the King Kong there, but the saints and heroes, and still…

Anyway, the most modern input methods (including for the best keyboards) are absolutely necessary to make the notes or to create the quotes using word processing and later prepare them for digital media

The task is to be judged as of medium difficulty: to download the best keyboards (as Android apps) and then use them as, so to speak, the means of transportation of all treasures discovered. This possibility is mainly offered by the flat computers (tablets). I chose from the extensive range of ultra-modern apps of this kind three of them. As the first, GO Keyboard Pro to write in German of today. Something like this is absolutely necessary. You can use it very successfully also to write in English, for example using the TouchPal Pro.

As the second, the Emoji Keyboard (with three hearts), but without download of the digital dictionary of the German language, to independently collect and upload the old, classic German vocabulary, including the outdated, but so delightful for me spelling.

I have been able to read the German Fractura almost since forever, but to use it fully, I got myself one of the keyboard types that the user can program almost any way he wants. The ai.Bot Keyboard Free uses the vocabulary from Emoji. A small example for this:

From the very beginning, the Polish Jews have had their representatives in the institutions which advised those in power in this country. They were allowed to speak freely so that they could tell interesting things about finance.

In this way, I now have three new keyboards at my disposal, which on the one hand ensure a quick input of words and correction of errors, but on the other hand have also enabled the collection of the old vocabulary and the imitation of the writing style of the authors of the historical newspaper. The best balance between these two tasks is simple: upload the German keyboard language packs for Emoji and ai.Bot a little later, after editing about ten texts by hand.

Goal recognized and achieved: Johannes Danielewski warns again

The Protestant-Lutheran believer, a member of the Saint John’s parish in Lodge, friend of the later martyr Julius Bursche, warned in the year 1930 against the destruction of Christian values by pagan chauvinism. Danielewski died in 1933. He did not experienced the Nazi crimes to which thousands of the clergy and Christian activists, like himself, fell victim. His prophecies came true.

I have discovered an essay that was also written for posterity and undoubtedly deserves our attention

First briefly about its historical background. At that time there were two very different organizations of the German minority in Poland. German People's Union in Poland united the Reichs Germans, the former subjects of Emperor Willy, who wanted nothing to do with Poland, and yet had to become Polish citizens. This was one of the consequences of the German defeat in the First World War; the borders of Poland were shifted to the west. What's astonishing, at the head of the People's Union (Volksverband) was a Polish German, August Utta. However, this was also due to the false policy made by the Polish side. About that briefly at the end.

In addition, Utta has served since 1919 as a leading member of the Synod Council of the Protestant Lutheran Church in Poland

In opposition to the German People's Union, the German Confederation for Preserving the Culture and Economic Development was proclaimed in Poland to represent the interests of the German nationals, inhabitants of Central Poland. The two German ethnic groups in the Second Republic of Poland were very different from each other, including for their views on religious matters. Fierce political and social fight broke out between Union and Confederation, and freedom as well as Christianity were at stake. This led to the attempts of Unionists to conquer the big city of Lodge, which played the crucial role for interwar Poland, not only as an important industrial area but also as the bulwark of the German supporters of Polish State.

As a counterweight to the Neue Lodzer Zeitung, the daily newspaper „Freie Presse” (Free Press) was founded. The chairman of the German Confederation, Danielewski, wrote a fierce polemic against the editorial of the last one, which dealt with the balance sheet of 1929. He zealously put to use the true principles of Lutheranism.

He was a true Protestant believer and an ardent follower of the traditional German settlers' loyalty towards tolerant and generous Poland

“In dealing with the second balance sheet item of the People's Union, one can perceive a direct unchristian attitude. [...] The gravediggers of Christianity are those who bring politics into the church, who don't wish to have local ministers being filled with the Holy Spirit, but a new breed of clergy who would preach according to the instructions of the German Union. They are those who want to conquer the church with stormtroopers and with people who are far from the church.

The exits from the Church and the decrease in the number of readers of Christian magazines can be traced back to those who leave no stone unturned to politicize the Church and are trying to misuse it as a means of propaganda for their party purposes. On the passive side of the political balance sheet is also the inflammatory activity of political parties, including for the German Union, which undoubtedly leads to communism.

Every anti-German policy has to stay away from the Lutheran Church, but if you make this demand you have to demand that the Church not become the enemy of the Polish population too. You should know that the bond of Christian charity was and must remain most important thing for our true faith. [...] If we are of the opinion that fellow believers, that the government, etc. make mistakes, then we as Christians should ask God to give the circles concerned a different insight, so they can change their minds and hearts but not to hate or bully them.”

“Otherwise we praise God with our lips and our hearts are far from God. That is, however, precisely the attitude of the circles which wants to misuse the Church for political purposes.”

“In his balance sheet, the leader of the German Union did not draw any conclusions and made no suggestions for improvement. But no better proposal could be made for the new year than to work for the creation of one national community in Poland, in which the most diverse sections of the population compete for the buildup of the economy and the State in order to bring about peace, happiness and prosperity for this country and to deepen Christianity among the common people.”

Johannes Danielewski, Totengräber am Christentum, „Neue Lodzer Zeitung”, January 3, 1930, p. 3 (21 in the scan of Digital Library of the University of Lodz, being based on monthly volumes).

Some unrecognized saints

The Lutheran Church, or for example the Methodist Church, has since its beginning bid farewell to the veneration of the saints. This did not mean, however, that God the Almighty has ceased to create the holy men and women in the world and to give them important tasks. There is simply no formal canonization among the Protestants

But when we get to know the deeds and teachings of the outstanding leaders of the Lutheran people in Poland from that time, we see the saints. We see the right path of the Church of God — sincere obedience to the Eternal Father. This is one of the most important topics of the “Neue Lodzer Zeitung”. This is also one reason why this very special historical newspaper should finally be made properly accessible or at least more known.

This is obviously not the only value of old Lodger German-language newspapers and magazines as historical sources

These newspapers also provide an answer to the question of why, despite the favourable conditions in cities such as Tomashov of Mazovia, it proved to be impossible to fully integrate the German minority in the Second Republic of Poland.

The governments of the National Democrats and Peasants Party (1919-26) sinned in excessive haste. They introduced the schools with two teaching languages in purely German villages, instead to wait a while and gradually change some unfavorable for that conditions. After some hesitation, the sanation regime (1926-39) began to polonize people through administrative constraints, and followed in the footsteps of Germanizers and Russizers. The sanators oversaw the fact that the policies of the partitioning powers had failed and led to armed resistance against them, which ended with overthrow of their rule. Historia magistra vitae est!

After the essay was completed, I learned about another, quite similar on-line archive

In this case, too, you have to make the not painless effort and browse slowly, one outmoded paper page after another. Of course, the pain is for purpose. It is a collection of historical documents of the Imperial and German Wehrmacht from the Eastern Front. Lots of old machine fonts, no standard pages, of low at best medium quality. I mean: Deutsch-Russisches Projekt zur Digitalisierung Deutscher Dokumente in Archiven der Russischen Föderation (German-Russian project on the digitization of German documents in archives of the Russian Federation).

The holdings were divided into a sufficiently large number of thematic groups, but remained only scanned. It’s not much surprising; part of them was recovered from the ashes by the soldiers of the Soviet Army. Under these circumstances, digitisation must be limited to creating page images and making them accessible for international public. This provides inspiration and reason to continue working around the most modern, highly effective keyboards of the Android operating system.