Government and Law in the Polish People's Republic during the Twilight War
(This is uses the 1st edition timeline rather than the ludicrous 2.2 edition where Germany invades Poland. Again. If you have any doubts about the likelihood of this just ask a German for their opinion of it.
I've covered some of this in prior posts.)
A fundamental paradox of the Eastern Bloc was that even when the USSR began to institute limited reforms the Soviet buffer-states tended to remain rigidly authoritarian due to their unpopular governments. This is an important factor in the makeup of the Polish state during the war.
When the NATO troops cross the Polish frontier the The Polish People's Republic (Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa) or PRL, immediately went over to war footing. Martial law was decreed and the system of Wojna Ludowa, or "People's War' was introduced.
People's War is critical to understanding Twilight 2000 Poland.
Under the Wojna Ludowa concept every single citizen works together to repel the invader. The concept of "civilian" disappears and is replaced with either "combatant' or "supporting non-combatant". All personal projects and the tiny Polish private sector is immediately halted and the full weight of the communist state is thrown at the enemy. Any reference to "civilian" in the rules regarding Poland should be ignored, they make no sense unless the individual is 'trapped' behind NATO lines and then they legally under PRL law should attempt to pass through the lines to Polish-held areas to assist the war effort.
The PRL had universal conscription pre-war and any male between 16 and 56 years old is either working in supporting industries or drafted back into the army. Any female between 16 and 56 was expected to take up the support tasks the draftees had to abandon to fight and later would become frontline troops in their own right. Every single non-combatant becomes a member of the OP-PRL or the OTK, the Polish Civil Defence and the Polish Territorial Army respectively. In the case of OTK duties these are off-hours duties such as guarding infrastructure or patrolling facilities and enforcing martial law. All non-combatants are expected to either evacuate the facility along with its infrastructure if the enemy threaten if at all possible and if not they are expected to fight to repel the enemy. Children and the elderly are evacuated to the USSR or the Baltic States if possible or as far east as can be achieved.
The ruling PRL political party, the PZPR, hands over power to the Wojskowa Rada, 'Military Council', or WR, and the civil authorities simply support the war effort. The Milicja Obywatelska, 'Citizen's Militia' (police force), or MO is not conscripted and their paramilitary wing the dreaded Zmotoryzowane Odwody Milicji Obywatelskiej, 'Motorized Reserves of the Citizens' Militia', or ZOMO are used where military police action is required, usually against the PRL's own citizens although they can operate as light motorised infantry in their BTR-60s.
Martial law is onerous. A strict curfew operates between 0600 to 2200 and anyone violating curfew is immediately arrested. "Shooting on sight" is not a phenomenon, authoritarian states respond to crises by becoming even more legalistic if that is possible and instead offenders for any crime appear before military tribunals and are made an example of by long and demeaning trials. Censorship was of course already in place pre-war.
Unless the crime is active treason the usual punishment is harsh forced labour under heavy guard, which is given every licence to mistreat prisoners, while the offender is used as a propaganda exercise. Crimes that are particularly abhorred by the state are avoiding work, hoarding supplies, spreading enemy propaganda (defeatism is later added to this) and smuggling, all of which not only violate martial law but also offend communist ideology and thus incur extra approbation from the authorities. Smuggling is especially heavily policed and deterred as it is considered stealing from the state, the war effort and the people. Note that only East Germany allowed conscientious objectors in the Eastern Bloc, if you can fight and are ordered to you must.
As before the war any right to strike is forbidden and mandatory confiscation of war material is common.
Those convicted of actively aiding and abetting the enemy are stripped of their citizenship, executed by hanging and afterwards placards detailing their crimes are affixed to their publicly displayed bodies and at the place of their crimes. As the military situation deteriorates more capital crimes are added to the list depending on the locality, situation and attitude of the relevant authorities. In the case that too many abettors are captured, say in the case that a NATO canton is overrun and the Polish workers are recovered, then the captives are marched into the Polish hinterland, placed into camps and used for rubble-clearing, demining and UXO clearance while being subject to harsh treatment 'befitting traitors' and enduing re-education. Note that the re-education is undertaken by the civil authorities and their lack of restraint towards political criminals was well known. This system has a powerful deterrent effect.
The PRL steps up its denunciation state. This is a state in which citizens are encouraged to monitor each other and denounce any unpatriotic activity or even conversations. In some places the MO will simply write this off as harmless but in other, especially sensitive areas, the MO will be rigid in its behaviour towards such transgressions. Denunciation states invariably fall prey to civil axe-grinding where petty rivalries can played out by frivolously denouncing rivals. Oddly enough this useless 'noise' can make the secret police less effective as they have trouble discerning real security threats from the backbiting but it can be hell for unpopular community members as they're dragged into the police compound on frequent allegations.
As you can see this means the Poland the players see in the game will be very different than the one depicted in the books. The Poles will ferociously defend their country partly due to innate patriotism but also due to the severe nature of the PRL and its treatment of those who undermine the fight against the invader. Polish Free Legion personnel not only risk themselves but their families who will be arrested, detained, interrogated and probably sent to holding camps in the interim as hostages until the authorities can think of what to do with them. Family members in the army will probably be demoted as untrustworthy, they should have informed on their traitorous relatives in the state's eyes, and in all doubt sent to units where political control is pervasive and rigid.
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