Social transformation of great mining regions : experience of the 20th century : prospects for the 21th century (the case of Upper Silesia, Poland)

Abstract

This article, which deals with civilizational challenges of Upper Silesian mining communities at the end of the 20th century, consists of five complementary parts. In Part I, we present a diagnosis of economic and social situation of this catastrophic and scansen-type region of Poland and Europe. Part II deals with the history of mining local communities, from the early years of this branch of industry (which are given documentary evidence) to the end of the Second World War. In Part III, we reconstruct the changes within these communities in the time of real socialism (1945-1989). In the next part, we suggest necessary and radical changes in ,UPPer Silesian mining and associated social structure. The last part of an article is an attempt to describe a regional social agreement called the Regional Contract. The Document was prepared in the Katowice voivodship in 1995 by numerous economic institutions, political parties, trade unions, social and cultural organisations. Its main purpose is quick and complex restructuring of the economy of the region, together with coal mining industry and mining communities. (fragment tekstu)