COP : dzieje industrializacji w rejonie bezpieczeństwa 1922-1939

Abstract

The idea of the Central Industrial Region (Centralny Okręg Przemysłowy, abbr. COP), being carried out during the Second Republic’s declining years, was a development of main political and strategic-spatial guidelines, established by the military authorities in 1921 and 1922. It was than, that a plan emerged, to concentrate military investments in so-called “safety triangle”. This conception was based on a conviction, shared by the members of the military authorities, about the disadvantageous character of the location of natural resources and industrial plants, concentrated mainly along the country borders, in industrial areas, such as, śląski, krakowski, dąbrowski and częstochowski regions. In case of war with Germany there was a real threat of loss of the vast majority of the economic potential, and thereby of dangerous reduction of Poland’s defensive abilities. This danger could only be lessen, if new arms factories would be placed in a distance from country borders, and some of existing industrial plants, or the material reserves would be moved to that central strategic area, which was then identified with the middle part of the basin of the Wisła river. Between 1922 and 1936 the state and private companies invested in connection with that plan about 380 million zlotys that were used to finance building of 10 new factories, developing and modernization of the next 5 existing industrial plants. Most of these new investments were located in Staropolskie Industrial Field (Zagłębie Staropolskie), among others in such cities, as Radom, Skarżysko, Starachowice, Kielce and Pionki, where modem factories were built, producing weapons, ammunition and explosives. Functional and spatial conception of the Central Industrial Region directly referred to prior industrial undertakings in the “safety area”. Between 1922 and 1936 this process was submitted to the guidelines set up by the military authorities, however it included some short-term actions, which were exclusively motivated by the needs of the country defence. As soon as in spring 1937 the program of war industry development was included into four-year investment plan. From this moment - apart from the Ministry of War Affairs - also civil departments began to participate in its realization. Thanks to planned policy of the minister of treasury, Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski, for the first time it was possible to mobilize public funds to that scale. From among 3 billion zlotys, which were spent for investments in the scale of the whole country, a building of the COP cost about 750 million zlotys. Investment expenditures were allocated to build 17 new arms factories. Until the outbreak of the war, in September 1939 the following industrial plants were completed: the metallurgical plant in Stalowa Wola, the machine tool factory in Rzeszów, chemical and tyres plants in Dębica. Many other construction processes were advanced. For instance the construction of the air factories in Mielec and Rzeszów, ammunition plants in Kraśnik and Majdan-Dębie, gunpowder and explosives factories in Jasło, Sarzyn and Pustków. Construction of aluminium works, refinery, foundry and non- ferrous mill were initiated. Productive capacity of arms factories increased in the Staropolski Industrial Field. The state allocated about 150 million zlotys to road and rail investments, establishing of water reservoirs on the Dunajec river, the Wisła river regulation and supporting of housing construction in COP. The authorities made efforts to involve private companies in COP. Therefore in 1938, April 9lh, they issued a special act on tax relief. Until the war broke out in 1939, private companies took advantage from this tax relief to the amount of 44 million zlotys. As a result of weakness of the private capital managers, a state capital remained superior in the investment process. The state undertook investment activity on a large scale, which was in some way a substitute for private entrepreneurs’ one. An economic statism was particularly clearly evident in the area of the Central Industrial Region, where war and infra-structural investments had to serve in raising a potential of defence and in levelling the aftermath of centuries old civilization backwardness.