The 'Charge of the Right Brigade': Transnational Social Forces and the Neoliberal Configuration of Poland's Transition

Abstract

The article is divided into four main sections. The first section discusses the theoretical framework that informs the argument. The remaining sections then proceed to explore how the formation of transnational hegemony has been achieved at various historical moments across the transition period in Poland. The second section investigates the emergence of a neoliberal agenda in Poland prior to 1989. The third focuses on the specific period where the neoliberal alternatives for transition crystallised into a comprehensive concept of control with the installation of the Sachs-Balcerowicz Plan. The fourth section investigates the outcome of this concept of control in a wider context, considering a series of events where transnational capitalist class (TCC)-oriented social forces have made significant interventions into the transition process.