Tightening the Soviet Borders with Poland

This November 1980 directive from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) proposed a temporary reduction in travel between the Soviet Union and its neighbor because of the difficult ongoing political situation in Poland. The CPSU planned to decrease tourism in both directions by between 36 and 44 percent for the remainder of 1980 and the first half of 1981. Not all tourism was affected. Trips from Poland to the Soviet Union that focused on ideological indoctrination were to continue. By promoting travel that was intended to stress socialist ideology, the directive points to the CPSU's desire to maintain control over where visitors traveled, what they saw, and who they met. By reducing other travel, such as personal trips and longer vacations over which the CPSU had less control, the directive suggests Soviet leaders' concern over the potential spread of nonsocialist and even antisocialist ideology by the strong and growing opposition in Poland.