During the period between 1947 and 1989 Poland was part of the Communist Block in Eastern Europe which was under the guidance and control of the Soviet Union. But even though Poland was officially a Communist country and part of the Warsaw Pact, the majority of the politicians and the majority of the population was not very fond of the Communist doctrine. The people wanted change, they wanted to modernize, became Westernized, and to have a market economy. That led to protests in this period, protests that forced the Soviet Union to loosen up their politics toward Poland, and the country had much bigger autonomy because of it when it came to making decisions for itself. This was constantly building up, and Poland was gradually moving away from the Soviets, and once the Polish saw that the Soviets are no longer threat to them they moved away from them and started to make reforms in their country.
