FOR MANY YEARS in Poland the conviction of the superiority of state ownership over all other forms of ownership was a key economic policy assumption. The Soviet economy was copied, and socialism was equated with the statist economy. Private ownership was ideologically suspect, and it was treated with distrust as a relic of the past, something irreconcilable in the long run with the principles of the socialist economy. The negative attitude to private property was also caused by the fact that such property is more difficult for the central planner to control. The nationalisation of industry radically changed its ownership pattern. The state became the dominant owner, with the private sector relegated to the sidelines and deprived of any importance. As part of the drive towards unification of ownership forms and principles of national economic management, steps were also taken to reduce gradually the numbers of private distribution enterprises. The criticism of the private sector in distribution was directed at wholesaling and retailing alike. In 1947 the licences law began the so-called'battle for distribution', aimed at the elimination of the private sector, usually by administrative means. In effect, out of a total of 113 359 distribution outlets in 1944, only 14 059, or 12.4%, managed to survive till 1955 (Domanski 1989, p. 25). In agriculture, too, attempts were made at scaling down the private sector, by undercutting private farming and enforcing collectivisation, but this process never went as far as in other socialist countries. Private ownership in Polish agriculture retained its dominant position. In 1989 private farms accounted for 76.2% of farmland and 78.9% of total agricultural output (Rocznik Statystyczny 1990, pp. 322, 335).