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Complete PICLE corpus of essays by Polish advanced EFL students (330,000)

/^t/Since Poland experienced a serious political and social upheaval in 1989, a rapid upsurge in violence has been recorded. While this is true, it must be strongly emphasized that Poland before 1989 was by no means free from violence. Violence did exist before that time but it was a taboo subject. Directed by the socialist propaganda, people fostered a firm but false conviction that they were secure. On the contrary, in democratic Poland violence is a public issue, and as such is widely and exhaustively discussed. At present, people have no illusions about the fact that violence does exist and is widespread. Yet, it cannot be denied that a deep transformation of the state has really contributed to the increase of violence. This fact comes as no surprise because the transformation have triggered off great differences in the standard of living. The changes have given much scope for initiative, and, in fact, have opened the floodgates as many people have decided to start up their own businesses. On the other hand, scores of people have lost their jobs, which has deteriorated their social status to a considerable degree. In addition, Poland has become open to the western culture which is often infested with violence.