M-II meat ration stamp

Poland's centrally planned distribution system relied on ration books (kartki) throughout much of the 1980s, with meat rationing introduced in 1981 following the shortages that had helped fuel the Solidarity movement. The M-II designation placed this stamp within a tiered meat allocation hierarchy — different categories applied to different demographic groups, including workers in heavy industry, children, and the general population. By 1989, the system was visibly collapsing alongside the economy it was meant to manage.

The watermark on a stamp of this denomination is a notable security measure for what was essentially a domestic rationing coupon — a sign of how aggressively the government feared forgery and black-market manipulation of the allocation system. Meat rationing was formally abolished in August 1989, making late-dated M-II stamps among the last issued before the entire kartki apparatus was wound down.