Misplaced Pages

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Mieczysław Rakowski" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (November 2008) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Mieczysław Rakowski
Rakowski in 2007
7th First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party
In office 29 July 1989 – 29 January 1990
President	Wojciech Jaruzelski
Prime Minister	Czesław Kiszczak Tadeusz Mazowiecki
Preceded by	Wojciech Jaruzelski
Succeeded by	Aleksander Kwaśniewski (As Leader of Social Democracy)
Prime Minister of Poland
In office 27 September 1988 – 2 August 1989
President	Wojciech Jaruzelski (Jul - Aug 1989)
Chairman	Wojciech Jaruzelski (Sep 1988 - Jul 1989)
Preceded by	Zbigniew Messner
Succeeded by	Czesław Kiszczak
Deputy Prime Minister
In office 12 February 1981 – 12 November 1985
President	Henryk Jabłoński
Personal details
Born	(1926-12-01)1 December 1926 Kowalewko, Poznań Voivodeship, Poland
Died	8 November 2008(2008-11-08) (aged 81) Warsaw, Poland
Political party	Polish United Workers' Party
Spouse	Elżbieta Kępińska
Occupation	Historian, Journalist

Mieczysław Franciszek Rakowski (Polish: ; 1 December 1926 – 8 November 2008) was a Polish communist politician, historian and journalist who was Prime Minister of Poland from 1988 to 1989. He served as the seventh and final First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party from 1989 to 1990.

Career

Rakowski was born in a peasant family and operated a lathe as a teenager. He served as an officer in the Polish People's Army from 1945 to 1949. He began his political career in 1946 as a member of the Polish Workers' Party, and from 1948 to 1990 he was a member of the communist Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR), serving on its Central Committee from 1975 to 1990.

He received a doctorate in history from Warsaw's Institute for Social Sciences in 1956. Rakowski served as the second-to-last communist Prime Minister of Poland from September 1988 to August 1989 (Czesław Kiszczak then served less than a month as the last Communist to hold the post, before the accession of Tadeusz Mazowiecki). He was the last First Secretary of the PZPR from July 1989 to January 1990. However, he was not, unlike his predecessors, the de facto leader of the country; the PZPR had given up its monopoly on power in early 1989.

Rakowski was also known as one of the founders and, from 1958 to 1982, first deputy and then chief editor of the weekly newspaper Polityka, one of the most influential publications at the time (Polityka continues to exist and is regarded by many as the most prestigious weekly in Poland). Today some people still remember him as a journalist and editor rather than a politician.

Rakowski was involved in the Communist government during suppression of the Solidarity movement. He also played a part in the Polish transformation from state socialism to market capitalism, as his Communist-led government was forced to reform and he was one of the key players in the Polish Round Table Agreements.

Prior to becoming Prime Minister, he had been divorced from the violinist Wanda Wiłkomirska, with whom he had two sons.

He died on 8 November 2008 from cancer in Warsaw at the age of 81. He was buried at the Powązki Military Cemetery in Warsaw.

Awards and decorations

• Grand Cross of Order of Polonia Restituta (1997)
• Order of the Banner of Labour, 1st Class
• Commander's Cross with Star of Order of Polonia Restituta
• Order of the Banner of Labour, 2nd Class
• Golden Cross of Merit
• Medal of the 40th Anniversary of People's Poland
• Medal of the 10th Anniversary of People's Poland
• Medal of Ludwik Waryński

References

1. ^ Applebaum, Anne (2012). Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944-1956. New York USA: Doubleday. p. 312. ISBN 9780385515696.
2. Jacqueline Hayden (23 March 2006). The Collapse of Communist Power in Poland: Strategic Misperceptions and Unanticipated Outcomes. Routledge. p. 42. ISBN 978-1-134-20801-2. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
3. Operacja "okrągłego stołu", interview with Filip Musiał, interia.pl, June 5, 2008 Archived June 13, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
4. Martin, Douglas (11 November 2008). "Mieczyslaw Rakowski, Poland’s Last Communist Premier, Dies at 81". The New York Times.
5. "We wtorek pogrzeb Mieczysława Rakowskiego". Wprost. 17 November 2008. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
6. (in Polish) M.P. z 1997 r. nr 29, poz. 269.
7. (in Polish) Profil na stronie Biblioteki Sejmowej. .
8. (in Polish) „Głos Pomorza”, nr 295, 17 grudnia 1987, s. 3.
9. (in Polish) M.P. z 1955 r. nr 125, poz. 1624
10. (in Polish) „Życie Partii”, nr 5 (543), 8 marca 1989, s. 20.

External links

• Gallery of photos
• Memories about Rakowski (Gazeta Wyborcza)
• Obituary of Rakowski in The Economist

v t e First Secretaries of the Central Committee of the PZPR
Bolesław Bierut Edward Ochab Władysław Gomułka Edward Gierek Stanisław Kania Wojciech Jaruzelski Mieczysław Rakowski

• 1926 births
• 2008 deaths
• People from Kcynia
• People from Poznań Voivodeship (1921–1939)
• Polish Workers' Party politicians
• Members of the Politburo of the Polish United Workers' Party
• Prime ministers of the Polish People's Republic
• Members of the Polish Sejm 1972–1976
• Members of the Polish Sejm 1976–1980
• Members of the Polish Sejm 1980–1985
• Members of the Polish Sejm 1985–1989
• 20th-century Polish historians
• Polish male non-fiction writers
• 20th-century Polish journalists
• Burials at Powązki Military Cemetery
• Recipients of the Medal of the 10th Anniversary of the People's Republic of Poland
• Recipients of the Medal of the 40th Anniversary of the People's Republic of Poland