Mieczysław Rakowski
Template:Short description Script error: No such module "Unsubst". Script error: No such module "infobox".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Script error: No such module "Check for conflicting parameters". Mieczysław Franciszek Rakowski (Polish: Template:IPAc-pl; 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.[1] 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.[1] 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 manyScript error: No such module "Unsubst". as the most prestigious weekly in Poland).[2] TodayScript error: No such module "Unsubst". some peopleScript error: No such module "Unsubst". 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.[3]
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.[4] He was buried at the Powązki Military Cemetery in Warsaw.[5]
Awards and decorations
- File:POL Polonia Restituta Wielki BAR.svg Grand Cross of Order of Polonia Restituta (1997)[6]
- File:POL Order Sztandaru Pracy 1 klasy BAR.svg Order of the Banner of Labour, 1st Class
- File:POL Polonia Restituta Komandorski ZG BAR.svg Commander's Cross with Star of Order of Polonia Restituta
- File:POL Order Sztandaru Pracy 2 klasy BAR.svg Order of the Banner of Labour, 2nd Class[7]
- File:POL Złoty Krzyż Zasługi BAR.svgGolden Cross of Merit
- File:POL Medal 40-lecia Polski Ludowej BAR.svg Medal of the 40th Anniversary of People's Poland[8]
- File:POL Medal 10-lecia Polski Ludowej BAR.svg Medal of the 10th Anniversary of People's Poland[9]
- File:POL Odznaka im. Ludwika Waryńskiego BAR.png Medal of Ludwik Waryński[10]
References
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- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Operacja "okrągłego stołu", interview with Filip Musiał, interia.pl, June 5, 2008 Template:Webarchive
- ↑ Martin, Douglas (11 November 2008). "Mieczyslaw Rakowski, Poland's Last Communist Premier, Dies at 81". The New York Times.
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Template:In lang M.P. z 1997 r. nr 29, poz. 269.
- ↑ Template:In lang Profil na stronie Biblioteki Sejmowej. [dostęp 22 kwietnia 2015].
- ↑ Template:In lang „Głos Pomorza”, nr 295, 17 grudnia 1987, s. 3.
- ↑ Template:In lang M.P. z 1955 r. nr 125, poz. 1624
- ↑ Template:In lang „Życie Partii”, nr 5 (543), 8 marca 1989, s. 20.
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External links
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- Pages with script errors
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- 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