Jacek Kuroń

Jacek Kuroń
1 May 1989, demonstration day with the participation of the opposition and Jacek Kuroń
Minister of Labour and Social Policy
In office 11 July 1992 – 26 October 1993
President	Lech Wałęsa
Prime Minister	Hanna Suchocka
Preceded by	Jerzy Kropiwnicki
Succeeded by	Leszek Miller
In office 12 September 1989 – 12 December 1990
President	Wojciech Jaruzelski
Prime Minister	Tadeusz Mazowiecki
Preceded by	Michał Czarski
Succeeded by	Michał Boni
Member of Sejm
In office 4 June 1989 – 18 October 2001
Personal details
Born	Jacek Jan Kuroń 3 March 1934 Lwów, Poland
Died	17 June 2004(2004-06-17) (aged 70) Warsaw, Poland

Jacek Jan Kuroń (Polish pronunciation: [ˈjat͡sɛk ˈjan ˈkurɔɲ]; 3 March 1934 – 17 June 2004) was one of the democratic leaders of opposition in the People's Republic of Poland. He was widely known as the "godfather of the Polish opposition," not unlike Václav Havel in Czechoslovakia. Kuroń was a prominent Polish social and political figure known for his efforts at reforming societies under the control of the Soviet Union. As an educator and historian, he first postulated the concept of a de-centered movement that would question the totalitarian system and its personality cult. Kuroń started out as an activist of the Polish Scouting Association trying to educate young people that would take charge of the future; he later co-founded with Antoni Macierewicz the Workers' Defence Committee or KOR, a major dissident organization that was superseded by Solidarity in August 1980. After the changes in independent Poland, he ran for president supported by the likes of Jan Karski and served twice as Minister of Labour and Social Policy. Kuroń was the father of chef Maciej Kuroń.

Biography

Kuroń was born in 1934, in Lwów (now Lviv, Ukraine), into a family that supported the Polish Socialist Party (PPS). In 1949, he became a member of the Communist Association of the Polish Youth (ZMP). From 1952, he worked as a full-time employee in the capital scout section affiliated with the Association of the Polish Youth. The same year, he joined the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR). Then, he engaged in social movements making attempts to introduce more rights for the workers. After the political transformation and introduction of democracy to Poland, Kuroń became a Minister of Labor and Social Policy.

Kuroń died on 17 June 2004. A heavy drinker and smoker, he suffered from numerous health issues, including a stroke in 1998, throat cancer, atrial fibrillation and kidney failure.

Early social and political activities

In 1955 the Crooked Circle Club was established. Jacek Kuroń and Karol Modzelewski were among the most prominent members of the club. In 1957 Kuroń graduated from the Faculty of History at the University of Warsaw. In 1964, together with Karol Modzelewski, he wrote the Open Letter to the Party. In this letter he criticized a new ruling and bureaucratic class. He suggested replacing the existing system with workers' democracy, including organizing a referendum according to which major decisions concerning a distribution of national income would be made. The immediate aim was to have a consent of all workers to make decisions on economic plans. Kuroń's critique was closely related to the ideas of Marxism and Trotskyism. In 1965, he was sentenced to three years in prison for writing The Open Letter to the Party. Kuroń defiantly sang "The Internationale" in court. Imprisoned in Wronki Prison, he was released in 1967, and soon arrested again. In 1968 Kuroń was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for organizing student strikes during March Events. In 1975, he helped to organize a protest against the passage of amendments to the Constitution of the People's Republic of Poland. Following a government crackdown on strikes, and the jailing of striking workers, in June 1976, Kuroń co-founded with Antoni Macierewicz KOR, a worker's defense committee and civil organization that helped pave the way for Solidarność (Polish: Solidarity). The Coastal Free Trade Union WZZ, the cradle of Solidarity, was established on April 29, 1978 after Krzysztof Wyszkowski convinced Kuroń that workers needed their own voice.

Bibliography

• An Open Letter to the Party - A Revolutionary Socialist Manifesto (with Karol Modzelewski), London: Pluto Press, 1969 (English Translation)
• How to Get Out of a Dead-End Situation Telos 51 (Spring 1982). New York: Telos Press.
• (in Polish) Text of an "List Otwarty Do Partii" ("Open Letter to Party") Archived 2018-05-12 at the Wayback Machine
• (in Polish) Recycling of Ideas, 2006-06-27.
• (in Polish) Anna Bikont, Joanna Szczęsna. "Jacek Kuroń, 1934-2004", 2006-09-18 (accessed 2006-09-25).
• Soviet communism and the socialist vision, Julius Jacobson (ed.) Transaction Publishers, 1972; p. 242-282. (American translation of "An Open Letter to the Party" pp. 242–282)
• Solidarność, the missing link: a new edition of Poland's classic revolutionary socialist manifesto: Kuron and Modzelewski's open letter to the Party. London: Bookmarks, 1982. (British translation with useful introduction by Colin Barker.)

Further reading

• Frankel, Benjamin. The Cold War 1945-1991. Vol. 2, Leaders and other important figures in the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, China and the Third World (1992) pp 189–90.
• Lepak, Keith John. Prelude to solidarity: Poland and the politics of the Gierek Regime (Columbia University Press, 1988).

External links

• (in Polish) Official website
• Jacek Kuroń tells his life story at Web of Stories (video)
• “Obituary: Jacek Kuron.” Andy Zebrowski, Socialist Review, July 2004.
• “Jacek Kuron, of Solidarity, Dies at 70.” Michael T. Kaufman, New York Times, June 18, 2004.
• Jacek Kuroń: Ties with Culture