Poland's last communist prime minister, rejected by voters in the 1989 election
At the Gdańsk shipyard in 1983, surrounded by Solidarity workers, when Wałęsa said 'Let's talk as Pole to Pole,' Rakowski replied: 'Let's talk as doctor to doctor.'
A reformist politician of the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR) and editor-in-chief of the weekly Polityka for 24 years, he was one of Poland's most visible communist intellectuals. Becoming prime minister in October 1988, he pushed through the Round Table talks and market-oriented economic reforms (the Wilczek Law), but on 4 June 1989 he stood on the uncontested National List and still fell short of the 50% threshold, a defeat that became the symbol of the regime's collapse. After the electoral debacle he served as the PZPR's last First Secretary and presided over the party's dissolution in January 1990.
Career Timeline
- 1958Editor-in-chief of Polityka
- 1972–1989Member of the Sejm
- 1981–1985Deputy prime minister in Jaruzelski cabinet
- 1988–1989Prime Minister of the Polish People's Republic
- 1989Defeated on National List in 4 June election
- 1989–1990Last First Secretary of the PZPR, presides over dissolution
- 1990–2008Editor of Dzis monthly, writes memoirs
Related historical events
- 1980–1981Solidarity and Martial Law in PolandGovernment negotiatorAfter the Bydgoszcz crisis, he negotiated with Wałęsa and produced the 30 March Warsaw Accord, withdrawing the general strike in return for government promises of an inquiry and television coverage.
- 1989The Revolutions of 1989failed candidate on the National ListRunning on the National List as a reformist prime minister, he failed to secure 50 percent of the vote in the 4 June 1989 election, becoming a symbol of the regime's electoral humiliation.