A peasant leader who carried Rural Solidarity into pluralist politics
On 19 March 1981 in Bydgoszcz, he was beaten and taken to hospital during the crackdown on the farmers’ demand to legalize Rural Solidarity.
Roman Bartoszcze was a Polish farmer and opposition leader who carried the struggle to legalize an independent farmers' union into the agrarian politics of the post-communist era. He led the 1981 Bydgoszcz occupation that secured Rural Solidarity's registration and was interned under martial law, then became the first leader of the revived Polish People's Party and ran for president in 1990, before losing the party leadership in 1991 and founding a smaller conservative peasant party.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1969Chair of a local branch of the Union of Rural Youth
- 1980Leader in the Rural Solidarity movement
- 1981Leader of the national strike committee of Rural Solidarity
- 1981–1983Internee under martial law
- 1989Member of the Contract Sejm
- 1990First leader of the Polish People’s Party
- 1991Member of the first-term Sejm
Related historical events
The Bydgoszcz farmers’ occupation and repression
In March 1981, farmers in Bydgoszcz struck and occupied local authorities’ premises to demand the legalization of agricultural trade unions. Roman Bartoszcze was among those leading the farmers who occupied the building. At a meeting of the Provincial National Council on 19 March, farmers’ representatives were prevented from speaking; those present then occupied the hall, and militia entered that evening and forcibly removed the people still there. Bartoszcze and Solidarity activists including Jan Rulewski were injured and taken to hospital. The episode marked the collision between the demand to register an independent farmers’ union and the authorities’ use of force, in a struggle that involved cooperation between farmers and the urban Solidarity organization. Under martial law Bartoszcze was arrested and imprisoned for two months in connection with the Bydgoszcz events. After his release, he worked with the All-Poland Peasants Resistance Committee and edited the newspaper Żywią i bronią.