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 politician who linked the organization of an independent farmers’ union with the reshaping of agrarian politics after democratization. He led the 1981 occupation in Bydgoszcz demanding legal recognition for Rural Solidarity, and was beaten during the authorities’ crackdown on 19 March. Interned under martial law, he later carried a rural-based anti-communist opposition into parliament and the Polish People’s Party.
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