Jan Olszewski

Jan Olszewski a adăugat o fotografie

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Jan

Jan Ferdynand Olszewski (20 August 1930 – 7 February 2019) was a Polish conservative lawyer and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Poland for five months between December 1991 and early June 1992 and later became a leading figure of the conservative Movement for the Reconstruction of Poland. During his premiership, Olszewski's cabinet worked under new international conditions. At the end of December 1991, the Soviet Union was dissolved. This motivated the government to start integration with NATO and European Community. For the first time, in official documents, it was mentioned that membership in NATO is part of Polish defence strategy. Negotiations to withdraw Russian armies from Poland started at the end of October 1990, were accelerated. In March 1992, a period of confusion occurred when president Lech Wałęsa presented his conception of new economic and military alliance with former Warsaw Pact during his visit to Germany, which went against the euro Atlantic direction of the government. Olszewski’s government changed the concept of privatization of national corporations. Total stop of privatization led to open conflict with liberal groups in the parliament. On 22 May 1992, Olszewski opposed the signing of a clause in Polish-Russian Treaty of Friendly and…Citește mai mult

Jan Olszewski a adăugat o fotografie

acum 11 zile

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Jan

Early life and World War II Born in Warsaw on 20 August 1930, Olszewski originated from a working-class family employed in the railway industry who were strongly connected to the Polish Socialist Party. Olszewski was related to Stefan Aleksander Okrzeja, a Polish socialist nationalist from the turn of the 20th century who was executed by Russian authorities in 1905 for leading insurgent activities. Despite Olszewski's active preference to right-wing politics later in life, he considered himself sympathetic to socialist causes during his early formative years. During World War II, Olszewski was active in the Szare Szeregi (Grey Ranks), an underground part of the Polish Scouting Association. According to biographical information published at footnote five, Olszewski participated in the Warsaw Uprising in 1944.

Jan Olszewski a adăugat o fotografie

acum 11 zile

R.I.P
Jan

Communist era: 1954–1989 In the immediate post-war years, Olszewski graduated from secondary school in 1949, later going on to study law at the University of Warsaw, where he graduated in 1953. Afterwards, he became an employee of the Ministry of Justice and later worked at the Polish Academy of Sciences. In 1956, Olszewski joined the writing staff of the weekly Po prostu (Plain Speaking) magazine. As a journalist during the relatively open Polish October, Olszewski came into contact with PZPR First Secretary and de facto head of state Władysław Gomułka, whom he spent many hours interviewing and described having a trustful relationship with after many frank discussions regarding the state of affairs of Poland and the Eastern Bloc. In an article titled "Na spotkanie ludziom z AK" ("Reaching out to the Men of the Home Army") published in March 1956, Olszewski, along with journalists Jerzy Ambroziewicz and Walery Namiotkiewicz, called for the rehabilitation of former Armia Krajowa soldiers who faced persecution from communist authorities for anti-state activities. One of the first openly published articles of its kind to break the official silence on the Armia Krajowa, Olszewski argued that its veterans deserved a positive historical assessment in the struggle against…Citește mai mult

Jan Olszewski a adăugat o fotografie

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R.I.P
Jan

Post-Communist era: 1989–1991 With the fall of the communist regime in 1989, Olszewski was appointed as a member of the State Tribunal that year, a position he would hold until 1991. In 1990, Olszewski joined the conservative Centre Agreement, whose party membership composed primarily of Wałęsa supporters in that year's presidential election. Following the resignation of Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki in November 1990 after his first-round defeat in the presidential election, newly elected president Wałęsa sought a new prime minister. Initially, the president turned to Olszewski to take the position, though Olszewski quickly refused the post after numerous disagreements with Wałęsa over conditions the president placed on the prime minister's cabinet. Instead, Wałęsa turned to Jan Krzysztof Bielecki of the Liberal Democratic Congress to form a government. Bielecki's government lasted for the rest of 1991, collapsing in the aftermath of the inconclusive 1991 parliamentary elections. While Wałęsa appointed Bronisław Geremek as prime minister, an accord was signed by five centrist and rightist parties in the Sejm, including the Liberal Democratic Congress, the Christian National Union, the Peasants' Agreement, the Confederation of Independent Poland and the Center Civic Alliance list (whose Olszewski's Centre Agreement belonged to) to select the next premier.…Citește mai mult

Jan Olszewski a adăugat o fotografie

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Jan

Foreign and domestic policy Following the oath of office, Olszewski's government faced difficulties on many fronts. Previously, Olszewski had placed deep criticism on Finance Minister Leszek Balcerowicz from the previous two administrations and his controversial Balcerowicz Plan, vigorously opposing the minister's shock therapy program. Removing Balcerowicz from the cabinet, Olszewski selected Karol Lutowski, a known critic of shock therapy, as his replacement. With unemployment rising to 11.4 percent and the nation's gross domestic product declining by ten percent over the course of one year, the Olszewski government faced pressure to amend the unpopular economic plan. Despite his professed monetarist beliefs, Olszewski pushed for a package of reforms to loosen credit, ease earlier anti-inflation policies, reintroduce price supports for a number of agricultural products, and release more subsidies to the state sector of the Polish economy. Included in his industrial interventionist policy, the premier also proposed the unification of the nation's economic ministries to coordinate ongoing privatizations, as well as for all industrial and trade policies. When put to a vote, however, the deeply fragmented Sejm rejected Olszewski's reform packages, due to objections that the proposals were overly domineering or were too weak. Over the course of his government, the Sejm…Citește mai mult

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De-communization and the Parys affair The conflict between Olszewski and Wałęsa continued to escalate throughout 1992, culminating in a major political crisis by that summer. As premier, Olszewski portrayed himself and his government as staunchly anti-communist, arguing that in the year 1992, Poland continued to remain a communist country. Claiming that communist agents remained in all corridors of economic and political power, Olszewski argued for a purge, particularly of those in the economic sector, whom Olszewski believed were holding back Poland's new capitalist free market and kept workers bound. "The invisible hand [of the market]", Olszewski said, was "simply the hand of the swindler plundering funds from the state treasury". As such, Olszewski argued for increased democratization and de-communinization at all levels of Polish society. Olszewski's drive towards de-communization was also reflected in his cabinet. Jan Parys, Olszewski's defense minister, actively pursued efforts to de-communize the Polish Armed Forces and establish civilian ministerial control. These plans ran in conjunction with Wałęsa's efforts to stake executive control over the defense establishment. Parys and Wałęsa repeatedly clashed over plans to reorganize national security commands, with Parys effectively challenging Wałęsa's role as commander in chief by claiming ministerial rights over the armed forces.…Citește mai mult

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Clashes with Wałęsa The deepening chasm between both men began to interrupt foreign policy. As both men sought to assert control over the economy, the military, and international relations, particularly over-sensitive negotiations to withdraw Russian Army units from the country, Foreign Minister Krzysztof Skubiszewski admitted that by May 1992, "[i]t was difficult to conduct the foreign policy of an internally unstable country". The overlying reason for the clash between both men emanated from the fact that both the prime minister and the president believed their respective offices carried the prerogative to direct government policy, particularly in the defence, interior, and foreign ministries. As premier, Olszewski believed that his position, along with the collective Council of Ministers, held precedence in conducting the affairs of state. On the other side, President Wałęsa believed that as the chief executive and head of state he was ultimately responsible for the direction of the republic's affairs. The clash between both offices created a highly charged and disruptive political environment. Despite this instability, Skubiszewski continued to negotiate with his Russian counterparts on financial and business settlements in regards to the pullout of Russian Army units from the country. Skubiszewski's diplomatic efforts to reach a compromise with…Citește mai mult

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Dismissal By late May, Olszewski's fragile coalition faced collapse. Shortly after returning from Moscow from signing the cooperation treaty on 26 May 1992, Wałęsa formally asked the Sejm to withdraw its support from Olszewski's premiership, stating he had no faith in the government. The president cited the government's "irresponsible steps in foreign affairs" as part of his decision. Two days later on 28 May, with half of parliament's members absent, Sejm member Janusz Korwin-Mikke of the small conservative-libertarian Real Politics Union successfully pressed for and passed a motion requiring the Ministry of Interior to identify all of the republic's leading politicians who collaborated previously in the communist secret services. Despite the resolution, opposition parties, including the Democratic Union, the Liberal Democratic Congress and the Polish Economic Program (a split faction of the Polish Beer-Lovers' Party), moved to file a vote of no confidence. Responding to the lustration resolution six days later on 4 June, Interior Minister Antoni Macierewicz released to all parliamentary faction heads a secret list of 64 names of communist-era collaborators drawn from his ministry's archives. Known as the Macierewicz List, which was quickly leaked to the public, the roster included Wiesław Chrzanowski, the Marshal of the Sejm…Citește mai mult

Jan Olszewski a lăsat un gând

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Parliamentary career: 1992–2005 Following his dismissal, Olszewski resumed his career as a member of the Sejm. Olszewski departed from the Centre Agreement in the summer of 1992 with a number of other rebel MPs, creating the Movement for the Republic. The new party was joined by other anti-Wałęsa and former Solidarity supporters, carrying a quasi-nationalist and ultra-Catholic platform. As a parliamentarian, Olszewski led his club's opposition to the Small Constitution, believing it did not offer a clear break from the Stalinist constitution of 1956. Olszewski led his party to support the vote of no confidence against Prime Minister Hanna Suchocka in 1993, believing her economic policies had harmed the state. In the subsequent elections that year, Olszewski lost his seat as the electorate swung to the Democratic Left Alliance (led by Aleksander Kwaśniewski), despite a failed attempt to reunite rightist forces with the Centre Agreement, now headed by Jarosław Kaczyński. In 1995, Olszewski launched a bid for the presidency in that year's presidential election in order to replace his rival Wałęsa. Campaigning on an anti-communist and patriotic platform, Olszewski garnered 1,225,453 votes, with nearly seven percent of the vote and earned fourth place. However, both he and Wałęsa lost to…Citește mai mult

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Personal life and death Olszewski was married to Marta Olszewska, a former activist, editor and journalist of Tygodnik Solidarność. On the night of 16 August 2000, Olszewski was involved in a deadly car crash on national road 8 near the village of Marków-Towarzystwo in Masovian Voivodeship, when the car Olszewski was a passenger in collided with a truck. The driver of the car (Olszewski's party treasurer) was killed in the crash, while Olszewski escaped with only minor injuries. In July 2014, Olszewski was made an honorary citizen of Warsaw by Mayor Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz for his participation in the Warsaw Uprising as well as citing his moral and social authority in service of the city. Olszewski died after a long illness on 7 February 2019 in a Warsaw hospital.

Jan Olszewski a lăsat un gând

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Legacy Olszewski remains a controversial figure within Polish politics. Members of the right-wing, particularly Law and Justice leader Jarosław Kaczyński, have praised the former premier for his anti-communist stances and legal principles. On the twentieth anniversary of the Olszewski government's vote of no confidence in 2012, Kaczyński praised Olszewski for attempting to stop the rapid privatizations of the early 1990s, and having helped steer Poland towards its eventual integration into NATO. Former Interior Minister Antoni Macierewicz also affirmed his personal belief in 2012 that had the Olszewski government not fallen, "the Smolensk disaster would never have transpired". Politicians on the centre-right have viewed Olszewski more critically. Christian National Union politician Stefan Niesiołowski strongly defended Olszewski during his vote of no confidence in 1992, declaring to the premier's detractors that "you're making a political mistake and Poland won't forget this error". In an interview in 2007, Niesiołowski (now a Civic Platform parliamentarian) regretted his defense of the former prime minister in hindsight, describing Olszewski as "being a poor man who supported a moral lie" with the Macierewicz List, "and was still silent". Prime Minister Donald Tusk similarly accused Olszewski of misleading information in 2008 during a non-governmental investigation into communist era…Citește mai mult

Jan Olszewski a lăsat un gând

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Works cited Betz, David (2004). Civil-Military Relations in Russia and Eastern Europe. London: RoutledgeCurzon. ISBN 0415648866. Brown, J. F., ed. (1996). The Omri Annual Survey of Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union, 1996: Forging Ahead, Falling Behind. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 1563249251. Bugajski, Janusz (1994). Ethnic Politics in Eastern Europe: A Guide to Nationality Policies, Organizations and Parties. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 1563242826. Cannon, Lucja Swiatkowski (1997). "Polish Transition Strategy.". In Jane Shapiro Zacek; Ilpyong J. Kim (eds.). Legacy of the Soviet Bloc. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida. ISBN 0813014751. Epstein, Rachel (2008). In Pursuit of Liberalism: International Institutions in Postcommunist Europe. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 9780801889776. Goldman, Minton F. (1997). Revolution and Change in Central and Eastern Europe: Political, Economic, and Social Challenges. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 1563247585. Gorska, Joanna A. (2000). Dealing with a Juggernaut: Analyzing Poland's Policy toward Russia, 1989–2009. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. ISBN 0739145320. Jeffries, Ian (1993). Socialist Economies and the Transition to the Market: A Guide. London: Routledge. ISBN 0415075807. Laba, Roman (1991). The Roots of Solidarity: A Political Sociology of Poland's Working-Class Democratization. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0691078629. Lipski, Jan Józef (1985). KOR: A…Citește mai mult