Mieczysà Âaw Franciszek Rakowski (Polish: ; 1 December 1926 â 8 November 2008) was a Polish communist politician, historian and journalist who was Prime Minister of Poland from 1988 to 1989. He served as the seventh and final First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party from 1989 to 1990.
Rakowski was born in a peasant family and operated a lathe as a teenager. He served as an officer in the Polish People's Army from 1945 to 1949. He began his political career in 1946 as a member of the Polish Workers' Party, and from 1948 to 1990 he was a member of the communist Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR), serving on its Central Committee from 1975 to 1990. From 1972 to 1989, he served continuously as a member of the Sejm of the Polish People's Republic. In the 9th term of the Sejm, he served as Deputy Speaker until June 17, 1988.
He received a doctorate in history from Warsaw's Institute for Social Sciences in 1956. Rakowski was also known as one of the founders and, from 1958 to 1982, first deputy and then chief editor of the weekly newspaper Polityka, one of the most influential publications at the time (Polityka continues to exist and is regarded by many as the most prestigious weekly in Poland). Today some people still remember him as a journalist and editor rather than a politician.
Rakowski served as the second-to-last communist Prime Minister of Poland from September 1988 to August 1989 (Czesà Âaw Kiszczak then served less than a month as the last Communist to hold the post, before the accession of Tadeusz Mazowiecki). He was the last First Secretary of the PZPR from July 1989 to January 1990. However, he was not, unlike his predecessors, the de facto leader of the country; the PZPR had given up its monopoly on power in early 1989.
Rakowski was involved in the Communist government during suppression of the Solidarity movement. He also played a part in the Polish transformation from state socialism to market capitalism, as his Communist-led government was forced to reform and he was one of the key players in the Polish Round Table Agreements.
Since then, Rakowski withdrew from active political life, but participated in public debates â he was the editor-in-chief of the magazine " Today ", wrote for " Trybuna " à, published diaries (10 volumes covering the years 1958âÂÂ1989), as well as a diary from 1991âÂÂ2006 ( Polski Skà Âadniec ). From 2003 to 2004, he hosted his own talk show on TVP3 , to which he invited well-known figures from the communist era.
He was a member of WÃ Âodzimierz Cimoszewicz's electoral committee in the 2005 presidential elections .
He was a lecturer at the University of Humanities and Economics in à Âódà º . He died on 8 November 2008 from cancer in Warsaw at the age of 81. He was buried at the Powàzki Military Cemetery in Warsaw.
Prior to becoming prime minister, he had been divorced from the violinist Wanda Wià Âkomirska, with whom he had two sons.àIn 1986, he married actress Elà ¼bieta KÃÂpià Âska. He remained with her until his death in 2008. He was fluent in Russian, German and English, alongside Polish.