Jacek Kuroń

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Jacek Jan Kuroń (b. March 3, 1934 in Lwów - June 17, 2004, Warsaw, Poland) was a Polish historian, dissident and opposition leader with the Solidarity movement. During his political career he was well known for his sensitivity to social issues.

Jacek Kuroń's first contact with politics began in 1949 when he joined the Polish Youth Union (ZMP), a youth organisation closely affiliated with the Polish United Workers Party (PZPR). In 1952 he started working as a Scoutmaster in the Scouting section of this association. He became president of the Warsaw University of Technology's ZMP affiliate in 1953, but was quickly expelled from both the ZMP and PZPR for openly criticising the ZMP's ideology.

After graduating from Warsaw University with a degree in history in 1957, Kuroń worked in the Polish Scouting Association, the Związek Harcerstwa Polskiego (ZHP) until 1964. In 1965 he was sentenced to three years in prison for publishing fifteen copies of his Open Letter to the Party (with Karol Modzelewski). Released in 1967, he was again arrested and sentenced to three and a half years in jail in 1968 for organizing a student strike during the so-called "March events".

In 1975 he helped organize protests against including a mention of the special relationship with the Soviet Union in a new revision of the Polish Constitution. He was one of the founders of Worker's Defense Committee in 1976.

Kuroń served as an aide to the Solidarity trade union in the summer of 1980. After Wojciech Jaruzelski imposed martial law on December 13, 1981 Kuroń, along with other dissidents, was interned. In 1982 Kuroń was once again sentenced to four years in prison for an alleged attempt to overturn the regime. He was released under an amnesty in 1984.

Grave of Jacek Kuroń in Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw

In 1989 Kuroń took part in the Round Table talks that led to the peaceful end of Communist rule in Poland. During 1989-1990 and 1992-1993 he served as Minister for Social Welfare. In 1995 he ran for president but received a small fraction of the vote.

Kuroń was awarded the Order of the White Eagle and the Légion d'honneur. He died, after a long illness, in 2004.

Jacek Kuroń was famous for his disdain for social rules. He always wore jeans and a casual jacket, even at official ministerial functions, or when he was decorated with honors. He was equally fearless about speaking his mind. When supporting the Unia Wolności Party in the 1997 elections, he said in a televised advertisement for the party: "If we crap ourselves now, we'll wind up with shit" (Jeśli się teraz zesramy, to będzie gówno). Kuroń never had a driver's license.

Such traits won him the affection of many Poles, and until his retirement from politics and for some years after he consistently led polls as Poland's most trusted politician. He was called "our man in politics".

The Polish unemployment benefit is colloquially referred to by Poles as the kuroniówka (literally "Kuroń's soup") in tribute to Jacek Kuroń's legacy as Minister for Social Welfare.