Mieczysław Jagielski

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Mieczysław Jagielski
Member of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers Party
In office
March 1959 – July 1981
Prime MinisterJózef Cyrankiewicz, Piotr Jaroszewicz, Edward Babiuch, Józef Pińkowski, Wojciech Jaruzelski
Deputy to the Sejm
In office
20 February 1957 – 31 August 1985
Prime MinisterJózef Cyrankiewicz, Piotr Jaroszewicz, Edward Babiuch, Józef Pińkowski, Wojciech Jaruzelski
Personal details
Born12 January 1924
Polish United Workers Party
OccupationPolitician
Economist

Mieczysław Zygmunt Jagielski (12 January 1924 – 27 February 1997) was a Polish politician and economist. During the times of the

People's Republic of Poland he was the last leading politician from the former eastern regions of pre-Second World War Poland.[1]

Jagielski became a communist deputy to the legislative body of Poland, the

heart attack
at the age of 73.

Early political career

Jagielski was born to a

Main School of Planning and Statistics as well as in the Instytut Kształcenia Kadr Naukowych (Institute of Preparing Science Cadres), the latter being a graduate school preparing people for prominent positions in the Polish communist party structures.[3]

Jagielski signed up to the

Central Committee of the Polish United Workers Party, a position he would hold until December 1956.[3]

In March 1954, he became a deputy to a member of the

Central Committee of the Polish United Workers Party (he was previously a deputy to a full member).[3] In June 1964, he became a deputy to a member of the Politburo of the Polish United Workers' Party and would hold that position until December 1971.[3]

Jagielski was also an

Main School of Planning and Statistics in Warsaw.[4][5]

Deputy Prime Minister

Photograph of President Gerald Ford Meeting with Edward Gierek, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR), in the Oval Office. Deputy Prime Minister Mieczyslaw Jagielski, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Polish People's Republic Stefan Olszowski, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, National Security Advisor Lt. Gen. Brent Scowcroft, and interpreter Henryk Sokalski.

In June 1970, Jagielski was appointed as a

heart attack.[1] From 1971 to 1981 he was the Polish representative in the Comecon.[3] In February 1981 he became the president of the Economy Committee at the Council of Ministers.[3]

He is described as having a "profound influence"[1] on Poland's economic policies between 1971 and 1975, when he lost his position as Chairman of the Planning Committee.[1] On 1 July 1980, the Polish government announced price increases, which led to many workers striking in several Polish cities, including Lublin.[6] As a result of the strike in Lublin, the city was "virtually shut down",[6] and Jagielski led a delegation to the city which was able to ease tension there.[6]

Gdańsk negotiations

Gdańsk agreement. Norman Davies contends that Jagielski "in the end realised that only two alternatives remained [to a general government victory in the negotiations]-either agreement on the strikers' terms or an immediate resort to force for which the government was not prepared."[9] The agreement, as well as giving the workers of the Lenin Shipyard the right to strike, also allowed them to form their own independent trade union.[10] Jagielski said of the negotiations that led to the agreement, "We have spoken as Poles to Poles...There are no winners and losers. The important thing here is that we have understood each other and the best guarantee for what we have done is hard work."[11] He was reported to have spoken eloquently.[11]

Nobody informed me of the scope of my competences. All I heard was: "Go and extinguish the social conflict. And as soon as possible because the situation is very serious". [...]

I remember the first encounter, the unfriendly shouts, the banging on the coach that brought us there. [...] I could feel that hostility. That was horrific. With acute

heart arrhythmia, I had to represent the authorities with dignity.[12]

– Jagielski recalls how he felt at one point during 23 August 1980, about the strikers at Gdańsk, and the task he had of negotiating with them.

After the Gdańsk negotiations

In October 1980, he interacted with a delegation of

Third Republic of Poland.[13] When Wałęsa complained that the Polish government was not keeping to its promise of allowing the independent labour movement enough of an opportunity to publicize itself, Jagielski indicated that he would try to give the movement better access to the Polish press, and to the Polish radio network.[13] Jagielski led a delegation that went to a meeting in Moscow of Comecon, the Eastern Bloc economic community, during January 1981.[14] That month, the government declared that the poor economy was forcing it to cut back on its promise of ensuring that Polish workers did not have to work on Saturdays, and that it would offer a number of Saturdays as work-free instead.[15]

Unrest grew among Polish workers over the government's decision, and Jagielski negotiated with Wałęsa for six hours in the building of the Council of Ministers regarding the Saturday issue.

$3 billion debt to the US.[16]

On 10 June as a member of the Politburo of the Polish United Workers' Party, Jagielski offered to other members of that group to terminate his position within the Politburo, and his position as Deputy Prime Minister, stating "I submit my resignation as a member of the PB (Politburo), especially since I had a certain incident in my life. I also submit my resignation as vice premier (Deputy Prime Minister)."[17] It seems his offer was rebuffed, and the incident in his life that he spoke of may have been a heart attack he had recently suffered.[17] On 31 July 1981, Jagielski was fired from his position as Deputy Prime Minister, reportedly because he failed to produce a recovery program for the economic crisis Poland was experiencing at the time.[18]

Later life and death

In July 1981, Jagielski lost his memberships in the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers Party, the Politburo of the Polish United Workers and the Economic Committee.[3][4] He remained a deputy to the Sejm until 1985. He died on the night of 27 February 1997, from a heart attack in his home,[19] in Warsaw, Poland, at the age of 73.[20] After Jagielski's death, Lech Wałęsa described him as a "sensitive man who always listened to arguments",[20] and said that Jagielski differed in that respect from other Polish politicians in 1980.[20]

Awards

He received the Order of the Builders of People's Poland (Order Budowniczych Polski Ludowej),[3] the highest civil decoration of the People's Republic of Poland.[21][22]

Bibliography

  • Jagielski, Mieczysław (1957) O nowej polityce partii na wsi [On the new party's politic in the villages].[5]
  • Jagielski, Mieczysław (1965). Niektóre problemy rozwoju rolnictwa w latach 1966-1970 [Selected problems of agricultural development in the years 1966-1970].[5]

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c d "Dec 1975 - B. POLAND". Keesing's Record of World Events. December 1975. Retrieved 2008-11-22.
  2. ^ "Mieczyslaw Jagielski". The Washington Post. 1997-03-03. Retrieved 2008-11-19.
  3. ^
    ISBN 83-01-10386-8
    .
  4. ^ a b c d e "Jagielski Mieczysław" (in Polish). PWN Encyklopedia. Retrieved 2008-11-19.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g "Jagielski Mieczysław" (in Polish). WIEM Encyklopedia. Retrieved 2008-11-19.
  6. ^
    ISBN 0-313-30571-4
    .
  7. ISBN 0-275-96219-9
    .
  8. ISBN 0-275-96219-9
    .
  9. ISBN 0-19-925340-4
    .
  10. ISBN 0-275-96219-9
    .
  11. ^
    ISBN 0-275-96219-9
    .
  12. ^ "Daily Liberty number 10". The Solidarity Phenomenon. Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 2005. Archived from the original on 2011-07-23. Retrieved 2008-11-22.
  13. ^
    Time Magazine. 1980-10-06. Archived from the original
    on October 26, 2012. Retrieved 2008-11-19.
  14. ^ "Poles demand top-level talks". The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. 1981-01-13. Retrieved 2008-11-20.
  15. ^ a b c d e f Kalb, Barry; Sara C. Medina (1981-01-19). "Furor over a Five-Day Week". Time Magazine. Archived from the original on October 26, 2012. Retrieved 2008-11-22.
  16. ^ a b c "Urgent Need: An Economic Bailout". Time Magazine. 1981-04-13. Archived from the original on October 15, 2010. Retrieved 2008-11-22.
  17. ^
    ISBN 978-963-7326-84-4
    .
  18. Time Magazine. Archived from the original
    on October 26, 2012. Retrieved 2008-11-19.
  19. ^ "Mieczyslaw Jagielski, Polish leader". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 1997-03-01. Retrieved 2008-11-22.[dead link]
  20. ^ a b c "Other Deaths". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 1997-03-06. Retrieved 2008-11-19.
  21. ^ (in Polish) Budowniczych Polski Ludowej, Order, Encyklopedia PWN, retrieved on 20 November 2008
  22. ^ (in Polish) ORDER BUDOWNICZYCH POLSKI LUDOWEJ, Encyklopedia Internautica, retrieved on 20 November 2008

Further reading

  • (in Polish) "Czułem tę wrogość" [I could feel that hostility] - interview with Mieczysław Jagielski in Gazeta Wyborcza, 30 August 1995
  • (in Polish) Maciej Sandecki, "Mieczysław Jagielski: Musimy wyrazić zgodę" [Mieczysław Jagielski: We have to agree] - article about Jagielski in Gazeta Wyborcza, 30 July 2005

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