Polish dissident, politician and journalist. An honest man who changed Poland, he was a colorful figure among the leaders of Poland's Solidarity movement wearing denim, regardless of the occasion, and a heavy smoker with a raspy voice. He was known as the godfather of Solidarity who, with Lech Walesa, helped spawn the events of August 1980 leading to widespread strikes and communism's collapse. Born in Lvov, eastern Poland (now Ukraine), he was a secular Jew in Catholic Poland who grew up a true believer in communism outraged by the injustices of People's Poland. In 1964, he and Karol Modzelewski published a stong critique of the ruling Communist Party for which he was jailed for three years; four years later, he stood with student protesters against a government anti-Semitic purge. In 1976 he formed the Committee to Defend Workers (KOR), to support strikers, which was the precursor to Solidarity. Kuroñ possessed the experience and adeptness, critical in 1980 and again, nine years later, when communism collapsed in Poland. After the systemic change of 1989, Kuroñ became a Sejm deputy and remained in the parliament for 12 years. Poland's favorite minister of labor and social policy in two governments--in the first non-communist government of Tadeusz Mazowiecki from 1989 to 1990 and later in the government of Hanna Suchocka from 1992 to 1993. Kuroñ remained an unapologetic leftist. Eventually different people were called on to build the new Poland, and he moved out of public life with his life's work was behind him. He died after a long battle with cancer. Burial with full governmental and popular recognition in Powazki Cemetery, Wasaw, Poland, on June 27, 2004.
Polish dissident, politician and journalist. An honest man who changed Poland, he was a colorful figure among the leaders of Poland's Solidarity movement wearing denim, regardless of the occasion, and a heavy smoker with a raspy voice. He was known as the godfather of Solidarity who, with Lech Walesa, helped spawn the events of August 1980 leading to widespread strikes and communism's collapse. Born in Lvov, eastern Poland (now Ukraine), he was a secular Jew in Catholic Poland who grew up a true believer in communism outraged by the injustices of People's Poland. In 1964, he and Karol Modzelewski published a stong critique of the ruling Communist Party for which he was jailed for three years; four years later, he stood with student protesters against a government anti-Semitic purge. In 1976 he formed the Committee to Defend Workers (KOR), to support strikers, which was the precursor to Solidarity. Kuroñ possessed the experience and adeptness, critical in 1980 and again, nine years later, when communism collapsed in Poland. After the systemic change of 1989, Kuroñ became a Sejm deputy and remained in the parliament for 12 years. Poland's favorite minister of labor and social policy in two governments--in the first non-communist government of Tadeusz Mazowiecki from 1989 to 1990 and later in the government of Hanna Suchocka from 1992 to 1993. Kuroñ remained an unapologetic leftist. Eventually different people were called on to build the new Poland, and he moved out of public life with his life's work was behind him. He died after a long battle with cancer. Burial with full governmental and popular recognition in Powazki Cemetery, Wasaw, Poland, on June 27, 2004.
Bio by: Fred Beisser
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