Zbigniew Messner
Zbigniew Messner | |
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Prime Minister of the People's Republic of Poland 9th Premier of Communist Poland | |
In office 6 November 1985 – 27 September 1988 | |
Preceded by | Wojciech Jaruzelski |
Succeeded by | Mieczysław Rakowski |
Personal details | |
Born |
Zbigniew Stefan Messner 13 March 1929 Stryi, Stanisławów Voivodeship, Second Polish Republic |
Died |
10 January 2014 84) Warsaw, Poland | (aged
Political party | Polish United Workers' Party |
Profession | Economist |
Zbigniew Stefan Messner ['zbiɡɲɛf ˈmɛssnɛr]; 13 March 1929 – 10 January 2014) was a Communist economist and politician in Poland. His ancestors were of German Polish descent who had assimilated into Polish society. In 1972, he became Professor of Karol Adamiecki University of Economics in Katowice. He was a member of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party from 1981 to 1988, Deputy Prime Minister from 1983 to 1985, and Prime Minister from 1985 to 1988.
In 1988, Messner's cabinet received a motion of no confidence in the Sejm (Parliament) and had to transfer power to Mieczysław Rakowski. This was an unprecedented event in the Communist world, one of the strongest signs of democratic change brought by Mikhail Gorbachev. Alternatively, this change in cabinet could easily be viewed as one of many similar steps of internal reorganization conducted periodically by regimes in all Communist-dominated countries.
He died in Warsaw in 2014.[1]
References
Government offices | ||
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Preceded by Wojciech Jaruzelski |
Prime Minister of Poland 1985–1988 |
Succeeded by Mieczysław Rakowski |