Daniel Tomasz Podrzycki (; 14 June 1963 – 24 September 2005) was a Polish socialist politician. Podrzycki was born in

Siemianowice Śląskie Siemianowice Śląskie (; ; ) also known as Siemianowice is a city in Upper Silesia in southern Poland, near Katowice, in the core of the Metropolis GZM - a metropolis with a population of 2 million people and is located in the Silesian Highlands, ...

. His career began from participation in the activity of illegal students' circles of

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

, which appeared at the end of the Seventies and were oriented at the beginning on the diccident Committee on Defending the Workers (Komitet Obrony Robotnikow) and later on the forbidden in 1981 independent trade-union movement "

Solidarity Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics ...

" (Solidarność). Because his actively participation in this and several such organizations, Podrzycki was arrested twice by the secret police and condemned for anti-governmental activity. In 1993 Podrzycki, together with several of his nearest colleagues established and headed the independent Free Working Union " August - 80" (Wolny Zwiazek Zawodowy "Sierpien-80"). In 1993-1994 Podrzycki for the first time famous all over

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

having organized a series of massive strikes on several large industrial facilities in Southeastern area of the country. In 1997-1999 the actions WZZ " August - 80" became even more radical. Under Podrzycki's initiative pickets, demonstrations, hunger strikes, captures of administrative buildings of industrial sphere were arranged. On the threshold of

2001 Polish parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 23 September 2001. All 460 members of the Sejm and 100 senators of the Senate were elected. The election concluded with an overwhelming victory for the centre-left Democratic Left Alliance – Labor ...

, Podrzycki, leaning on the WZZ " August - 80" infrastructure, established and headed the Movement of Public Alternative (Ruch Spoleczny Alternatywa – RSA). After the failure on

, decided to abandon the discredited brand. As a result, the RSA disappeared, and instead of it a "new" political structure with a much-promising title Alternative - Labour Party (Alternatywa - Partia Pracy, APP). However, Podrzycki again suffers failure in municipal elections and in the elections to the European Parliament. As a consequence, a year before the

2005 Polish parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 25 September 2005. All 460 members of the Sejm and 100 senators of the Senate were elected. The election resulted in a sweeping victory for two opposition parties: the right-wing, national-conservati ...

, he again replaced the name of the party to the one under which it exists till now - the

Polish Labour Party The Polish Labour Party - August 80 ''(, PPP)'' was a minor left-wing to far-left political party in Poland, describing itself as socialist. It was created on 11 November 2001 as the Alternative – Labour Party () and acquired its new name of P ...

(Polska Partia Pracy – PPP). In July 2005, Podrzycki initiated associations of various political forces of the left orientation for participation in the parliamentary elections as the united bloc. On 24 September 2005, Podrzycki died in a car crash in

Sosnowiec Sosnowiec is an industrial city county in the Dąbrowa Basin of southern Poland, in the Silesian Voivodeship, which is also part of the Metropolis GZM municipal association.—— Located in the eastern part of the Upper Silesian Industrial Re ...

, southern

, one day before the parliamentary elections and two weeks before the presidential election where he was a candidate.

Political positions

Podrzycki opposed

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

and the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

. He advocated pulling Polish soldiers out of

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

, free access to

abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

, abolishment of

conscription Conscription, also known as the draft in the United States and Israel, is the practice in which the compulsory enlistment in a national service, mainly a military service, is enforced by law. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it conti ...

, 35-hour work week and

Minimum Wage A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. List of countries by minimum wage, Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation b ...

at the level of 68% of national average. Podrzycki was also a strong advocate of

separation of church and state The separation of church and state is a philosophical and Jurisprudence, jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the State (polity), state. Conceptually, the term refers to ...

, so he supported the dissolution of the

Concordat A concordat () is a convention between the Holy See and a sovereign state that defines the relationship between the Catholic Church and the state in matters that concern both,René Metz, ''What is Canon Law?'' (New York: Hawthorn Books, 1960 [1 ...

External links

Official web site of Daniel Podrzycki

Daniel Podrzycki – The Road to Death of the Presidential Candidate
{{DEFAULTSORT:Podrzycki, Tomasz 1963 births 2005 deaths People from Siemianowice Śląskie Polish Labour Party - August 80 politicians Candidates in the 2005 Polish presidential election Polish dissidents Road incident deaths in Poland