Krzysztof Kamil Gawkowski (born 11 April 1980) is a Polish politician, political scientist and writer. Member of the

Sejm The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...

for the 9th and 10th parliamentary term, chairman of The Left's parliamentary club (2019-2023), vice-chairman of

New Left The New Left was a broad political movement that emerged from the counterculture of the 1960s and continued through the 1970s. It consisted of activists in the Western world who, in reaction to the era's liberal establishment, campaigned for freer ...

(from 2021), from 2023 Deputy Prime Minister of Poland and Minister of Digital Affairs in Donald Tusk's third cabinet.

Early life and education

Gawkowski grew up in Wołomin, Poland. He graduated from a railway technical school. Early in his career, he worked at Jarmark Europa in Warsaw before running his own advertising company. He pursued legal studies at the

University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw (, ) is a public university, public research university in Warsaw, Poland. Established on November 19, 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country, offering 37 different fields of study as well ...

, though he did not complete the program. In 2006, he earned a master’s degree in political science from the Higher School of Communication and Social Media in Warsaw. Between 2007 and 2008, he served as an academic instructor, teaching administrative law at the Higher School of Security and Protection in Warsaw. In 2011, he was awarded a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

degree in political science by the Aleksander Gieysztor Academy of Humanities in Pułtusk. His doctoral thesis, titled ''Electoral Law for Local Self-Government in the Third Republic of Poland Against the European Background'', was supervised by

Leszek Moczulski Robert Leszek Moczulski (, 7 June 1930 – 10 October 2024) was a Polish historian and politician, a member of various organizations, first supporting then supposedly opposing the communist regime in the People's Republic of Poland while divid ...

. Following this, he joined the faculty of the Helena Chodkowska University of Technology and Commerce in Warsaw as an

assistant professor Assistant professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States, Canada, Japan, and South Korea. Overview This position is generally taken after earning a doct ...

. He declares he is a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Politics

As a teenager in the 1990s he was a member of the Young Social Democrats Federation., and at 20, he joined the social-democratic

Democratic Left Alliance Democratic Left Alliance may refer to: * Democratic Left Alliance (Poland) The Democratic Left Alliance () was a social democracy, social-democratic list of political parties in Poland, political party in Poland. It was formed on 9 July 1991 as ...

(SLD), then one of the largest parties in Poland. In 2002 and 2004 he was a councillor in the town of Wołomin, near Warsaw. At the 2010 Polish local elections he was elected at the Masovian Regional Assembly for SLD. The next year he was a candidate for Parliament (

). In 2016 he was appointed as co-leader of the Democratic Left Alliance. However, after almost twenty years he gave up his affiliation with the Alliance. In 2019, Gawkowski started to cooperate with

Robert Biedroń Robert Biedroń (; born 13 April 1976) is a Polish politician, former mayor of Słupsk, and LGBT activist who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament since 2019. He is the Chair of the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equal ...

who headed the newly founded left-wing party Spring. In May he was a candidate to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

on the Spring list but was not one of the 3 left-wing candidates elected. However, in October of the same year, he was a candidate to the

for the Bydgoszcz constituency in the North-West in the joint electoral alliance The Left between Spring and the SLD, and was elected ( see List of 9th term Sejm MPs). He was appointed Leader of the parliamentary club dominated by a majority of SLD MPs, thereby more or less returning to the tent of his old party. In 2021 Spring and SLD merged into the new party

. In the 2023 parliamentary elections he successfully ran for re-election after he received 21,831 votes. As the two leaders of the party,

Włodzimierz Czarzasty Włodzimierz Czarzasty (born 3 May 1960) is a Polish politician who serves as the co-chairperson of the New Left (Poland), New Left party (). He has been serving as a Deputy Marshal of the Sejm since 12 November 2019. Biography Born in Warsaw, ...

and Robert Biedroń, served as Deputy Marshal of the Sejm and European Parliament member, Gawkowski was appointed on 13 December 2023 as

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a Minister (government), government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to th ...

and Minister of Digital Affairs by

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Donald Tusk Donald Franciszek Tusk (born 22 April 1957) is a Polish politician and historian who has served as the prime minister of Poland since 2023, previously holding the office from 2007 to 2014. Tusk served as the president of the European Council (20 ...

, representing the highest position for his party in Tusk's government.

Writer

He has written a few poetic and academic books.

Poetry

* "Cień Przeszłości", Warszawska Firma Wydawnicza, Warszawa 2018, * "Piętno prawdy", Warszawska Firma Wydawnicza, Warszawa 2010,

Academic books

* "Obudzić państwo", Warszawska Firma Wydawnicza, Warszawa 2015, * "Cyberkolonializm", Helion, Gliwice 2018, * "Administracja samorządowa w teorii i praktyce", Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek, Toruń 2017,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gawkowski, Krzysztof Spring (political party) 1980 births Democratic Left Alliance politicians Living people People from Wołomin Members of the Polish Sejm 2019–2023 Polish Roman Catholics New Left (Poland) politicians Members of the Polish Sejm 2023–2027 Politicians from Warsaw