Robert Leszek Moczulski (, born 7 June 1930) is 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
The Polish People's Republic ( pl, Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa, PRL) was a country in Central Europe that existed from 1947 to 1989 as the predecessor of the modern Republic of Poland. With a population of approximately 37.9 million ne ...
while dividing the opposition movement.
Leszek Moczulski was born on 7 June 1930 in
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is official ...
. Shortly after the war and the Communist take-over of power in Poland, Moczulski became involved in various communist organizations. In 1947 he became a member of the
Association of Fighting Youth and the following year he became the member of the
Polish Workers' Party
The Polish Workers' Party ( pl, Polska Partia Robotnicza, PPR) was a communist party in Poland from 1942 to 1948. It was founded as a reconstitution of the Communist Party of Poland (KPP) and merged with the Polish Socialist Party (PPS) in 1948 ...
and the
ZMP youth organization. Then since 1950 young Moczulski was a member of the
Polish United Workers' Party
The Polish United Workers' Party ( pl, Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza; ), commonly abbreviated to PZPR, was the communist party which ruled the Polish People's Republic as a one-party state from 1948 to 1989. The PZPR had led two other lega ...
(PUWP).
In 1951 he graduated from the ''Academy of Political Studies'', a school of cadres for the communist regime. The following year he graduated also from the faculties of Law and Journalism at the
Warsaw University
The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields ...
.
[Leszek Moczulski, Zyciorys, Biography at Ksiazki.wp.pl]
He completed his education in 1958 by graduating from the faculty of history at the same university.
[ About that time he started to work as a journalist for various Warsaw-based newspapers and weeklies, among them the '']Życie Warszawy
''Życie Warszawy'' (meaning ''Life of Warsaw'' in English) is a Polish language newspaper published in Warsaw.
History and profile
''Życie Warszawy'' was founded in 1944 as an initiative of Polish Workers' Party. The paper is published by Grem ...
'', '' Dookoła Świata'' and '' Stolica'' weekly. As a historian, Moczulski focused mostly on modern history of Poland, including the history of the Polish Defensive War.[
Initially, according to the Polish ]lustration
Lustration is the purge of government officials in Central and Eastern Europe. Various forms of lustration were employed in post-communist Europe.
Etymology
Lustration in general is the process of making something clear or pure, usually by ...
court, a secret informer of the '' Służba Bezpieczeństwa'' secret political police,[ in late 1970s Moczulski most probably broke up (or just the opposite) with the regime and started working for various anti-communist associations. He was one of the inspirers of the creation and the spokesperson of the Movement for Defense of Human and Civic Rights.][ Conflicted with the rest of the members, he tried to break it up by forming a ZINO faction, which was however unsuccessful. Finally, on 1 September 1979 Moczulski announced the creation of the Confederation of Independent Poland.][
As a politician, Moczulski referred to the rightist wing of the pre-war ]Sanacja
Sanation ( pl, Sanacja, ) was a Polish political movement that was created in the interwar period, prior to Józef Piłsudski's May 1926 ''Coup d'État'', and came to power in the wake of that coup. In 1928 its political activists would go on ...
and the supporters of Józef Piłsudski
), Vilna Governorate, Russian Empire (now Lithuania)
, death_date =
, death_place = Warsaw, Poland
, constituency =
, party = None (formerly PPS)
, spouse =
, children = Wa ...
. In his political works he focused mostly on economical aspect of the possible transformation of Communist planned economy
A planned economy is a type of economic system where investment, production and the allocation of capital goods takes place according to economy-wide economic plans and production plans. A planned economy may use centralized, decentralized, pa ...
into free market
In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any o ...
economy. Among the most notable of his actions of the 1980s was a memorandum
A memorandum ( : memoranda; abbr: memo; from the Latin ''memorandum'', "(that) which is to be remembered") is a written message that is typically used in a professional setting. Commonly abbreviated "memo," these messages are usually brief an ...
of February 1985, in which he urged the governments of United Kingdom and the United States to fulfill the promises of the Yalta Conference
The Yalta Conference (codenamed Argonaut), also known as the Crimea Conference, held 4–11 February 1945, was the World War II meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union to discuss the po ...
of 1945 and organise free elections in Poland. For such actions, Moczulski was arrested several times and held in prisons as a political prisoner
A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention.
There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although n ...
.[
After the Round Table Talks and the peaceful transfer of power from the communist regime to the democratic authorities, Moczulski distanced himself from the agreement and openly criticised the idea of '' gruba kreska'', instead supporting an idea of ]decommunization
Decommunization is the process of dismantling the legacies of communist state establishments, culture, and psychology in the post-communist countries. It is sometimes referred to as political cleansing. Although the term has been occasionally ...
, a concept coined after the post-World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
de-nazification
Denazification (german: link=yes, Entnazifizierung) was an Allied initiative to rid German and Austrian society, culture, press, economy, judiciary, and politics of the Nazi ideology following the Second World War. It was carried out by remo ...
of Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
. He also stayed off the Solidarity
''Solidarity'' is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. It is based on class collaboration.''Merriam Webster'', http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictio ...
movement. He failed to gain enough support in the Kraków-Podgórze constituency for his candidacy to the Sejm
The Sejm (English: , Polish: ), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland ( Polish: ''Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''), is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of Poland.
The Sejm has been the highest governing body of ...
in the Contract elections of 1989.[ The following year he took part in the presidential elections scoring 2.50% of votes. In the Polish parliamentary elections of 1991 he became a member of the ]parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. ...
. He held his post in the elections of 1993.[ During his membership, he was a president of various commissions, including the commissions responsible for foreign policies, for support of Polonia, as well as the commission working on the project of the new constitution.
Moczulski also took part in the ]presidential election
A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President.
Elections by country
Albania
The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public.
Chile
The ...
of 1995, though he withdrew his candidacy. In 1992, during the last days of the government of Jan Olszewski, Moczulski was accused by Antoni Macierewicz
Antoni Macierewicz (; born 3 August 1948) is a Polish politician and the former Minister of National Defence. He previously served as the Minister of Internal Affairs, Head of the Military Counterintelligence Service, and Minister of State i ...
of being one of the secret agents of the Służba Bezpieczeństwa (SB), a communist secret police. In 1997, after the Lustration Act took place, Moczulski himself asked the lustration
Lustration is the purge of government officials in Central and Eastern Europe. Various forms of lustration were employed in post-communist Europe.
Etymology
Lustration in general is the process of making something clear or pure, usually by ...
tribunal to investigate the matter. However, contrary to his official stance, he was found guilty of hiding his collaboration with the SB during the period 1969-1977, which ended his political career.[TVN 24 and PAP, "Leszek Moczulski jednak agentem", 17.04.2008]
/ref>
Note
# According to the Polish Lustration Act, all candidates to the Sejm, Senate or government are to announce whether they collaborated with secret services of the communist regime of Poland. The declaration is then printed on all official lists of candidates.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moczulski, Leszek
1930 births
Living people
Writers from Warsaw
20th-century Polish historians
Polish male non-fiction writers
Members of the Polish Sejm 1991–1993
Members of the Polish Sejm 1993–1997
Candidates in the 1990 Polish presidential election
University of Warsaw alumni