Adam Michnik

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Adam Michnik (born October 17 1946 in Warsaw, Poland) is the editor-in-chief of Gazeta Wyborcza (Election Gazette), the second largest Polish newspaper. He was a dissident during the Communist period in Poland and was imprisoned for six years for his dissident activities.

Image:AdamMichnik01Mar2006.jpg

He became known as one of the founders of the Komitet Obrony Robotników (KOR) and later as a Solidarity activist in the struggle against martial law during the 1980s. He was a Solidarity representative in the round table talks between the government and the dissidents. When the first free elections of the post-communist era were held in 1989, Michnik was active in creating, publishing and distributing Gazeta Wyborcza, which he now edits. He was also a member of the Polish Parliament (Sejm) from 1989 to 1991.

Since 1991, Michnik has not been actively involved in politics. However, as a Gazeta Wyborcza columnist, he became a strong opponent of Lech Wałęsa and the new Solidarity leadership. He was criticised by some ex-dissident groups for what they perceived as his opposition to punishing non-criminal members of the former communist Party (see gruba kreska) and for his support for Leszek Balcerowicz's economic shock therapy.

As of 2005, he is still active as a journalist. Apart from Gazeta Wyborcza, his articles are occasionally published in foreign newspapers such as Der Spiegel, Le Monde, El Mundo and the Washington Post. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a US thinktank.

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Publications

Letters from Freedom: Post-Cold War Realities and Perspectives, translated by Jane Cave, 1998. (ISBN 0520217594)
Church and the Left, (David Ost, editor), 1992. (ISBN 0226524248)
Letters from Prison and Other Essays, translated by Maya Latynski, 1986. (ISBN 0520053710)

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