Krzaklewski, Marian (1950- )

Polish politician and trade union leader, leader of the Solidarity trade union from 1991 and Solidarity Electoral Action (AWS) from 1996. A member of the anti-communist Solidarity since its inception in 1980, he revived the body as a political force from the mid-1990s. Its right-of-centre offshoot, the AWS, was able to form a coalition government after the September 1997 general election. However, expecting to put in a bid for the presidency in 2000, Krzaklewski chose not to become prime minister, preferring to exert behind-the-scenes influence over the new prime minister, Jerzy Buzek, his former economic adviser.

Krzaklewski was a scientific worker at the Polish Academy of Sciences and Silesian Polytechnic 1976-90. He formed the AWS as an electoral grouping of over 30 right-of-centre and Christian bodies. In 1997, it successfully fought on a platform of faster privatization, ‘Catholic values’, decentralization, reform of pensions, and early membership of the European Union.