Leszek Miller | |
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Miller in 2013
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10th Prime Minister of Poland | |
In office 19 October 2001 – 2 May 2004 |
|
President | Aleksander Kwaśniewski |
Deputy |
Marek Belka Jarosław Kalinowski Marek Pol Jerzy Hausner |
Preceded by | Jerzy Buzek |
Succeeded by | Marek Belka |
Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration of the Republic of Poland | |
In office 1 January 1997 – 17 October 1997 |
|
President | Aleksander Kwaśniewski |
Prime Minister | Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz |
Preceded by | Zbigniew Siemiątkowski |
Succeeded by | Janusz Tomaszewski |
Minister of Labour and Social Policy of the Republic of Poland | |
In office 26 October 1993 – 7 February 1996 |
|
President |
Lech Wałęsa Aleksander Kwaśniewski |
Prime Minister |
Waldemar Pawlak Józef Oleksy |
Preceded by | Jacek Kuroń |
Succeeded by | Andrzej Bądkowski |
Chairman of the Democratic Left Alliance | |
Assumed office 10 December 2011 |
|
Preceded by | Grzegorz Napieralski |
In office 15 April 1999 – 6 March 2004 |
|
Preceded by | office established |
Succeeded by | Krzysztof Janik |
3rd Chairman of the Social Democracy of the Republic of Poland | |
In office 1997–1999 |
|
Preceded by | Józef Oleksy |
Succeeded by | office abolished |
Chairman of the Polish Left | |
In office 5 January 2008 – 9 January 2010 |
|
Preceded by | office established |
Succeeded by | Jacek Zdrojewski |
Sejm Member from 9th District (Łódź) | |
In office 24 November 1991 – 18 October 2005 |
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Personal details | |
Born |
Leszek Cezary Miller 3 July 1946 Żyrardów, Poland |
Political party |
Polish United Workers' Party (until 1990) Social Democracy of the Republic of Poland (1990-1999) Democratic Left Alliance (1999-2007, and from 2010) Polish Left (2007-2010) |
Spouse(s) | Aleksandra Miller |
Profession | Political scientist |
Awards |
Leszek Cezary Miller [ˈlɛʂɛk ˈmillɛr] (born 3 July 1946) is a Polish left-wing politician who served as Prime Minister of Poland from 2001 to 2004. He was leader of the Democratic Left Alliance to 2016.
Born in Żyrardów, Miller comes from a poor, working-class family: His father was a tailor and his mother a needlewoman. His parents broke up when Leszek was six months old. His father, Florian Miller, a Pole of assimilated German ethnicity, left the family and Leszek has never maintained any contact with him. His mother brought him up in a religious spirit – following her wish, he was even, for some time, an altar boy in their church.
Due to hard life conditions, after graduation from vocational school, 17-year-old Leszek got a job in the Textile Linen Plant in Żyrardów, while continuing his education in the evenings at the Vocational Secondary School of Electric Power Engineering. He soon completed his military service on the ORP Bielik submarine.
In 1969, Miller married Aleksandra, three years his junior, in church. The Millers have a son, Leszek, and a granddaughter, Monika.
Leszek Miller started his political career as an activist of the Socialist Youth Union, where he held the position of Chairman of the Plant Board, soon becoming a member of the Town Committee. After the military service, in 1969, he joined the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR), People's Poland's communist party.
Many people were pressured to join PZPR in order to advance in their careers or to pursue higher education. Leszek Miller used his affiliation with the Communist party to effectively advance in his studies and professional goals.
In 1973-1974, Leszek Miller was the Secretary of the PZPR Plant Committee. With the party's recommendation, he started political sciences studies at the party's Higher School of Political Sciences (Wyższa Szkoła Nauk Społecznych), graduating in 1977. After graduation, Leszek Miller worked at the PZPR Central Committee, supervising the Group, and later on the Department of Youth, Physical Education and Tourism.
In July 1986, Leszek Miller was elected as First Secretary of the PZPR Provincial Committee in Skierniewice. In December 1988, he returned to Warsaw, due to his promotion to the position of the Secretary of the PZPR Central Committee. As a representative of the government side, he took part in the session of the historic "Round Table", where, together with Andrzej Celiński, he co-chaired the sub-team for youth issues (the only one that closed the session without signing the agreement). In 1989, he became a member of the PZPR Political Bureau.