I'm turning sixty. I feel weird. Sixty years looks serious.
I don't feel this burden either physically or intellectually. I feel like I can do a lot and I can do a lot. Worse with motivation for various actions. In these sixty years, my ass has been kicked a fewer times. However, I did not gotta experience many dramatic or tragic events.
It is said that at specified an age, it is more common to look back, summarizing and balance sheets than making plans for the future. From time to time, individual urges me to compose down memories of 12 years of presidency in Stalowa Wola. I see the point. But I deficiency the determination to do so. It is akin with the preparation of a book with texts placed on Facebook. possibly it'll work out eventually.
Now a brief look into the past about erstwhile and how I got active in a policy that has ruled my life for over forty years. In political activity, I began engaging in the 1970s erstwhile I attended Stalowa Wola advanced School. I've always been curious in history, and for that there was only a step to politics. I was besides drawn into the parish priest with whom I had political discussions in my spiritual classes and after school. Of course, these were not serious discussions. For this I was besides young and besides stupid, but it was clear to me that we had to fight the governments of the PZPR and argue the domination of the russian Union. I erstwhile distributed any opposition newspapers to the parish priest. I did the action in the morning, but, as far as I know, it didn't echo the neighborhood. The interesting thing was that the paper was published by the NRA. To stay in this climate, I would add that I was enthusiastic and uncritically fascinated by the figure of Józef Piłsudski. What joy and pride I had erstwhile thanks to the acquaintance of the parish priest I managed to buy respective volumes of Piłsudski’s Piłsudski’s “Pism” in the antiquity. I inactive have them in my library today.
Since 3rd grade, I've known what I'm going to and where I'm going to survey and what I'm going to do after college. To the second year of advanced school, it was more like drinking and partying. I went to college and passed on past on KUL. During my studies, I developed almost all my views. I owe my intellectual formation to the studio on KUL, which I'm arrogant of. In the years of my studies, KUL was an oasis of free thought at the highest level, of which for 10 years I utilized full handfuls.
Student
I came to KUL with a life plan. I felt that after finishing the story, as a postgraduate of KUL, I could not number on working in a advanced school in a larger city. KUL graduates were treated by the PRL authorities as "an component of ideologically hostile". I thought I had the destiny of a teacher at a country school, and I was ready to bite on a commune. If it wasn't naive and comic from today's perspective, I inactive think it wasn't completely stupid.
As I have already written, during my studies, I developed my political views, which in a immense part I am inactive faithful to. It was on KUL that I became the endkick. In fact, it should be written that I was set up as an ideal. This happened in preparation for the 11 November celebration. I was assigned to read the text of 1 of the endeks, and that's how they started calling me endek. erstwhile they started saying that, I started reading, convincing and identifying. The fundamental step in this direction was to know the patron Leon Mireckie, Nestora National Party. Through him, I met the full Mirecki family. This relation had a profound impact on my political activity and another aspects of life.
In my years of study, my more serious political activity began. I joined the Polish Catholic and Social Union, where I met many Endek politicians and learned what they were and how the mechanisms of political life function. In 1986, I founded the Academic Club of Socio-Political Thoughts “Vade Mecum” on KULIt’s okay. ” The club was to form in the endecimal spirit and prepare to participate in political life. It has become an crucial place from which Members and ministers of respective governments came and came. In addition, we issued a letter “Vade Mecum”. This is where I learned to compose about politics and gain journalism skills.
It is worth mentioning at this point that KUL was the place of sharp political clashes between the right and the left. Of course, the left, they were not supporters of the strategy at that time. We considered the left to be environments connected or derived from what Adam Michnik He called the “Laic Left” and Catholic communities associated with the “Common Week” which were influential in the KUL. The biggest disputes were in the past department. I was among the leaders of the university right.
In the meantime, next to history, I began studying law. I studied for a fewer years, but I didn't finish that course. I think it's 1 of the biggest mistakes of my life. In the early 1990s, I said good-bye to KUL on the way to finish with an honorary communicative with the Rector's award for my master's thesis and for 2 semesters moving classes with students. I've given up on this, and I've given up on my doctorate. I returned to Stalowa Wola, and this is where politics began on a large scale.
Political start
After 10 years on KUL, I returned to Stalowa Wola with large desire to join the elections in self-government. It was expected to be an authentic government, 1 of the pillars of the transformed strategy of the Polish state. For those times, I knew much about what this self-government should be and how it would function. I was a associate in the seminar on administrative law, which was conducted by prof. Wojciech Czączkowski. In turn, the prof. took part in the work of the squad preparing the bill introducing this self-government. A number of problems that were discussed in this squad were presented at the seminar and encouraged students to discuss them.
When I returned to Stalowa Wola, I didn't know almost anyone who was preparing municipal elections in the city. In Stalowa Wola they were primarily activists of "Solidarity" and intelligent opposition environments. I turned to my parish priest, whom I had all the time in contact with, to choice people in the parish who could become councillors. There was a group of people who hit the Citizens' Committee. I became a candidate for councillor. I was elected to the City Council and immediately entered the Board. On the way, I was the first candidate for city president. At the time, the president was elected by the City Council. I lost the election clearly, although it was not a defeat. In retrospect, I lost to my happiness. I was just besides stupid to do the job. In ancient Rome there was a regulation of cursus honorum. This meant that certain positions in the State could only be carried out after reaching a certain age, involving experience and knowledge. Applying specified a regulation would be very useful in Poland and then, and even more today. possibly then crazy partying wouldn't have wreaked specified havoc on the functioning of almost all state institutions.
Journalist
I've been a councilman for 10 years. Somewhere around 1999, I thought it didn't make sense and something had to be changed in life. I gave the councilman a ticket. I left for Warsaw, where I became a writer in “Our Journal” with the protection of erstwhile wards from “Vade Mecum”. Although present I have nothing in common with these environments, the work in Rydzyk’s “gasette” taught me how to decision around Warsaw’s cabinets and chambers of power, which was very useful to me erstwhile I became president of Steel Wola. After about a year I was out of Our Journal. The remainder of the time in Warsaw I worked in the editorial board “Polish Thought”. Meanwhile, the government of the Democratic Left Alliance introduced direct elections of mayors, mayors and city presidents. I thought it was time to go back to Steel Will and reenter local politics.
Direct elections for city presidents were scheduled to take place in 2002. Writing a large short story, I ran for the position of doomed to lose. My direct facilities were respective people, and sometimes several. We didn't have the money and all the local alleged forces against each other. Against us were all pulpits, all local media (some very aggressively), all environments that could be considered as opinion-making and most private business. Over time, the attitude of any private business gradually began to change. Although I had the support of the PiS, which I had been a associate of since my insurrection, the PiS had just begun to operate and could not find anything.
The first success was to decision on to the second circular of elections. In this part of the run with support for me he personally went to Stalowa Wola Jarosław Kaczyński. However, the then PiS, it was something unimaginably different from the present chief party. I had a alternatively long conversation with Kaczyński, who was very informative. possibly there'll be an chance to describe it more. Kaczyński's support was very important, but it did not warrant a win. 2 facts proved the atmosphere before the elections in the second round. The first was that the incumbent president at 1 of the electoral meetings almost publically said that after the elections – of course won – Szlezak's people would sweep the streets. The second was that after the run had been completed, we sat in 7 of the run staff and very tired colleagues asked a question, asking for an answer sincerely to pain. I asked who believed we'd win. 2 or three, including me, said we would win. The rest, we lose.
I have been and I am grateful to them to this day and full of admiration for them even though any of our political paths have gone very far. They had families whose members worked in institutions dependent on the city authorities. In the event of my loss, we had no uncertainty that “the streets sweep them.” Yet, despite their disbelief, they continued and worked hard. In fact, our only media tool was the newsletter, which I called "The Sting" and in which I was the author of most texts. We spent as many as 10 1000 copies as possible. The "leg" proved to be a very effective weapon. How we got the paper and how we printed it, I'm not gonna uncover it today. In the end, we won and became president, as it later turned out, for 12 years.
President
This win, me and the people supporting me, was an evenement on the scale of Poland. Is it possible to say that politics is not impossible? I'd love to, though it's most likely not that simple. I'm afraid it would be a lot harder today, though no 1 or anyone else would give us a chance. I know, however, that with religion in the rightness of what 1 wants to accomplish and with even a tiny group of loyal collaborators, there is inactive much to be done and, above all, all plagues that destruct any normality in Polish political life. This conviction keeps me in politics all the time, although I must admit it is failing.
SAMSUNG CAMERA PICTURESI was president of Steel Wola for 3 terms.. I wasn't fortunate in that context. For 10 of these 12 years there was any economical crisis, whether in the full of Poland, or in Stalowa Wola itself. For only 2 years, I could work without severe financial force on the shortcomings and investment constraints.
What was Stalowa Wola in 2002?
It was a bedroom built into a factory. This mill was Huta Stalowa Wola. “Hutta mother” organized the lives of most of the city's inhabitants in almost all area. In economical terms, Huta was specified a large tube supplying the city financially. erstwhile that tube was clogged the city was choking. For most of my presidency, this tube was unfortunately blocked.
In the first or second year of my first word of office, about 2 1000 Huta workers came to town, shouting “thiefs!” It pissed me off! After all, I had no influence on the situation of Huta, and it was truly bad. respective 1000 workers were threatened almost overnight. It would be a social disaster for the city. For me, it had specified a direct effect that I had to borrow money to pay for city officials. I did it in a way to which compliance could be attached. I've done it respective more times. Well, I had no choice. With the remainder of the discrepancies between non-life law and the request to solve real problems, they were a constant part of my work.
About the demonstration, I went out to the crowd and asked who I stole from. They will, and if it wasn't for the fast reaction of the demonstrators, I'd be in large trouble. I wasn't gonna run. In economical terms, the aim was to transform Steel Wola from a centre dependent on 1 large industrial combination, into a business system, diverse in terms of industry, modern industry. Today, I can say with satisfaction that this has worked. Today, Stalowa Wola is simply a strategy of dozens of pipes that supply the city financially through taxes and salaries for employees. Even if part of this system's tube jams, the others work smoothly adequate that the city can function normally. The scale of this transformation is shown by the fact that “Hutta mother” utilized to pay so much taxes to the city, that without this money there was no talk of investing. In the last years of my presidency, Huta paid as much taxation as the Municipal Municipal Plant, which was an crucial company, but never an economical mogul. Thus, the city's finances ceased to be dependent on Huta.
Steel Will – My City
Despite various critical remarks, Stalowa Wola is inactive 1 of the most crucial industrial centres in Poland. I consider this to be my success, but to an equal degree or even greater extent, it is thanks to many people and institutions who have supported the city with their hard work, ideas and self-sacrifice. I peculiarly welcome the fact that I have managed to almost double my taxation revenues, almost without raising them.
Today, fewer people remember the critical situation of the city in the early 2000s. I remember my mistakes, mistakes and sacrifices that inevitably caused my decisions and not just my decisions. However, I would like at least in Stalowa Wola to remember that even in the background of neighbouring Tarnobrzeg, our city is an example of a successful economical transformation across Poland, and this did not gotta work.
When the “Hut of the Mother” was getting into more and more trouble, 1 had to figure out what to be and who to be Stalin Wola as a city for. There was a time erstwhile fewer people thought about it. It was either Huta or her money. Most institutions that form the lives of residents after work had the word "establishment". Huta stopped being a “Huta mother” and became 1 of respective twelve companies, neither the largest nor the strongest. The city had to start surviving its own life. Despite appearances, this was neither apparent nor easy. It took me 2 years to make a concept that I had successfully implemented until the end of my presidency.. I was aware that the basis of success in this substance would be whether my ideas and their implementation were my own, I was ahead of time. For a number of years I was able to do this, and the city was rapidly upgrading. And here, too, we request to talk about the merit of many people whose knowledge, work, and kindness I could benefit from. Without them, the city would have achieved nothing, and neither would I.
However, I must admit that in my 3rd word I stopped ahead of time. I enjoyed the competition and successes in it with akin cities from the region and from Poland. Meanwhile, there have been social processes that should force change of thought. More and more cooperation with neighbors was needed, not competition. Either I didn't see these processes at the right time or I didn't realize them. The concept of a four-city concept arises Tarnobrzeg – Sandomierz – Steel Wola – Low was a late reaction to a situation where it was clear that no of these cities alone would halt the degradation processes that affect them increasingly. 4 cities were an chance that inactive retains potential, but I am sad to say that the current authorities of these cities do not realize this. It's best seen in Steel Wola. Despite the very large measures that the Pisan government gives to the president – its pet, Stalowa Wola is the fastest depopulated city in the voivodship and is at the close forefront of cities with the top negative natural growth. I'm afraid that will not change with specified a policy.
Lost
I tried to catch up and even outrun him again, but I lost the election. The fact that I did not gotta carry on being liable for Steel Will was surely a relief, but it was besides a regret. Who likes to lose? I frequently wonder what's going to happen to Steel Will, and unfortunately I don't have much good thoughts. However, I hope that past will make a good assessment of the years erstwhile I started to regulation a city in crisis and of uncertain future, which managed to transform a comparatively modern, independent social, economical and cultural centre. However, time accelerates and the future of Steel Wola raises more questions than answers. I would like to do something creative about the present and the future of Steel Will. For reasons I'll explain later, I wonder if that makes sense.
Since the early 1990s, erstwhile I became active in politics in Steel Wola, I had 2 goals. The first was to become president of Steel Wola. That's what I've achieved. The second was to become an MP on the Sejm. I ran for the Sejm 3 times without success. I have considered and inactive believe that I am very qualified to be an MP. However, over time, I lose the thought that it makes sense. In my opinion, Poland is not an independent state and it sinks into the face of external forces. Parliament is no longer an institution that can build the power of an independent state. It is simply a place of implementation of organization – cateric interests, increasingly at the expense of independency of Poland. I am becoming convinced that these are processes that have gone so far as to become irreversible.
Participation in politics has not been and is not a way for me to make a comfortable device in life. I've never made anything in my life this way. I'm aware that I most likely think I'm a loser from this angle, but I don't give a shit. Politics has been, is and will be for me a way to realise large ideas, and if there is no chance of them being implemented (I believe that there is no more Poland), then at least for the ideas that I consider honest, competent and efficient local authority. To any extent, I understood that erstwhile I was president of Steel Wola. Gradually, I was free of large political ambitions. I wanted to build a part of average country in Stalowa Wola. In any areas, this worked out in any areas. For example, I managed to reduce corruption to a very large extent, but I did not think I would destruct it at all. In addition, the strategy of the full country would should be rebuilt, and for apparent reasons, there was no chance.
Politics and I
Polish politics has taken over partying. It is understandable that the almost natural organizational form through which policies are conducted is political parties. Unfortunately, this has already taken the form of so degenerative that the politics seen through organization interests have subjugated the government, parliament, courts and another institutions with a fundamental influence on the functioning of the state. Partying reached local governments, destroying the essence of self-government. I see it now in the Podkarpackie provincial seymik.
I have so treated and treated my membership of political parties in terms of content and form. Ideas are content, and a organization is simply a form by which content – the thought is realized. Content – the thought is constant and should be unchanged. The form – the organization is secondary to the content – of the idea. The form – the organization should be subordinated to the content – of the thought and depending on the anticipation of implementing the thought the organization may change. So if I don't have my own organization in which I can effectively implement my ideas, I can join another organization that gives specified an chance on condition that I keep my identity. Hence I already belonged to respective parties and for the above reasons I do not regulation out that I can inactive change organization membership. I never changed my perfect identity. I'm gonna make half a gag about it, half a serious conviction from 1 of my favourite stories. Jan Himilsbach. Well, the master of the natural planet wrote that "It doesn't substance who you sleep with, it's who you get up with." As a candidate for president of Stalowa Wola, I went to bed with PiS. I got up and for 12 years I was an unpartisan and independent self-government politician with an endecian ideological profile. I retained this identity and erstwhile I belonged to the PSL and erstwhile I was in the Sejm, I was a associate of the Councillors of the Civic Coalition club. This identity was the reason I'm not in the PSL anymore, or in that council club. The form has changed. The content is unchanged.
I realize that in Polish conditions politicians changing the organization lose credibility. Most politicians who change the organization do this mainly for cyclical reasons on the basis of “our top!” And which of ours? I don't know. I've never been a political businessman.
I have been doing politics for over forty years. Its current form in Poland makes what I dreamed of doing in it and what function I wanted to play in it makes me closer to abandoning these dreams and intentions.
I can't remember which of the ancient philosophers compared the planet to the market—agoras. There are 3 groups of people in this market. The most many are those who came to buy something, see, hear. The smaller group are those who come to show themselves, gain applause, fame and recognition. This group includes politicians. The third, least many group are those who come to the agora to reflect and realize everything that happens there. These fewer are philosophers. At the age of sixty, I was torn between the second and 3rd groups coming to agoras. I'm always attracted to the political turmoil. I inactive have a spark and a voice that whispers that commitment to current politics makes sense. erstwhile that spark was a flame, and that voice sounded with the power of a bell. Will that spark heat up again and the bell will ring?
More and more frequently – and age favors this reflection – I am overcome by the thought of giving up the current political struggle. More and more often, I would like to gain peace of head and distance from the planet of a sage from agora, which is not attracted to events, but to find and realize the meaning of what is happening on agora. Is my view and knowing of the world, including politics, always going to qualify me as a wise man? And this is how I explain to my readers, but mostly what I did and do in politics on my 60th birthday.
Andrzej Szlezak
Think Poland, No. 5-6 (29.01-5.02.2023)
