Adam Michnik, Polish Activist; Editor-in-Chief, Gazeta Wyborcza, Author, The Trouble with History: Morality, Revolution, and Counterrevolution

The Trouble with Democracy After Communism

Adam Michnik was a leader of the anti-Communist opposition in Poland in the 1970s and 1980s. He is the editor-in-chief of Gazeta Wyborcza, a daily newspaper often referred to as “The New York Times of Eastern Europe.” He is among Poland’s most prominent public figures, with a distinctive voice dedicated to dialogue, tolerance and freedom.

Michnik was a leading figure in the 1968 student movement in Warsaw, a co-founder of KOR (Committee for the Defense of Workers) in 1976, and a prominent Solidarity activist in the 1980s. In 1989, he participated in the Round Table Talks, which resulted in Poland’s nonviolent transition to democracy, and he served as a deputy in Poland’s first non-communist parliament. He is the author of several books and countless essays, analyses and interviews. Today, he regularly travels throughout the world, giving lectures on democracy, totalitarianism and the paradoxes and dilemmas of contemporary politics.