Jan Józef Lipski


Jan Józef Lipski was a Polish critic, literature historian, politician and freemason. As a soldier of the Home Army, he fought in the Warsaw Uprising. Editor of collected works by Jan Kasprowicz, Benedykt Chmielowski and Gabriela Zapolska.

Political life

Between 1956 and 1957 Lipski was an editor of the pro-reform weekly "Po prostu"; from 1957 to 1959 he was president of the Crooked Circle Club. In 1964 Lipski organized the Letter of the 34. In 1975 he signed the Letter of 59 and in 1976 he co-founded the Workers' Defence Committee ; as one of the most active members of this organization he organized help for the workers who protested in June 1976 against the government sponsored price increases in Radom and in Ursus district of Warsaw.
In 1980, Lipski became a member of the Solidarity Union and was elected a delegate to the 1st Delegates' Rally to represent the Masovia Region. On December 14, 1981, after the imposition of the martial law, he was arrested and charged with orchestrating a protest.
As the only senior member of the non-communist opposition, he re-established the Polish Socialist Party, which he led from 1987. In 1989 he was elected Senator from Radom and was a member of the Civic Parliamentary Club ; he died during his term in office.

Honours and awards

On December 8, 1969, Lipski received the Armia Krajowa Cross, and on December 12, 1969 he was awarded the Medal of the Army for the fourth time. In 1984 awarded an honorary doctorate at the University of Paris X Nanterre.
For acts during the uprising, Lipski was decorated with the Cross of Valour, posthumously awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta and with the highest Polish decoration, the Order of the White Eagle.
In 2000, Jacek Kuroń established the Jan Józef Lipski Open University of Teremiski.

Publications in English

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Publications in Polish

  • Twórczość Jana Kasprowicza, Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, Warszawa 1967
  • Warszawscy "pustelnicy" i "bywalscy", Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, Warszawa 1973
  • Komitet Obrony Robotników KOR – komitet samoobrony społecznej, Aneks, London 1983; 2nd ed. Instytut Pamięci Narodowej, Warszawa 2006
  • Dwie ojczyzny – dwa patriotyzmy. Uwagi o megalomanii narodowej i ksenofobii Polaków, Kultura, Paris 1981
  • Szkice o poezji, Instytut Literacki, Paryż 1987
  • Tunika Nessosa. Szkice o literaturze i nacjonalizmie, PEN, Warszawa 1992
  • Katolickie Państwo Narodu Polskiego, Aneks, Londyn 1994
  • Powiedzieć sobie wszystko...: eseje o sąsiedztwie polsko-niemieckim - Wir müssen uns alles sagen... Essays zur deutsch-polnischen Nachbarschaft, Wydawnictwo Polsko-Niemieckie, Warszawa 1996