{{Expand Polish|topic=bio|Aleksander Smolar|date=July 2025}} {{Infobox person | name = Aleksander Smolar | image = Aleksander Smolar 2019.jpg | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1940|12|10}} | birth_place = Białystok | occupation = Writer and political activist | children = Piotr Smolar | father = Grzegorz Smolar }}

'''Aleksander Smolar''' (born December 10, 1940, in Białystok) is a Polish writer, political activist and adviser, president of the Stefan Batory Foundation, senior researcher at French National Centre for Scientific Research. He is son of prominent communist activist Grzegorz Smolar, and father of writer {{ill|Piotr Smolar|fr|Piotr_Smolar}}.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Urbaniak |first=Mike |date=2021-03-19 |title="To nie było tak, że ktoś nagle wyskoczył z krzaków i zrobił krzywdę Iwonie Wieczorek" |url=https://weekend.gazeta.pl/weekend/7,177333,32105123,nikt-nie-wie-co-dzialo-sie-wtedy-w-glowie-iwony-zostanie.html |access-date=2025-07-16 |website=GAZETA.PL |language=pl}}</ref>

==Biography== thumb|Irena Grudzińska-Gross and Aleksander Smolar in 2023.

=== Upbringing === Aleksander Smolar was born to the family of Grzegorz Smolar, a communist activist and an activist of the Jewish community in Poland.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Matyjaszek |first=Konrad |date=2018 |title=“It’s not a matter of choice.” Aleksander Smolar interviewed by Konrad Matyjaszek |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=778993 |journal=Studia Litteraria et Historica |language=English |issue=7 |pages=1–30 |issn=2299-7571}}</ref>

Smolar became a member of the Polish Youth Union between 1954 and 1957, and then a member of the Union of Socialist Youth between 1958 and 1964.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=2010-10-25 |title=Aleksander Smolar |url=https://ksiazki.wp.pl/aleksander-smolar-6150448513603201c |access-date=2025-07-16 |website=Wirtualna Polska Media |language=pl}}</ref>

=== Education === Aleksander Smolar studied at the Faculty of Communications at the Warsaw University of Technology but then transferred to the University of Warsaw to study economics and sociology. At that time, he worked at the university as an assistant lecturer of Włodzimierz Brus.<ref name=":1" />

Smolar was a member of the communist Polish United Workers' Party (''PZPR''). He was removed from the party for publicly defending Leszek Kołakowski, a Polish revisionist Marxist philosopher who was critical of Marxism–Leninism.<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-07-13 |title=Leszek Kolakowski {{!}} Polish Philosopher & Marxist Historian {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Leszek-Kolakowski |access-date=2025-07-17 |website=Britannica |language=en}}</ref>

=== Political activism === Smolar took part in the March 1968 events, a series of protests by students and young factory workers against the repressive nature of the communist party in Poland.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Bertram |first=Lukasz |date=2016-09-18 |title=Mieliśmy potrzebę kompletnej niezależności |url=https://aneks.kulturaliberalna.pl/wywiad/aleksander-smolar-mielismy-potrzebe-kompletnej-niezaleznosci/ |access-date=2025-07-16 |website=Aneks}}</ref> He was arrested and imprisoned until February 1969.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Smolar Aleksander – Marzec '68 |url=https://marzec68.sztetl.org.pl/biogram/smolar-aleksander/ |access-date=2025-07-16 |website=Museum of the History of Polish Jews |language=pl-PL}}</ref>

He was expelled from the university and after being released from prison worked in heavy industry. In 1971 he emigrated from Poland, going to Italy, United Kingdom and France. Eventually he began working for the French National Centre for Scientific Research in Paris.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Smolar |url=https://www.institutmontaigne.org/en/experts/aleksander-smolar |access-date=2025-07-16 |website=Institut Montaigne |language=en}}</ref>

In 1973, he began publishing a quarterly political journal ''Aneks'', which he continued until 1990.<ref name=":3" /> He served as a spokesperson for the Workers' Defence Committee (''Komitet Obrony Robotników'') a civil society group which aided the families of workers who were being persecuted by the communist authorities. He also served as a representative of the Committee for Social Self-Defense KOR (''Komitet Samoobrony Społecznej KOR'') abroad.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Strona główna - Komitet KOR |url=https://www.polskieradio.pl/278,komitet-kor |access-date=2025-07-17 |website=Polskie Radio |language=pl-PL}}</ref>

=== Role in post-Cold War Poland === After the fall of communism in 1989 in Poland, Smolar served as an adviser to the first democratically elected prime minister of Poland, Tadeusz Mazowiecki From 1992-1993, Smolar served as advisor for foreign policy to prime minister Hanna Suchocka.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Smolar |first=Aleksander |date=2017-01-03 |title=Poland Inches Closer to “Illiberal Democracy” – The Cipher Brief |url=https://www.thecipherbrief.com/poland-inches-closer-to-illiberal-democracy-2 |access-date=2025-07-16 |website=The Cipher Brief |language=en}}</ref>

In 1990, he was named president of the Stefan Batory Foundation in Warsaw.<ref name=":2" />

Smolar remained active in political commentary. He is very critical of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice Party because of their illiberal tendency.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Smolar |first=Aleksander |date=2006-09-28 |title=Poland: Radicals in power |url=https://www.eurozine.com/poland-radicals-in-power/ |access-date=2025-07-17 |website=Eurozine}}</ref><ref name=":0" />

==Selected publications== *''Globalization, Power and Democracy''. (co-edited by Marc Plattner), The Johns Hopkins University Press, Washington, 2000 *''Entre Kant et Kosovo. Etudes offertes à Pierre Hassner''. (co-written with Anne-Marie Le Gloannec), Presses de Sciences Po, Paris 2003 *''Tabu i niewinność'', ("Taboo and Innocence"), Universitas, Kraków 2010

==See also== *Politics of Poland *List of Poles

==References== <references />

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Smolar, Aleksander}} Category:1940 births Category:People from Białystok Category:Living people Category:20th-century Polish non-fiction writers Category:Polish male non-fiction writers Category:20th-century Polish male writers Category:Members of the Committee for Social Self-Defense KOR