Zbigniew Messner

Zbigniew Messner
9th Prime Minister of the People's Republic of Poland
In office 6 November 1985 – 27 September 1988
Preceded by	Wojciech Jaruzelski
Succeeded by	Mieczysław Rakowski
Personal details
Born	Zbigniew Stefan Messner (1929-03-13)13 March 1929 Stryi, Stanisławów Voivodeship, Second Polish Republic
Died	10 January 2014(2014-01-10) (aged 84) Warsaw, Poland
Political party	Polish United Workers' Party
Profession	Economist

Zbigniew Stefan Messner ['zbiɡɲɛf ˈmɛssnɛr] ; 13 March 1929 – 10 January 2014) was a Communist economist and politician in Poland. His ancestors were of German Polish descent who had assimilated into Polish society. In 1972, he became Professor of Karol Adamiecki University of Economics in Katowice. He was a member of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party from 1981 to 1988, Deputy Prime Minister from 1983 to 1985, and 53rd Prime Minister from 1985 to 1988.

In 1988, Messner's cabinet received a motion of no confidence in the Sejm (Parliament) and had to transfer power to Mieczysław Rakowski. This was an unprecedented event in the Communist world, one of the strongest signs of democratic change brought by Mikhail Gorbachev. Alternatively, this change in cabinet could easily be viewed as one of many similar steps of internal reorganization conducted periodically by regimes in all Communist-dominated countries.

He died in Warsaw in 2014.