Kania served as First Secretary of the Polish United Workers’ Party (PZPR) from September 1980 to October 1981.
He was replaced in the post by Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski, who two months later, on December 13, 1981, imposed martial law to crush Poland’s Solidarity freedom movement.
Kania began his career as a communist party functionary in 1945, becoming a member of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers’ Party in 1968 and later serving for 10 years as its secretary in charge of internal security.
In 2012, Kania was tried for his role in the martial law crackdown but was declared not guilty.
(mk/gs)