Roman Bolesław Bartoszcze (9 December 1946 – 31 December 2015) was a Polish agrarian politician from the Polish People's Party (PSL).
Bartoszcze was born in Jaroszewice, and worked on his family farm there, and later in Sławęcin, until 1966. He did national service from 1966 to 1968.
Presidential elections were held in Poland on 25 November 1990, with a second round on 9 December. They were the first direct presidential elections in the history of Poland, and the first free presidential elections since the May Coup of 1926. Before World War II, presidents were elected by the Sejm. From 1952 to 1989—the bulk of the Communist era—the presidency did not exist as a separate institution, and most of its functions were fulfilled by the State Council of Poland, whose chairman was considered the equivalent of a president.
There were six candidates who successfully managed to register - Solidarity chairman Lech Wałęsa, Canadian entrepreneur Stanisław Tymiński, Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki, Members of the Sejm Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz and Roman Bartoszcze, and anti-communist oppositionist Leszek Moczulski. Despite for a long time coming first in opinion polls, Tadeusz Mazowiecki's campaign failed to convince voters to his side, and he did not enter the runoff, coming third in the first round. Stanisław Tymiński came second in a large upset unforeseen by every political force in the country, and, being seen by other candidates as a liar and opportunist, managed to unite both the postcommunist and Solidarity establishments against him. In the second round, Wałęsa won almost 75% of the vote, the largest electoral victory for a free election in Polish political history.
The 1981 warning strike in Poland was a four-hour national warning strike that took place during and in response to the Bydgoszcz events. There, in the early spring of 1981 in the Polish People's Republic, several members of the Solidarity movement, including Jan Rulewski, Mariusz Łabentowicz, and Roman Bartoszcze, were beaten by the security forces, including Milicja Obywatelska and ZOMO. The Bydgoszcz events soon became widely known across Poland, and on 24 March 1981, Solidarity called for a nationwide strike in protest against the violence. The strike was planned for Tuesday 31 March 1981. On 25 March, Lech Wałęsa met Deputy Prime Minister Mieczysław Rakowski of the Polish United Workers' Party, but they were unable to come to an agreement. Two days later, on 27 March, the warning strike took place. It was the most highly participated strike in the history of both Poland and the Warsaw Pact. According to several sources, between 12 and 14 million Poles took part, roughly 85-90% of Poland's working-age population at the time.