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Lech Walesa
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Lech Walesa (IPA:; born September 29, 1943) is a Polish politician and a former trade union and human rights activist. He co-founded Solidarity (Solidarnosc), the Soviet bloc's first independent trade union, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, and served as President of Poland from 1990 to 1995.
sa was born in Popowo, Poland, to a carpenter and his wife. He attended primary and vocational school, before entering Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk (Stocznia Gdanska im.
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Lech Walesa (IPA:; born September 29, 1943) is a Polish politician and a former trade union and human rights activist. He co-founded Solidarity (Solidarnosc), the Soviet bloc's first independent trade union, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, and served as President of Poland from 1990 to 1995.
Biography
Walesa was born in Popowo, Poland, to a carpenter and his wife. He attended primary and vocational school, before entering Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk (Stocznia Gdanska im. Lenina, now Stocznia Gdanska) as an electrical technician in 1970. In 1969 he married Danuta Golos, and the couple now have eight children. His son Jaroslaw Walesa is a member of Poland's Sejm (lower house of the Polish parliament). Lech Walesa is a devout Roman Catholic, and has said that his faith always helped him during Solidarity's difficult moments.
Solidarity
He was a member of the illegal strike committee in Gdansk Shipyard in 1970 (Polish 1970 protests).
In 1976, Walesa lost his job in Gdansk Shipyard.
In June 1978 he joined the illegal underground Free Trade Unions of the Coast (Wolne Zwiazki Zawodowe Wybrzeza), organized by Bogdan Borusewicz, Andrzej Gwiazda, Krzysztof Wyszkowski, Lech Kaczynski, Anna Walentynowicz, Antoni Sokolowski, and others.
On August 14, 1980, after the beginning of an occupational strike in the Lenin Shipyard of Gdansk, Walesa became the leader of this strike. The strike was spontaneously followed by similar strikes, first in Gdansk, and then across Poland.
In September of that year, the Communist government signed an agreement with the Strike Coordination Committee to allow legal organization, but not actual free trade unions. The Strike Coordination Committee legalized itself into National Coordination Committee of Solidarnosc Free Trade Union, and Walesa was chosen as a chairman of this Committee. Solidarnosc is also known as Solidarity.
Walesa kept this position until December 13, 1981, when he was arrested. General Wojciech Jaruzelski declared a state of martial law on December 13. Walesa was incarcerated for 11 months in south-eastern Poland near the Soviet border until November 14, 1982.
In 1983, he applied to come back to Gdansk Shipyard as a simple electrician. The year 1983 also saw Walesa being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He was unable to receive the prize himself, fearing that the government would not let him back in. His wife, Danuta Walesa, received the prize in his place.
From 1987 to 1990 Walesa organized and led, the "half-illegal" Temporary Executive Committee of Solidarity Trade Union. In 1988 Walesa organized an occupational strike in Gdansk Shipyard, demanding only the re-legalisation of the Solidarity Trade Union. After eighty days the government agreed to enter into talks in September. Walesa was an informal leader of the "non-governmental" side during the talks. During the talks the government signed an agreement to re-establish the Solidarity Trade Union and to organize "half-free" elections to the Polish parliament.
In 1989, Walesa organized and led the Citizenship Committee of the Chairman of Solidarity Trade Union. Formally, it was just an advisory body, but, practically, it was a kind of a political party, which won parliament elections in 1989 (the Opposition took all seats in the Sejm that were subject of free elections and all but one seats in the newly re-established senate; according to the Round Table agreements only members of the Communist Party and its allies could stand for the remaining 64% of seats in the Sejm).
While technically just a Chairman of Solidarity Trade Union at the time, Walesa played a key role in Polish politics. At the end of 1989, he persuaded leaders from formerly communist ally parties to form a non-communist coalition government, which was the first non-communist government in the Soviet Bloc's sphere of influence. After that agreement the parliament chose Tadeusz Mazowiecki for prime minister of Poland. Poland, while still a communist country in theory, started to change its economy to a market-based system.
He was the first non-head of state to address a joint meeting of the US Congress on November 15, 1989 . He was also the first recipient of the Liberty Medal on July 4, 1989 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In his acceptance speech, he said, "Liberty is not only a right, but also our common responsibility and duty."
Documents coming to light as of June 2008 allege that Walesa had been a collaborator of the communist secret police (Polish: tajny wspólpracownik) pseudonym "Bolek", well prior to the formation of Solidarity. Walesa himself denies any collaboration and there is no substantiation of these rumors. On August 11, 2000, the Appellate Court of Warsaw, V Wydzial Lustracyjny, declared that Walesa's Lustration Statement is a true one, meaning he did not collaborate with the communist regime.
Presidency and afterwards
On December 9, 1990, Walesa won the presidential election to become president of Poland for the next five years. During his presidency, he started a so-called "war at the top" which practically meant changing the government annually. His style of presidency was strongly criticized by most of the political parties, and he lost most of the initial public support by the end of 1995. After downfall of the Jan Olszewski cabinet on June 1992, and following the unveiling of a list of secret collaborators by Minister of Internal Affairs Antoni Macierewicz, Lech Walesa was allegedly linked with illegal prosecution and disintegration of Polish conservative and independent rightist parties (so called Instruction UOP nr 0015/92).
Walesa lost the 1995 presidential election. This was by less than 2%, a margin which many people considered would have been comfortably overturned if the revelation had come earlier that his opponent had falsely claimed to have a university degree - and used Walesa's lack of higher education as a political weapon. Calls for a new election were dismissed.
In the early 1990s, Walesa had proposed a as a subregional security framework. The concept, though supported by Polish right-wing as well as populist movements, and by politicians such as Leszek Moczulski, gained little support abroad, as Poland's neighbors, some of whom (like Lithuania) had only recently regained independence, tended to perceive the concept as imperialistic.
After that, he claimed to go to "political retirement", but he was still active, trying to establish his own political party. In 1997 Walesa supported and helped to organize a new party called Solidarity Electoral Action (Akcja Wyborcza Solidarnosc) which won the parliamentary elections. However, his support was of minor significance and Walesa held a very low position in this party. The real leader of the party and its main organizer was a new Solidarity Trade Union leader, Marian Krzaklewski.
Walesa again stood for the presidential election in 2000, but he received only 1% of votes. Many Polish people were dissatisfied with the fact that once again he wanted to regain his political power. After that, Walesa again claimed his political retirement. From that time on, he has been lecturing on the history and politics of Central Europe at various foreign universities. Although not politically engaged anymore, Walesa is still publicly addressed as President.
On May 10, 2004, the Gdansk international airport was officially renamed Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport to commemorate the famous Gdansk citizen. His signature was incorporated into the airport's logo. There was some controversy as to whether the name should be spelled Lech Walesa (without diacritics, but better recognizable in the world) or Lech Walesa (with Polish letters, but difficult to write and pronounce for foreigners, the closest English phonetic approximation being "Vawensa"). A month later, Walesa went to the U.S. representing Poland at the state funeral of Ronald Reagan. On April 25, 2007 Walesa represented the Polish government at the funeral of Boris Yeltsin, former President of the Russian Federation.
In 2001 Walesa was awarded the Pacem in Terris Award. It was named after a 1963 encyclical letter by Pope John XXIII that calls upon all people of good will to secure peace among all nations. Pacem in Terris is Latin for 'Peace on Earth.'
In 2002, Walesa represented Europe in carrying the Olympic flag at the opening ceremonies of the XIX Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, joining Archbishop Desmond Tutu (Africa), John Glenn (The Americas), Kazuyoshi Funaki (Asia), Cathy Freeman (Oceania), Jean-Michel Cousteau (Environment), Jean-Claude Killy (Sport), and Steven Spielberg (Culture).
During Poland's 2005 presidential elections, Walesa supported Donald Tusk, saying that he was the best of all the candidates. Simultaneously, he expressed support for Poland's newly-formed Democratic Party - demokraci.pl in the parliamentary elections of the same year.
In 2006, Walesa quit Solidarity. In an Associated Press report, he cited differences with the party's support of the Law and Justice party, and the rise to power of Lech and Jaroslaw Kaczynski.
On October 11, 2006 Walesa was the keynote speaker at the launch of the proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 2005 at the United Nations Trusteeship Council. The Day, to be observed on 20 December, aims to raise awareness of the importance of solidarity for advancing the international development agenda, especially for poverty eradication. In the Millennium Declaration, Heads of State and Government identified solidarity as one of the “fundamental values… essential to international relations”. Mr. Walesa received a long applause from the audience after delivering an emotional speech on the impact of the day in human relationships and how his own movement "Solidarnosc" succeeded in getting support from people from various countries.
In January 2007, Walesa spoke at the event "Towards a Global Forum on New Democracies" in Taiwan in support of democracy and peace along with other prominent world leaders and President Chen Shui-bian of Taiwan.
On May 30, 2007, Walesa received the title Defender of the Faith, Defensor Fidei, from the Italian Cultural Association.
On February 27, 2008 in Methodist DeBakey Heart and Vascular Center, Houston, Walesa had a stent placed in his heart to open a partially blocked artery and had a pacemaker implanted.
Other activities
Walesa continues to appear in the media, being often asked to comment on current events. Of late, he also declared he is interested in information technology, and likes to use new developments in that field. He claimed to have put together a few computers on his own to find out how they work, and declared he takes a smartphone, a palmtop and a laptop with him when travelling . At the beginning of 2006, he revealed that he is a registered user of the Polish instant messaging service Gadu-Gadu, and was granted a special user number by the service provider - 1980. His previous number was 5606334, and was made public on the website of the Lech Walesa Institute. Later that year, he also declared he uses Skype, where his handle is lwprezydent2006. It was reported that he uses it extensively, also because he sees it a measure of saving money, claiming that his wife spends more than he earns anyway. Beside online media, Walesa plays himself in Andrzej Wajda's 1981 fictional film about Solidarity, Man of Iron and footage of him appears in Michael Jackson's music video "Man In The Mirror". In the late 1990s he was offered $1,000,000 to shave off his trademark moustache in a Gillette commercial, but he refused. A couple of years later though, to a big public surprise, Walesa did shave off his moustache for a brief period 'just for fun'.
In popular culture
- In Volker Schlöndorff's film Strike, a character based on Walesa is played by the Polish actor . He is never explicitly referred to as Walesa, simply as "Leszek" (a diminutive form of Lech).
- Walesa plays himself in Andrzej Wajda's Golden Palm-winning film Man of Iron.
- Two satirical Polish songs, "Nie wierzcie elektrykom" ("Don't Trust Electricians") by Big Cyc and "Walesa, gdzie moje 100 000 000" ("Walesa, Where's My 100,000,000 [zlotych]?") by Kazik Staszewski were big hits in Poland in the 1990s.
Alleged cooperation with communist security service
In 2008 historians from the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), Slawomir Cenckiewicz and Piotr Gontarczyk published a book "SB a Lech Walesa. Przyczynek do biografii" ("Lech Walesa & SB") which claims that in the 1970s the Solidarity leader and former President of Poland, Lech Walesa, was a secret informer of the Polish communist secret police - Sluzba Bezpieczenstwa under the codename "Bolek". The book includes documents as well as witness testimonies and focuses on the history of the documents which disappeared from Walesa's archived UB files in the early 90's, when Walesa twice had access to them during his presidency. According to the authors, after Walesa returned the file, some documents were missing. Walesa confirmed seeing the documents but denied having taken them. Other anti-communist movement members of that time, including Andrzej Gwiazda and Lech Kaczynski have claimed Walesa did indeed collaborate with the SB in the 1970s. The evidence however is unclear and historians are divided. The book is seen as highly controversial, and many criticized it as an attack on a hero's reputation.
Honours and awards
Apart from his Nobel Prize (1983) , Walesa received several other international prizes. He has been awarded 32 honorary degrees from several United States and European Universities. Named "Man of the Year" by: Time Magazine, 1981; The Financial Times, 1980; The Observer, 1980 .
- Presidential Medal of Freedom, 1989
- Liberty Medal, 1989
- Knight of the Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath, 1991
- Grand Cross of Legion of Honour, 1991
- Grand Order of Merit, Italy, 1991
- Cavaliere di Gran Corce decorato di Gran Cordone, Italy 1991
- Honorary Citizen of London, 1991
- Grand Sash of Order of Leopold, 1991
- Order of H.H. Pius XII
- Order of Merit of Federal Republic of Germany
- Order al Merito of Republic of Chile
- National Order of the Southern Cross, Brazil
- Grand Cross of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana of Estonia
- Medal of Independence of the Republic of Turkey
- Military Order of St. James with Swords, Portugal
- Order of Henry of Portugal
- Order of Korea
- Order of the Netherlands Lion of Holland
- Medal of Republic of Uruguay
- Medal UNESCO
- Commander Grand Cross of the Order of the White Rose, Finland, 1993
- Knight of the Swedish Order of the Seraphim, 1993
- Knight of the Danish Order of the Elephant, 1993
- Grand Cross of Order of Merit, Republic Hungary, 1994
- Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav, 1995
- Grand Cross Knight of the Order of Polonia Restituta, 1992 (ex officio)
- Knight of Order of White Eagle, Poland, 1992 (ex officio)
- Freedom Medal of National Endowment for Democracy, Washington, 1999
- International Freedom Award, Memphis, 1999
- Grand Cross of the Order of the White Lion, Czech Republic, 1999
- Pacem in Terris Award (2001)
- One of A Different Views 15 Champions of World Democracy, 2008
Honorary doctorates
Lech Walesa holds 33 honorary doctorates from universities across the world including these:
- Alliance College, Pennsylvania - 1981
- Columbia University - 1981
- Catholic University, Louvain - 1981
- MacMurray College, Illinois - 1982
- University of Notre Dame - 1982
- Providence College - 1981
- St. Senis University, Paris - 1982
- Seton Hall University - 1982
- L'Université de Paris - 1983
- Harvard University - 1983
- Fordham University - 1984
- University of Dundee, Scotland - 1984
- McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada - 1989
- Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada - 1989
- Gdansk University - 1990
- Copernicus University, Torun, Poland - 1990
- Connecticut State University - 1996
- Universidad Anahuac del Sur, Mexico City - 1996
- Universidad del San Salvador, Buenos Aires - 1997
- Universidad de Mendoza, Mendoza - 1997
- Korea University (hon. prof.)
- Seul - 1997
- Meiji University, Tokyo - 1997
- Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri - 1998
- Lynn University, Miami - 1998
- Gannon University, Erie, Pennsylvania - 1999
- University of Hawaii, Manoa/Honolulu - 1999
- Lewis and Clark College, Portland, Oregon
- Middlebury College, Vermont - 2000
- University of Oregon, Eugene - 2001
- Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra, Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic - 2001
- Saint Ambrose University, Davenport, Iowa - 2001
- Ramapo College of New Jersey, Mahwah, NJ - 2001
- University of North Carolina at Charlotte, NC - 2002.
- Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Canada - 2005
See also
External links
Links to Films and Videos about Lech Walesa
Other external links
- by Mark Seddon
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- (after signing the agreement with the Strike Coordination Committee to allow legal organization in August 1980)
- on the 25th anniversary of the founding of Solidarity
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