Lech Walesa

• Born: 29 September 1943
• Birthplace: Popowo, Poland
• Best Known As: Trade union activist who became president of Poland

During the 1980s trade union activist Lech Walesa was the face of Poland's anti-Soviet struggle, and in 1990 he won the presidency in Poland's first free election in half a century. Walesa was a trained electrician working in the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk when he got involved in union activism around 1970. An organizer of shipyard strikes in the mid-1970s, he lost his job in 1976 over his anti-communist political views. While managing to make a living, he became more involved in demanding rights for workers, and in 1980 his Interfactory Strike Committee evolved into the Solidarity movement (Solidarnosc). With a reported 10 million Polish workers on their side, Solidarity was able to win concessions in the Gdansk Agreement (31 August 1980), and quickly became an all-purpose political group that demanded free elections and openly called for the ouster of the Soviet-backed communist government. When martial law was declared in December of 1981, Walesa's organization was forced underground, and Walesa was arrested and briefly jailed. By the end of 1982 he was back in the shipyards, an international folk hero who was TIME magazine's 1980 Man of the Year. Walesa won the Nobel Peace Prize and was received by Pope John Paul II in 1983, and Solidarity could not be ignored by the government.

Legalized again in 1989, Solidarity won concessions in a series of negotiations (the "roundtable talks") and were allowed to run candidates for parliament. Walesa won the presidency in 1990 (9 December), but lost in a bid for re-election in 1995 to former communist Aleksander Kwasniewski. His term was marked by internal struggles within his political party, and by the time he left office he was considerably less popular. He ran for office in 2000, but fared poorly at the polls. Considered a key figure in what led to the collapse of the Soviet Union, Walesa travels the world on the lecture circuit and heads up the Lech Walesa Institute Foundation (est. 1995).

For more information on Lech Walesa, visit Britannica.com.

(b. Popowo, 29 Sept. 1943) Polish; chairman of Solidarity 1981 – 2000, President 1990 – 95 Wałęsa was the son of a carpenter. After elementary education and three years' vocational training he moved to Gdańsk, where he worked as an electrician in the Lenin Shipyards. He was determined to secure recognition for the workers shot by the regime after the food riots of 1970. In 1976 he joined in demonstrations against the government's watering-down of the economic concessions it had made in 1970 and as a result was dismissed from his job. From 1976 to 1980 he was unemployed and edited an underground newspaper. At the same time he was a prominent member of the Workers' Self-Defence Committee, an unofficial organization which had close links with the Catholic intelligentsia. In August 1980 the workers of Gdańsk went on strike at the government's raising food prices. Wałęsa climbed into the Lenin Shipyards where his former colleagues recognized him as leader of the strike which soon spread. At the end of the month, Wałęsa led a committee which negotiated with the Communist regime. On 30 August the government granted the workers' right to form independent trade unions and their right to strike as well as general freedom of expression. These concessions were unprecedented in the Soviet Bloc. In September 1980, Wałęsa became chairman of Solidarity, the newly created national organization of the independent trade unions. By the time of its first congress in September 1981, Solidarity had 9½ million members. Wałęsa tried to play a moderating role within the organization. A devout Catholic himself he was in close touch with the primate of Poland, Cardinal Glemp, and was advised by members of the Catholic intelligentsia, such as Tadeusz Mazowiecki. He was unable to restrain the radical wing of Solidarity, which pushed for a greater share of political power. After General Jaruzelski's declaration of martial law in December 1981, Wałęsa was put under house arrest for eleven months. Upon his release he resumed leadership of the now underground Solidarity organization. In 1983 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his defence of the Polish workers. He donated the money to charity. Solidarity refused to co-operate with Jaruzelski's programme of economic reform, which failed.

In January 1989 the Communist regime legalized Solidarity and Wałęsa played a key role in the negotiations between trade union, church, and state which led to the partially free elections of May 1989. In September 1989 Wałęsa's candidate, Mazowiecki, formed the first non-Communist government since the 1940s. In April 1990 Wałęsa was re-elected chairman of Solidarity. Over the year a split within Solidarity grew, partly because of Wałęsa's criticism of the slow pace of political reform and the harsh social consequences of rapid marketization. When Jaruzelski resigned as President in November he stood against Mazowiecki and Polish-born Canadian émigré, Tymiński. In the first electoral round he gained only 40 per cent of the vote against Tymiński's 23 per cent and Mazowiecki's 18 per cent. But in the second round he won a decisive victory with 74 per cent of the vote against Tymiński's 26 per cent, and became President in December 1990. His popularity continued to be eroded by austerity and he was narrowly defeated by the reformed Communist candidate in the presidential elections of January 1996.

Lech Walesa (born 1943), charismatic leader of Solidarity, the independent trade union movement in Poland, was awarded the 1983 Nobel Peace Prize for his valiant struggle to secure workers' rights through negotiation and peaceful means.

Lech Walesa was born on September 29, 1943, in the village of Popowo, located between Warsaw and Gdansk, the son of a private farmer and carpenter. He attended technical school in nearby Lipno and worked briefly as an electromechanic in Lochocin. After completing military service from 1963 to 1965, he moved to Gdansk where he was employed as an electrical technician at the Lenin Shipyard. While there, Walesa was in the vanguard of trade union activists who sought to redress workers' grievances. To gain objectives, he pursued negotiations and nonviolent resistance when dealing with government authorities.

In December 1970, as food shortages and drastic increases in food prices precipitated violent protest strikes in shipyards along the Baltic coast, Walesa was elected chair of the Strike Committee at the Lenin Shipyard. There, on January 15, 1971, he was among those who negotiated workers' demands with First Secretary of the Communist Party Edward Gierek. After an interim of political inactivity, Walesa was elected delegate to the shipyard Works' Council meeting in February 1976, where he spoke out against the authorities for reneging on concessions agreed to in the 1971 negotiations. Dismissed from his job at the shipyard, he found work in May 1976 at a construction machinery enterprise.

Working To Build True Trade Unionism

During the fall of 1976 Walesa made contact with the Workers' Defense Committee (KOR, Polish initials), renamed Committee for Social Self-Defense, which was founded in September 1976 by dissident intellectuals in Warsaw to provide aid to the brutalized workers of Warsaw and Radom. June strikes against increased food prices. Walesa and union activists in Gdansk drew up a Charter of Workers' Rights on April 29, 1978, and formed the unofficial Baltic Committee of Independent Trade Unions to defend the workers' economic, legal, and human rights.

Although involved in the underground trade union movement, Walesa continued to work with the government-controlled, official trade unions. Elected delegate to the official union's elections, he protested against flagrant election manipulation and in December 1978 was fired from his job. Five months later Walesa began work at the engineering enterprise Elektromontaz, where he earned recognition as an outstanding electrician.

Walesa and union activists arranged unofficial memorial services in December 1978 at Gate Number Two of the Lenin Shipyard for the 45 workers who were killed by military and government security forces in the 1970 food strikes. On the following anniversary, December 16, 1979, Walesa and members of the Baltic Committee organized unauthorized mass demonstrations at the gates. He urged the formation of independent trade unions and social self-defense groups, modeled on KOR, to assist workers. After numerous arrests were made, Walesa defended his coworkers who were to be discharged in January 1980 for taking part in the rally. He, too, lost his job at Elektromontaz. Over a ten-year period, Walesa was held under 48-hour arrest with great regularity.

After the government covertly attempted to increase meat and meat product prices in July 1980, triggering numerous strikes, Walesa, unemployed, scaled the 12-foot-high perimeter fence of the Lenin Shipyard on August 14, 1980, and took charge of the shipyard strike. He demanded his own job reinstatement and that of the recently fired veteran crane operator and union activist Anna Walentynowicz and stipulated that the proceedings be broadcast throughout the yard. At the successful conclusion of three days of negotiations, Walesa abruptly reversed his decision to call off the strike and began a solidarity strike in behalf of sympathy strikers from factories in the Gdansk area who were excluded from the settlement. With 21 demands in hand and his commission of experts, Walesa entered into negotiations with Deputy Prime Minister Mieczyslaw Jagielski on August 23 and, after a week of hard negotiations, won the government's acceptance of independent autonomous trade unions and the right to strike. On August 31, 1980, he signed the final phase of the Gdansk Agreement and ended the strike.

The Founding of "Solidarity"

Walesa issued the official Charter of the Independent Autonomous Trade Union in Gdansk on September 15, 1980 as Party First Secretary Stanislaw Kania extended the Gdansk Accords to the entire country. On September 17, 1980, Walesa was elected chair of the highest decision-making body of the new national union, the National Coordinating Commission of the Independent Autonomous Trade Union "Solidarity" (NSZZ Solidarność). Leading a large delegation, Walesa presented Solidarity's statutes to the Warsaw District Court on September 24 for registration as required by law. From September to November 1980 Walesa utilized the "strike" mechanism effectively to counter a series of confrontations designed by the authorities to weaken and destroy Solidarity.

On December 16, 1980, Walesa dedicated the long-promised monument to the martyred workers of December 1970 at the gates of the Lenin Shipyard. With only 27 names of the dead conceded by the government, Walesa commemorated the tenth anniversary together with representatives of Solidarity, the Catholic Church, and the Communist Party in a public display of unity. In mid-January 1981 Walesa led a delegation to Rome where he was received by Pope John Paul II and met with Italian trade union leaders.

During 1981 Walesa was frequently called upon to defuse wildcat strikes. To halt rampant strike activity, Walesa acquiesced to Prime Minister Wojciech Jaruzelski's request of February 10 for a 90-day strike moratorium and promise of dialogue on the reform of labor laws.

The unprovoked, violent police action against representatives of Rural Solidarity in Bydgoszcz on March 19, 1981, required the hospitalization of three Solidarity members. Walesa demanded the arrest and prosecution of those responsible. He began a nationwide four-hour warning strike and prepared for a massive, general strike scheduled for March 31, 1981. When the Warsaw Agreement was reached, Walesa drew severe criticism from Solidarity members for his undemocratic actions and for arbitrarily suspending the planned general strike. He was also castigated by members of Rural Solidarity, who were dissatisfied with the outcome. As a result of Walesa's negotiations, however, the weekly journal "Solidarity" (Solidarność) was published a few days later and Rural Solidarity was registered as an independent union on May 12, 1981.

By August 1981 talks between Walesa and government negotiator Mieczyslaw Rakowski collapsed as Solidarity, with ten million members, prepared for its first national congress. Walesa and Solidarity came under fire from fierce propaganda attacks while Soviet military and naval maneuvers increased fears of an invasion. Opening the first session of the national congress in September 1981 in Gdansk, Walesa defended his undemocratic negotiating methods and called for free elections on local and parliamentary levels. Between sessions he pushed through a workers' self-management compromise on worker participation in economic reform at the factory level, which the Sejm (parliament) hastily passed. Walesa was reelected chairman of Solidarity on October 1, 1981.

"Solidarity" Declared Illegal

With strikes and protests continuing unabated, Walesa declared a three-month strike moratorium on November 4, 1981, and met at an unprecedented summit with Archbishop Jozef Glemp and Party First Secretary General Wojciech Jaruzelski, who offered plans for a Council for National Agreement. Recognizing that Solidarity and the Church would play mere consultative and symbolic roles, Walesa rejected the plans. On November 19, due to a severe national economic downturn, he appealed to the West for food aid for a period of five months.

Despite Walesa's conciliatory gestures, riot police forcibly evicted strikers at the Warsaw Fire Service Academy's sit-in on December 2, 1981. Walesa called the presidium and regional chairmen into closed session in Radom, where he issued a statement on the government's refusal to conclude a genuine national agreement. On December 7, 1981, a secretly obtained, edited tape of the meeting was broadcast by Warsaw Radio, implicating Walesa in confrontation with the authorities and the Solidarity militants in the overthrow of the government.

In a massive, predawn, secretive military crackdown, Walesa and nearly all of Solidarity's leadership were arrested and interned on December 13, 1981, and martial law was imposed. Flown to Warsaw for talks with General Wojciech Jaruzelski, he refused to negotiate or televise an appeal for calm and, while in custody in Warsaw, smuggled messages to Solidarity advocating peaceful resistance. Transferred to the Arlamow hunting reserve in southeast Poland, Walesa continued in his refusal to cooperate with the authorities. Solidarity was delegalized in October 1982 by the Party-dominated and controlled Sejm. Walesa was released on November 11, 1982, after 11 months of internment.

Wins Nobel Prize for Peace

In June 1983 during Pope John Paul II's second journey to Poland Walesa was granted leave for a private audience with the pope at a remote retreat in the Tatra Mountains of southern Poland. As a result of the meeting Walesa lessened his overt political activity to ease the internal situation in Poland. After receiving permission to return to the Lenin Shipyard in April 1983, he resumed work at his own request in August 1983, ten days after martial law was lifted.

For his determined and nonviolent fight for human rights, Walesa won the 1983 Nobel Prize for Peace. But, fearing that Polish authorities would block his return to Poland, he designated his wife, Danuta, mother of his seven children, to accept the award in his name in Oslo in December 1983. In his acceptance speech, delivered by his wife, Walesa declared, "We crave for justice, and that is why we are so persistent in the struggle for our rights." He called for dialogue with the authorities, as well as East-West dialogue, and appealed for aid to Poland.

Walesa dedicated the Nobel Prize to the ten million members of the outlawed Solidarity movement and pledged the prize money to a Church-sponsored agricultural foundation for private farmers. He called for the resumption of dialogue with the authorities, with the Church as intermediary, and continued to seek talks during the succeeding years while maintaining a low profile.

On August 30, 1985, the fifth anniversary of the Independent Autonomous Trade Union in Gdansk, Walesa appealed once again to the authorities to resume talks and to seek an agreement. He offered positive proposals in a document, "Poland Five Years after the August," compiled by Solidarity activists, which would serve as a basis for dialogue and which would bring about the hoped-for peaceful solution to workers' problems in Poland.

In 1989, when it was announced that Poland would be able to freely choose its government, Walesa began promoting a new presidential election, and when it was apparent that he had public support, he announced his intention for candidacy. In 1990 he was elected president of Poland. Although the country suffered a deadlocked government and high unemployment rate during Walesa's term, he accomplished much. Walesa pushed hard for reforms, and devoted a great deal of energy to ensuring Poland's entry to the European Union. He was responsible for ending Polish ties to Russia and even received a declaration from Russian president Boris Yeltsin that stated Russia's lack of objection to Poland's entry into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Under Walesa, the Polish economy became sixty percent privatized, with a growth rate of six percent. He is, however, not credited with this achievement, because of both his apparent lack of interest in the plight of workers mired in the transition economy and the Polish people's rather unrealistic desire for immediate change. Many of his critics say that Walesa failed to prepare Poland for the shock of the economy's transformation from Communism to democracy. The Poles' dissatisfaction with the pace of change helped ensure Communist opponent Aleksander Kwasniewski's presidential victory in the elections of 1995.

While he lost the presidency to a former Communist in Poland's 1995 elections, Walesa can nevertheless be credited with helping to unfurl the banner of democracy across Communist Europe. Indeed, the key role he played in liberalizing Eastern Europe has earned him a long list of honors, not least of which was the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983. Walesa is also the author of several books, including A Way of Hope (1987) and The Struggle and the Triumph (1991). In 1995, he became the vice president of the Lech Walesa Institute Foundation.

Further Reading

The Book of Lech Walesa (1982), a collective portrait by Solidarity members and friends, provides valuable insights, as does Robert Eringer, Strike for Freedom: The Story of Lech Walesa and Polish Solidarity (1982). Michael Dobbs presents Lech Walesa as the "Symbol of Polish August" in Poland, Solidarity and Walesa (1981). For a personal glimpse, read Walter Brolewicz, My Brother, Lech Walesa (1983). Neal Ascherson, The Polish August: The Self-Limiting Revolution (1981) and Timothy Garton Ash, The Polish Revolution: Solidarity (1983, 1985) are indispensable, definitive historical accounts of Solidarity and Lech Walesa's role in the movement. Other important works include A. Kemp-Welch, The Birth of Solidarity: The Gdansk Negotiations, 1980 (1983) and Alain Touraine, Solidarity, the Analysis of a Social Movement: Poland 1980-81 (1983). A brief chapter on "Solidarity, 1980-1981" is included in Volume II of Norman Davies, God's Playground: A History of Poland, 2 vols. (1982). In 1987 Walesa published his reminiscences in A Way of Hope.

A Polish labor leader and politician of the twentieth century, known for the success of Solidarity, an independent labor union that he headed. He was periodically put under arrest by the communist government. Walesa won the Nobel Prize for peace in 1983. From 1990 to 1995, he was president of Poland.

Quotes:

"The thing that lies at the foundation of positive change, the way I se it, is service to a fellow human being."

"You have riches and freedom here but I feel no sense of faith or direction. You have so many computers, why don't you use them in the search for love?"

"The supply of words in the world market is plentiful but the demand is falling. Let deeds follow words now."

"Wałęsa" redirects here. For other uses, see Wałęsa (disambiguation).

Lech Wałęsa
President of the Republic of Poland 1st elected President of the Third Republic
In office 22 December 1990 – 22 December 1995
Prime Minister	Tadeusz Mazowiecki, Jan Krzysztof Bielecki, Jan Olszewski, Waldemar Pawlak, Hanna Suchocka, Józef Oleksy
Preceded by	Wojciech Jaruzelski (in country) Ryszard Kaczorowski (in exile)
Succeeded by	Aleksander Kwaśniewski
1st Chairman of Solidarity
In office 1980 – 12 December 1990
Preceded by	N/A
Succeeded by	Marian Krzaklewski
Born	29 September 1943 (1943-09-29) (age 66) Popowo, Poland)
Political party	Solidarity
Spouse(s)	Danuta Wałęsa
Profession	Electrician
Religion	Roman Catholic

Lech Wałęsa (IPA: [ˈlɛx vaˈwɛ̃sa] (help·info); born 29 September 1943) is a Polish politician and a former trade union and human rights activist. He co-founded Solidarity (Solidarność), 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.^[1]

Contents 1 Life and career 1.1 Solidarity 1.2 Presidency and afterwards 2 Other activities 3 In popular culture 4 Alleged cooperation with communist security service 5 Honours and awards 6 Honorary doctorates 7 See also 8 References 9 External links 9.1 Films and videos 9.2 Other external links

Life and career

Wałęsa was born in Popowo, Poland, on 29 September 1943, to a carpenter and his wife. He attended primary and vocational school, before entering Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk (Stocznia Gdańska im. Lenina, now Stocznia Gdańska) as an electrical technician in 1970. In 1969 he married Danuta Gołoś, and the couple now have eight children^[1]. His son Jarosław Wałęsa was a member of Poland's Sejm (lower house of the Polish parliament); currently is a member of European Parliament. Lech Wałęsa 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 Gdańsk Shipyard in 1970 (Polish 1970 protests).

In 1976, Wałęsa lost his job in Gdańsk Shipyard.

In June 1978, he joined the illegal underground Free Trade Unions of the Coast (Wolne Związki Zawodowe Wybrzeża), organized by Bogdan Borusewicz, Andrzej Gwiazda, Krzysztof Wyszkowski, Lech Kaczyński, Anna Walentynowicz, Antoni Sokołowski, and others.

On 14 August 1980, after the beginning of an occupational strike in the Lenin Shipyard of Gdańsk, Wałęsa became the leader of this strike. The strike was spontaneously followed by similar strikes, first in Gdańsk, and then across Poland.

In September 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 Solidarność (Solidarity) Free Trade Union, and Wałęsa was chosen as a chairman of this Committee.

Wałęsa kept this position until 13 December 1981, when he was arrested. General Wojciech Jaruzelski declared a state of martial law on 13 December. Wałęsa was incarcerated for 11 months in eastern Poland in several villages (Chylice, Otwock and Arłamów near the Soviet border) until 14 November 1982.

In 1983, he applied to come back to Gdańsk Shipyard as a simple electrician. The same year, he was also 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 Wałęsa, received the prize in his place.

From 1987 to 1990, Wałęsa organized and led the "half-illegal" Temporary Executive Committee of Solidarity Trade Union. In 1988, Wałęsa organized an occupational strike in Gdańsk Shipyard, demanding only the re-legalisation of Solidarity. After 80 days, the government agreed to enter into talks in September. Wałęsa 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, Wałęsa 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).

US President George H. W. Bush (right) and Barbara Bush (left) with Wałęsa (center) in Warsaw, July 1989.

Wałęsa leading the Solidarity movement

Round-table negotiations

While technically just a Chairman of Solidarity at the time, Wałęsa 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 is the only private foreign citizen to address a joint session of the United States Congress, which he did on 15 November 1989.^[2] He was also the first recipient of the Liberty Medal on 4 July 1989 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In his acceptance speech, he said, "Liberty is not only a right, but also our common responsibility and duty."^[3]

Documents coming to light as of June 2008 allege that Wałęsa had been a collaborator of the Communist secret police (Polish: tajny współpracownik) under the pseudonym "Bolek", well prior to the formation of Solidarity.^[4][5] Walesa himself denies any collaboration and there is no substantiation of these rumors.^[6][7] On 11 August 2000, the Appellate Court of Warsaw, V Wydział Lustracyjny, declared that Wałęsa's Lustration Statement is true, meaning he did not collaborate with the Communist regime.

Presidency and afterwards

On 9 December 1990, Wałęsa 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 Wałęsa was allegedly linked with illegal prosecution and disintegration of Polish conservative and independent rightist parties (so called Instruction UOP nr 0015/92).

Wałęsa with former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum

Wałęsa lost the 1995 presidential election, collecting 48.72% of the votes in the run-off election against Aleksander Kwaśniewski. This was by less than 3.5%, a margin which many people^{[citation needed]} 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 Wałęsa's lack of higher education as a political weapon.^{[citation needed]} Calls for a new election were dismissed.

In the early 1990s, Wałęsa had proposed a "NATO-bis" 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.^[8]

After that, he claimed to go to "political retirement", but he was still active, trying to establish his own political party. In 1997 Wałęsa supported and helped to organize a new party called Solidarity Electoral Action (Akcja Wyborcza Solidarność) which won the 1997 parliamentary elections. However, his support was of minor significance and Wałęsa 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.

Wałęsa 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, Wałęsa 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, Wałęsa is still publicly addressed as "President".^{[citation needed]}

Wałęsa and Aleksander Kwaśniewski shaking hands at the funeral of Pope John Paul II; Tadeusz Mazowiecki in the middle

On 10 May 2004, the Gdańsk international airport was officially renamed Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport to commemorate the famous Gdańsk citizen. His signature was incorporated into the airport's logo. A month later, Wałęsa went to the U.S. representing Poland at the state funeral of Ronald Reagan. On 25 April 2007 Wałęsa represented the Polish government at the funeral of Boris Yeltsin, former President of the Russian Federation.

In 2001 Wałęsa 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, Wałęsa 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, Wałęsa 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, Wałęsa 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 Jarosław Kaczyński.

Wikinews has related news: Lech Walesa quits Solidarity

On 11 October 2006 Wałęsa was the keynote speaker at the launch of the "International Human Solidarity Day" 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. Wałęsa 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 "Solidarność" succeeded in getting support from people from various countries.

In January 2007, Wałęsa spoke at the event "Towards a Global Forum on New Democracies"^[9] in Taiwan in support of democracy and peace along with other prominent world leaders and President Chen Shui-bian of Taiwan.

On 30 May 2007, Wałęsa received the title Defender of the Faith, Defensor Fidei, from the Italian Cultural Association.

On 27 February 2008 in Methodist DeBakey Heart and Vascular Center, Houston, Wałęsa had a stent placed in his heart to open a partially blocked artery and had a pacemaker implanted.^[10]

Wałęsa appeared at a rally in Rome to make a speech and endorse the pan-European eurosceptic party Libertas in the run up to the 2009 European elections, describing the party and its founder Declan Ganley as "a force for good in the world"^[11][12]. Wałęsa admitted to being paid to give the speech but claimed to support the Civic Platform, whilst expressing a hope that Libertas members were elected to the European Parliament^[13].

On 23 October 2009 he spoke at a conference in Gdansk of the Presidents of all European Senates commerating the 20th anniversary of the first free parliamentary elections in a former Communist country, the elections to the Senate of Poland in 1989.

Wałęsa is a staunch critic of abortion, and stated that he would rather have resigned twenty times as president than sign a law allowing abortion in his country.^[14]

Other activities

Wałęsa 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 ^[15]. 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 Wałęsa Institute^[16]. Later that year, he also declared he uses Skype, where his handle is lwprezydent2006.^{[citation needed] [17]}. Beside online media, Wałęsa 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, Wałęsa did shave off his moustache for a brief period 'just for fun'.

In popular culture

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (July 2009)

• In Volker Schlöndorff's film Strike, a character based on Wałęsa is played by the Polish actor Andrzej Chyra. He is never explicitly referred to as Wałęsa, simply as "Leszek" (a diminutive form of Lech).
• Wałęsa 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 "Wałęsa, gdzie moje 100 000 000" ("Wałęsa, Where's My 100,000,000 [złotych]?") by Kazik Staszewski were big hits in Poland in the 1990s.
• He inspired U2's song "New Year's Day" on the album War. Coincidentally (perhaps), Polish authorities lifted martial law on 1 January 1983, when this single came out.^[18]
• Patrick Dailly's "Solidarity", starring Kristen Brown as Lech Walesa, was premiered by San Francisco Cabaret Opera in Berkeley and Oakland in September and October 2009.

Alleged cooperation with communist security service

Since the fall of communism in 1989 several former colleagues and political opponents of Walesa (including Anna Walentynowicz^[19], Andrzej Gwiazda^[19] and current president of Poland Lech Kaczynski^[20]) accused him of being a secret informer of the Polish communist secret police - Służba Bezpieczeństwa in the early 1970s under the codename "Bolek". This claim, along with testimonies and corresponding documents were featured in documentary films Nocna zmiana and Plusy dodatnie, plusy ujemne. Three books covering the issue were published: Sprawa Lecha Wałęsy (2008), Lech Wałęsa. Idea i historia (2009) and SB a Lech Wałęsa. Przyczynek do biografii^[21] (2008).

The last of the three, written by historians from the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), Sławomir Cenckiewicz and Piotr Gontarczyk, received substantial coverage in the media and provoked a hot nationwide debate. It includes documents as well as witness testimonies and focuses on the history of the documents which disappeared from Wałęsa's archived UB files in the early 90's, when Wałęsa twice had access to them during his presidency. According to the authors, after Wałęsa returned the file, some documents were missing. Wałęsa confirmed seeing the documents but denied having taken them. The book is seen as highly controversial. Some^[who?] historians criticized it on the basis that the evidence provided is unclear. Others accused it of defaming a hero's reputation.^[22]

Infuriated by the resurgence of the accusations in March 2009, Wałęsa announced that he would not take part in ceremonies commemorating the 20th anniversary of the fall of Communism, and if accusations continue, he would first return all his decorations, then leave Poland altogether.^[23]

Honours and awards

Apart from his Nobel Prize (1983) ^[24], Wałęsa received several other international prizes. He has been awarded 33 ^[25] 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 ^[25], 2009; Legion of Liberty (IPEA)^[26].

• Presidential Medal of Freedom, 1989
• Liberty Medal, 1989
• Honorary Knight 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 the Netherlands
• 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 View's 15 Champions of World Democracy, 2008
• Legion Of Liberty, 2009
• Northeastern Illinois University named one of the campus building - Lech Walesa Hall, 2009

Honorary doctorates

Lech Wałęsa holds 35 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

Organized Labour portal

• History of Poland
• Bezpartyjny Blok Wspierania Reform (BBWR)
• Cold War

References

• God must have parachuted him to Earth, by Stefan Chwin English, originally published in Tygodnik Powszechny, December 2008

1. ^ ^{a b} "CNN Cold War - Profile: Lech Walesa". CNN. http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/kbank/profiles/walesa/. Retrieved 2007-08-19. 
2. ^ The Office of the Clerk http://clerk.house.gov/art_history/house_history/foreignleaders.html
3. ^ "1989 Recipient Lech Walesa - Liberty Medal - National Constitution Center". Constitutioncenter.org. 1989-07-04. http://www.constitutioncenter.org/libertymedal/recipient_1989.html. Retrieved 2009-04-21. 
4. ^ "Fakty Interia article". Fakty.interia.pl. http://fakty.interia.pl/raport/przeszlosc_walesy/news/zobacz-dokumenty-sb-na-lecha-walese,1132301,2943. Retrieved 2009-04-21. 
5. ^ Piotr Gontarczyk, Sławomir Cenckiewicz, "SB a Lech Wałęsa: przyczynek do biografii", Instytut Pamięci Narodowej, Kraków 2008, ISBN 978-83-60464-74-8
6. ^ "Economist article". Economist article. 1990-09-22. http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11632772. Retrieved 2009-04-21. 
7. ^ Wojciech Czuchnowski (2008-06-19). "Gazeta Wyborcza: How the SB produced false documents on Wałęsa". Wiadomosci.gazeta.pl. http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/Wiadomosci/1,80271,5326682,Jak_esbecy_falszowali_kwity_na_Walese.html. Retrieved 2009-04-21. 
8. ^ Monika Wohlefeld, 1996,Security Cooperation in Central Europe: Polish Views. NATO, 1996.
9. ^ "Press Release". Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tiwan. http://www.mofa.gov.tw/webapp/content.asp?cuItem=25174&mp=6. Retrieved 2007-08-19. 
10. ^ "Walesa leaves Texas hospital after heart treatment Reuters". Uk.reuters.com. 2008-03-04. http://uk.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUKN0452940020080304. Retrieved 2009-04-21. 
11. ^ Gibbons, Fiachra (7 May 2009). "Libertas, Lech and some odd bedfellows". France24. http://europeanelections2009.france24.com/content/20090512-anti-Semitic-Jewish-eliminate-Jews-Poland-Ganley-Lech-Walesa. Retrieved 11 May 2009. 
12. ^ Jaroslaw Walesa, Poland, One to watch - 25/05/2009, France 24
13. ^ Gibbons, Fiachra (7 May 2009). "Libertas, Lech and some odd bedfellows". France24. http://europeanelections2009.france24.com/content/20090512-anti-Semitic-Jewish-eliminate-Jews-Poland-Ganley-Lech-Walesa. Retrieved 11 May 2009. 
14. ^ Former Polish president: I would have resigned the presidency rather than legalize abortion. Catholic News Agency.
15. ^ "News Portal(Polish)". News. http://news.webwweb.pl/2,3673,1,Wywiad,z,Lechem,Walesa.html. Retrieved 2007-08-19. 
16. ^ "Gadu Gadu". Instant Messenger. http://www.gadu-gadu.pl/biuro-wiadomosci-prezydent.html. 
17. ^ "Gazeta". News Portal. http://gospodarka.gazeta.pl/gospodarka/1,69805,3380656.html. Retrieved 2007-08-19. 
18. ^ Mick Wall, Bono: In the Name of Love (London: Andre Deutsche, 2005), 92.
19. ^ ^{a b} Plusy dodatnie, plusy ujemne http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hucjMVPjclY&feature=related
20. ^ "Prezydent RP - Polsat, 5 czerwca 2008 r". Prezydent.pl. http://www.prezydent.pl/x.node?id=16543121. Retrieved 2009-04-21. 
21. ^ "Instytut Pamięci Narodowej". Ipn.gov.pl. 2006-02-16. http://www.ipn.gov.pl/portal/pl/229/7615/SB_a_Lech_Walesa_Przyczynek_do_biografii.html. Retrieved 2009-04-21. 
22. ^ 'Positive Proof' Lech Walesa was a Communist Spy: INTERVIEW WITH HISTORIAN SLAWOMIR CENCKIEWICZ, Spiegel, 23 June 2008
23. ^ "Lech Walesa menace de quitter la Pologne." La Presse (Montreal), 30 March 2009.]
24. ^ "The Nobel Peace Prize 1983: Lech Walesa". Nobel Prize Foundation. http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1983/press.html. Retrieved 2007-08-19. 
25. ^ ^{a b} Lech Walesa Institute http://www.ilw.org.pl/english/otfundr.html
26. ^ http://www.hacer.org/report/2009/03/mexico-lech-walesa-receives-legion-of.html

External links

Wikinews has related news: Row over Lech Wałęsa's alleged collaboration with communists escalates

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lech Wałęsa

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Lech Wałęsa

Films and videos

• Signing of the Gdansk Agreement
• Presidential Inauguration

Other external links

• New Statesman interview with Lech Walesa by Mark Seddon
• The Nobel Peace Prize 1983
• Wałęsa speech - mp3
• Lech Walesa – Nobel Lecture
• BBC interview with Lech Walesa on the 25th anniversary of the founding of Solidarity
• Interview on WTTW
• Lech Wałęsa Institute
• The Shaming of Lech Walesa: Why the defeater of communism finds himself defeated by ex-communists--and why he and the American public haven't noticed Agnieszka Tennant, Books & Culture magazine, 2002

Political offices
Preceded by Wojciech Jaruzelski (in country) and Ryszard Kaczorowski (in exile)	President of Poland 1990–1995	Succeeded by Aleksander Kwaśniewski

v • d • e Leaders of Solidarity Lech Wałęsa · Marian Krzaklewski · Janusz Śniadek

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v • d • e Time Men of the Year / Time Persons of the Year Jimmy Carter (1976) · Anwar Sadat (1977) · Deng Xiaoping (1978) · Ayatollah Khomeini (1979) · Ronald Reagan (1980) · Lech Wałęsa (1981) · The Computer (1982) · Ronald Reagan / Yuri Andropov (1983) · Peter Ueberroth (1984) · Deng Xiaoping (1985) · Corazon Aquino (1986) · Mikhail Gorbachev (1987) · The Endangered Earth (1988) · Mikhail Gorbachev (1989) · George H. W. Bush (1990) · Ted Turner (1991) · Bill Clinton (1992) · “The Peacemakers”: Yasser Arafat / F.W. de Klerk / Nelson Mandela / Yitzhak Rabin (1993) · Pope John Paul II (1994) · Newt Gingrich (1995) · David Ho (1996) · Andrew Grove (1997) · Bill Clinton / Kenneth Starr (1998) “Persons”: Jeffrey P. Bezos (1999) · George W. Bush (2000) Complete roster · 1927–1950 · 1951–1975 · 1976–2000 · 2001–present

v • d • e Laureates of the Nobel Peace Prize Betty Williams / Mairead Corrigan (1976) · Amnesty International (1977) · Anwar El Sadat / Menachem Begin (1978) · Mother Teresa (1979) · Adolfo Pérez Esquivel (1980) · United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (1981) · Alva Myrdal / Alfonso García Robles (1982) · Lech Wałęsa (1983) · Desmond Tutu (1984) · International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (1985) · Elie Wiesel (1986) · Óscar Arias (1987) · UN Peacekeeping Forces (1988) · Tenzin Gyatso (14th Dalai Lama) (1989) · Mikhail Gorbachev (1990) · Aung San Suu Kyi (1991) · Rigoberta Menchú (1992) · Nelson Mandela / F.W. de Klerk (1993) · Yasser Arafat / Shimon Peres / Yitzhak Rabin (1994) · Pugwash Conferences / Joseph Rotblat (1995) · Carlos Belo / José Ramos-Horta (1996) · International Campaign to Ban Landmines / Jody Williams (1997) · John Hume / David Trimble (1998) · Médecins Sans Frontières (1999) · Kim Dae-jung (2000) Complete roster · 1901–1925 · 1926–1950 · 1951–1975 · 1976–2000 · 2001–present

v • d • e Candidates in the Polish presidential election, 1990 Winner Lech Wałęsa Lost in runoff Stanisław Tymiński Other candidates Roman Bartoszcze · Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz · Tadeusz Mazowiecki · Leszek Moczulski

v • d • e Candidates in the Polish presidential election, 1995 Winner Aleksander Kwaśniewski Lost in runoff Lech Wałęsa (incumbent) Other candidates Leszek Bubel · Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz · Janusz Korwin-Mikke · Tadeusz Koźluk · Jacek Kuroń · Andrzej Lepper · Jan Olszewski · Waldemar Pawlak · Jan Pietrzak · Kazimierz Piotrowicz · Tadeusz Zieliński Withdrew Lech Kaczyński · Marek Markiewicz · Leszek Moczulski · Bogdan Pawłowski

v • d • e Candidates in the Polish presidential election, 2000 Winner Aleksander Kwaśniewski Other candidates Dariusz Grabowski · Piotr Ikonowicz · Jarosław Kalinowski · Janusz Korwin-Mikke · Marian Krzaklewski · Andrzej Lepper · Jan Łopuszański · Andrzej Olechowski · Bogdan Pawłowski · Lech Wałęsa · Tadeusz Wilecki Withdrew Jan Olszewski

v • d • e Presidents of Poland and non-presidential heads of state since 1918 Republic of Poland (1918-1939) Provisional Head of State: Józef Piłsudski Presidents: Gabriel Narutowicz · Stanisław Wojciechowski · Ignacy Mościcki Marshals: Józef Piłsudski · Edward Rydz-Śmigły Government in Exile (1939-1945) Władysław Raczkiewicz (recognized by the Allies only) People's Republic of Poland (1944-1990) Secretaries: Władysław Gomułka · Bolesław Bierut · Edward Ochab · Edward Gierek · Stanisław Kania · Wojciech Jaruzelski Presidents: Bolesław Bierut · Wojciech Jaruzelski Chairmen: Aleksander Zawadzki · Edward Ochab · Marian Spychalski · Józef Cyrankiewicz · Henryk Jabłoński Republic of Poland (since 1990) Lech Wałęsa · Aleksander Kwaśniewski · Lech Kaczyński

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