Lech Wałęsa

Who is Lech Wałęsa?

Lech Wałęsa is a Polish labour activist and politician who rose from being an electrician at the Gdańsk shipyard to become a central figure in the struggle against communist rule. In 1980 he co-founded and led Solidarity (Solidarność), the first independent, self-governing trade union in the Soviet bloc, born out of the mass strikes at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk. After the imposition of martial law in 1981, the union was suppressed and Wałęsa was detained by the communist authorities. In 1983 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent campaign for workers' rights and democratic freedoms. As Solidarity re-emerged, it played a decisive role in the Round Table negotiations of 1989 that led to partially free elections and the peaceful end of communist rule in Poland. In 1990 Wałęsa was elected President of Poland in the country's first direct presidential election, serving until 1995. He remains a symbol of peaceful resistance and the democratic transformation of Central and Eastern Europe.

Sources: Lech Wałęsa, 'A Way of Hope: An Autobiography', 1987 · Lech Wałęsa, 'The Struggle and the Triumph: An Autobiography', 1992