Lech Walesa – Biography of Lech Walesa

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Former Polish President and Union Leader Lech walesa was born on September 29, 1943 in Popowo, Poland. After graduating from vocational school, he worked as a car mechanic in a machinery center from 1961 to 1965. He served in the army for two years, rose to the rank of corporal, and in 1967 he worked as an electrician in the Gdansk shipyards. In 1969 he married Danuta Golos and they had eight children.

During the December 1970 confrontation between the workers and the government, he was one of the leaders of the shipyard workers and was briefly detained. However, in 1976, as a result of his activities as a shop steward, he was fired and had to earn a living by taking temporary jobs.

In 1978, with other activists, he began to organize free non-communist unions and participated in many actions on the sea coast. The state security service kept him under surveillance and he was frequently detained.

In August 1980 he led the Gdansk shipyard strike, which led to a wave of strikes across much of the country. The main demands were for workers’ rights. The authorities were forced to capitulate and negotiate with Walesa the Gdansk Agreement of August 31, 1980, which gave workers the right to strike and to organize their own independent union.

The Catholic Church supported the movement and, in January 1981, Walesa he was cordially received by Pope John Paul II at the Vatican. Own Walesa he has always regarded his Catholicism as a source of strength and inspiration. In the years 1980-81, he traveled to Italy, Japan, Sweden, France and Switzerland as a guest of the International Labor Organization. In September 1981 he was elected President of Solidarity at the First National Solidarity Congress in Gdansk.

The country’s brief enjoyment of relative freedom ended in December 1981, when General Jaruzelski, fearing Soviet armed intervention among other considerations, imposed martial law, “suspended” Solidarity, arrested many of its leaders, and interned Walesa. in a country house in a remote place.

In November 1982, Walesa he was released and reinstated in the Gdansk shipyards. Although he was kept under surveillance, he managed to maintain close contact with the underground Solidarity leaders. Although martial law was lifted in July 1983, many of the restrictions continued in the civil code. In October 1983, the announcement of the Nobel Prize for Walesa it lifted the spirits of the underground movement, but the award was attacked by the government press.

Jaruzelski’s regime became even more unpopular as economic conditions worsened and he was eventually forced to negotiate with Walesa and his colleagues from Solidaridad. The result was the holding of parliamentary elections which, although limited, led to the establishment of a non-communist government. With the rule of Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet Union was no longer prepared to use military force to keep the communist parties of the satellite states in power.

Walesa, now the leader of the revived Solidaridad union, began a series of meetings with world leaders.

In April 1990, at the second National Solidarity Congress, Walesa he was elected president with 77.5% of the votes. In December 1990, in a general vote, he was elected President of the Republic of Poland. He served until his defeat in the November 1995 elections.

Walesa He has received many honorary degrees from universities, including Harvard University and the University of Paris. Other honors include the Medal of Freedom (Philadelphia, USA); the Free World Award (Norway); and the European Prize for Human Rights.