Lech Wałęsa
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| Lech Wałęsa Image:Nobel Prize.png | |
| Image:Lech walesa prezydent RP.gif
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| In office December 22, 1990 – December 22, 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 |
| | |
| In office 1980 – December 12, 1990 | |
| Preceded by | N/A |
| Succeeded by | Marian Krzaklewski |
| Born | September 29 1943 Popowo, Poland) |
| Political party | Solidarity |
| Spouse | Danuta Wałęsa |
| Profession | Electrician |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Lech Wałęsa (IPA:[ˈlɛx vaˈwɛ̃sa] ; born September 29, 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 (succeeded by Aleksander Kwaśniewski)[1].
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[edit] Biography
Wałęsa was born in Popowo, Poland, 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 1967. In 1969 he married Danuta Gołoś, and the couple now have eight children[1].
[edit] Solidarity
He was a member of the illegal strike committee in Gdańsk Shipyard in 1970. After the bloody end of the strike, resulting in over 80 workers killed by the riot police, Wałęsa was arrested and convicted of "anti-social behavior" and spent one year in prison.
In 1976, Wałęsa lost his job in Gdańsk Shipyard for collecting signatures for a petition to build a memorial for the killed workers. Since he was on an informal blacklist, he could not find another job and was supported, for a time, by friends.
In 1978, together with Andrzej Gwiazda and Aleksander Hall, he organized the illegal underground Free Trade Union of Pomerania (Wolne Związki Zawodowe Wybrzeża). He was arrested several times in 1979 for organizing an "anti-state" organization, but not found guilty in court and released at the beginning of 1980, after which he re-entered the Gdańsk shipyard.
On August 14, 1980, after the beginning of an occupational strike in the Lenin Shipyard of Gdańsk, Wałęsa illegally scaled the wall of the Shipyard and became the leader of this strike. The strike was spontaneously followed by similar strikes across Poland. Several days later, he stopped workers who wanted to leave Gdańsk Shipyard, and persuaded them to organize the Strike Coordination Committee (Międzyzakładowy Komitet Strajkowy) to lead and support the naturally occurring general strike in 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 Solidarność Free Trade Union, and Wałęsa was chosen as a chairman of this Committee.
Wałęsa kept this position until December 11, 1981, when he was arrested. General Wojciech Jaruzelski declared a state of martial law on December 13. Wałęsa was interned for 11 months in south-eastern Poland near the Soviet border until November 14, 1982.
In 1983, he applied to come back to Gdańsk Shipyard to his former position as a simple electrician. While formally treated as a "simple worker", he was practically under house arrest until 1987. The year 1983 also saw Wałęsa 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 Wałęsowa, received the prize in his place. Wałęsa donated the prize money to the Solidarity movement's temporary headquarters, exiled in Brussels.
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 the Solidarity Trade Union. After eighty days the government agreed to enter into round-table 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).
While technically just a Chairman of Solidarity Trade Union 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, to the big surprise of the Communist Party, 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 Congress on November 15 1989 [2]. 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."[3]
[edit] Presidency and afterwards
On December 9, 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 Jan Olszewski cabinet on June 1992, following uneveil list of secret collaborators of communist Służba Bezpieczeństwa 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 lost the 1995 presidential election. This was by less than 1%, 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 Wałęsa's lack of higher education as a political weapon. 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 had only recently regained independence, tended to perceive the concept as imperialistic.[4]
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 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.
In May 10, 2004, the Gdańsk international airport has been officially renamed to Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport to commemorate the famous Gdańsk citizen. His signature has been 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 Wałęsa (with Polish letters, but difficult to write and pronounce for foreigners, the closest English phonetic approximation being "Vowensa"). A month later, Wałęsa went to the U.S., representing Poland at the state funeral of Ronald Reagan. In April 25 2007 Wałęsa 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 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.
On October 11th, 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 of 2007, Walesa spoke at the event "Towards a Global Forum on New Democracies"[5] 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.
[edit] 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 [6]. 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[7]. 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[8]. 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 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'.
[edit] Collaboration with communist secret service controversy
According to records in materials of communist Służba Bezpieczeństwa since December 1970 to June 1976 he was secret collaborator of SB code name Bolek.[9] He informed SB against his colleagues preparing strike in shipyard in 1971, for what he was paid by SB 13 100 Polish zloty. According to testimony of one of Solidarity heroine Anna Walentynowicz in 1980 Lech Wałęsa was conveyed to shipyard by motor-boat of Polish Navy.
[edit] Honors
Apart from his Nobel Prize (1983) [10], Wałęsa received several other international prizes. He has been awarded 32 [11] 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 [12].
- 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, Republic of Italy, 1991
- Ordine Piano I Classe Cavalliere di Collare, 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 Cross of Order of Cross of South, Brazil
- 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
- Knight of the Order of Polonia Restituta, 1996
- Knight of Order of White Eagle, Poland, 1996
- Freedom Medal of National Endowment for Democracy, Washington, 1999
- International Freedom Award, Memphis, 1999
- The Great Order of the White Lion, Czech Republic, 1999
- Pacem in Terris Award (2001)
[edit] Honorary Doctorates
Lech Walesa holds 33 Honorary doctorates (PhD) from Universities across the world including:
- Alliance College, Paris - 1981
- University of Columbia - 1981
- Catholic University, Louvain - 1981
- Mac Murray College, Illinois - 1982
- University Notre Dame - 1982
- Providence College - 1981
- St. Senis University, Paris - 1982
- Seton Hall University - 1982
- Paris University - 1983
- Harvard University - 1983
- Fordham University - 1984
- Dundee University, Great Britain - 1984
- Mac Master University, Hamilton, Canada - 1989
- Simon Fraser University, 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 - 1998
- Lynn University, Miami - 1998
- Gannon University, Erie, Pennsylvania - 1999
- University of Hawaii, Honolulu - 1999
- Lewis and Clark College, Portland
- Middelbury College, VM - 2000
- Oregon - 2001
- Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre Y Maestra
- Santiago de los Caballeros, Republica Dominicana - 2001
- St. Ambrose University, Davenport, Iowa - 2001
- Ramapo College of New Jersey, Mahwah, NJ - 2001
- University of North Carolina at Charlotte, NC - 2002.
- University of Quebec in Trois Rivieres - 2005
[edit] Quotations
- "We lived through some absolutely hopeless situations in history."
- "I had conversations with all the powerful people of the world: with presidents, with prime ministers, chancellors and kings, too. None of them believed that there was any chance of us toppling communism before the year 2000. I didn't meet a single person among those people who would believe that was possible. Not a single one in the whole world."
[edit] See also
| Organized Labour Portal |
[edit] References
- ^ a b CNN Cold War - Profile: Lech Walesa. CNN. Retrieved on 2007-08-19.
- ^ The Office of the Clerk http://clerk.house.gov/art_history/house_history/foreignleaders.html
- ^ http://www.constitutioncenter.org/libertymedal/recipient_1989.html
- ^ Monika Wohlefeld, 1996,Security Cooperation in Central Europe: Polish Views. NATO, 1996.
- ^ Press Release. Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tiwan. Retrieved on 2007-08-19.
- ^ News Portal(Polish). News. Retrieved on 2007-08-19.
- ^ Gadu Gadu. Instant Messenger.
- ^ Gazeta. News Portal. Retrieved on 2007-08-19.
- ^ [http://www.glos.com.pl/ListaM/ListaM.html Lista Macierewicza
- ^ The Nobel Peace Prize 1983: Lech Walesa. Nobel Prize Foundation. Retrieved on 2007-08-19.
- ^ Lech Walesa Institute http://www.ilw.org.pl/english/otfundr.html
- ^ Lech Walesa Institute http://www.ilw.org.pl/english/otfundr.html
[edit] About Lech Wałęsa
- Agnieszka Tennant (2002), 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, <http://www.ctlibrary.com/bc/2002/sepoct/15.30.html>. Retrieved on 2007-08-19
[edit] External links
- CNN Cold War—Profile of Lech Walesa
- Lech Walesa Biography info
- The Nobel Peace Prize 1983
- Wałęsa speech - mp3
- Lech Walesa – Nobel Lecture
- Wałęsa speech (after signing the agreement with the Strike Coordination Committee to allow legal organization in August 1980)
- BBC interview with Lech Walesa on the 25th anniversary of the founding of Solidarity
- Lech Walesa Institute
- The electrician who rewired the world, by Venkatesan Vembu, Daily News & Analysis, 29 January 2007
| Preceded by Wojciech Jaruzelski | President of Poland 1990–1995 | Succeeded by Aleksander Kwaśniewski |
| Preceded by Ronald Reagan | Time's Man of the Year 1981 | Succeeded by The Computer |
Presidents of Poland and non-presidential heads of state since 1918 | |
|---|---|
| Republic of Poland (1918-1939) | Józef Piłsudski (as chief of state) · Gabriel Narutowicz · Maciej Rataj (acting) · Stanisław Wojciechowski · Maciej Rataj (acting) · Ignacy Mościcki |
| Government in Exile (1939-1990) | Bolesław Wieniawa-Długoszowski · Władysław Raczkiewicz · August Zaleski · Council of Three · Stanisław Ostrowski · Edward Raczyński · Kazimierz Sabbat · Ryszard Kaczorowski |
| People's Republic of Poland (1944-1989) | Bolesław Bierut (State National Council President) · Franciszek Trąbalski (acting SNC President) · Władysław Kowalski (acting SNC President) · Bolesław Bierut · Council of State Chairmen: Aleksander Zawadzki · Edward Ochab · Marian Spychalski · Józef Cyrankiewicz · Henryk Jabłoński · Wojciech Jaruzelski (turned into President mid-term) |
| Republic of Poland (since 1989) | Wojciech Jaruzelski · Lech Wałęsa · Aleksander Kwaśniewski · Lech Kaczyński |
Nobel Peace Prize Laureates |
|---|
Betty Williams / Mairead Corrigan (1976) • Amnesty International (1977) • Anwar Al 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 (1988) • 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 Horta (1996) • International Campaign to Ban Landmines / Jody Williams (1997) • John Hume / David Trimble (1998) • Médecins Sans Frontières (1999) • Kim Dae-jung (2000) |
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Categories: 1943 births | Living people | Roman Catholic activists | Solidarity activists | Time magazine Persons of the Year | Nobel Peace Prize laureates | Polish Nobel laureates | Presidents of Poland | Recipients of Polonia Restituta | Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav
