Post by pieter on Aug 27, 2006 15:04:33 GMT -7
Lech Walesa
Lech Walesa ; born September 29, 1943, Popowo, Poland) is a Polish politician, a former trade union and human rights activist, and also a former electrician. 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 (succeeded by Aleksander Kwasniewski).
Biography
Lech Walesa was born on September 29, 1943 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 1967. In 1969 he married Danuta Go?o?, and the couple now have eight children.
Solidarity
He was a member of the illegal strike committee in Gdansk Shipyard in 1970. After the bloody end of the strike, resulting in over 80 workers killed by the riot police, Walesa was arrested and convicted of "anti-social behaviour", spending one year in prison.
In 1976 Wa??sa lost his job in Gdansk Shipyard for collecting signatures for a petition to build a memorial for the killed workers. Due to his being on an informal blacklist, he couldn't find another job and was supported, for a time, by close personal friends.
In 1978, together with Andrzej Gwiazda and Aleksander Hall, he organized the illegal underground Free Trade Union of Pomerania (Wolne Zwiazki Zawodowe Wybrzeza). 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 Gdansk shipyard.
On August 14, 1980, after the beginning of an occupational strike in the Lenin Shipyard of Gdansk, Walesa 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 Gdansk Shipyard, and persuaded them to organize the Strike Coordination Committee (Miedzyzakladowy 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 Solidarnosc Free Trade Union, and Walesa was chosen as a chairman of this Committee.
Walesa kept this position until December 11 1981, when he, along with more than one thousand other Solidarity members and leaders, were arrested. General Wojciech Jaruzelski declared a state of martial law on December 13. Walesa 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 Gdansk Shipyard to his former position as a simple electrician. While formally treated as a "simple worker", he was practically under house arrest until 1987. 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 Walesova, received the prize in his place. Walesa donated the prize money to the Solidarity movement's temporary headquarters, exiled in Brussels.
From 1987 to 1990 Wa??sa organized and led the "half-illegal" Temporary Executive Committee of Solidarity Trade Union. In 1988 Walesa organized an occupational strike in Gdamsk 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. 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 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 (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 Sejm).
While technically just a Chairman of Solidarity Trade Union at the time Wa??sa played a key role in Polish politics. At the end of 1989 he persuaded leaders from formally 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 semi-capitalist system.
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. However, during his presidency Poland was completely changed, from an oppressive communist country under strict Soviet control and with a weak economy to an independent and democratic country with a fast growing market-based economy.
Walesa lost the 1995 presidential election. 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.
In May 10, 2004, the Gdansk international airport has been officially renamed to Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport to commemorate the famous Gdamsk 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 Walesa (with Polish letters, but difficult to write and pronounce for foreigners). A month later, Walesa went to the U.S., representing Poland at the state funeral of Ronald Reagan.
In 2006, Walesa quit Solidarity. In an Associated Press report, he cited differences with the party's support of the Law and Justice (PiS) party, and the rise to power of Lech and Jaroslaw Kaczynski.
Online 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.
Lech Walesa ; born September 29, 1943, Popowo, Poland) is a Polish politician, a former trade union and human rights activist, and also a former electrician. 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 (succeeded by Aleksander Kwasniewski).
Biography
Lech Walesa was born on September 29, 1943 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 1967. In 1969 he married Danuta Go?o?, and the couple now have eight children.
Solidarity
He was a member of the illegal strike committee in Gdansk Shipyard in 1970. After the bloody end of the strike, resulting in over 80 workers killed by the riot police, Walesa was arrested and convicted of "anti-social behaviour", spending one year in prison.
In 1976 Wa??sa lost his job in Gdansk Shipyard for collecting signatures for a petition to build a memorial for the killed workers. Due to his being on an informal blacklist, he couldn't find another job and was supported, for a time, by close personal friends.
In 1978, together with Andrzej Gwiazda and Aleksander Hall, he organized the illegal underground Free Trade Union of Pomerania (Wolne Zwiazki Zawodowe Wybrzeza). 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 Gdansk shipyard.
On August 14, 1980, after the beginning of an occupational strike in the Lenin Shipyard of Gdansk, Walesa 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 Gdansk Shipyard, and persuaded them to organize the Strike Coordination Committee (Miedzyzakladowy 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 Solidarnosc Free Trade Union, and Walesa was chosen as a chairman of this Committee.
Walesa kept this position until December 11 1981, when he, along with more than one thousand other Solidarity members and leaders, were arrested. General Wojciech Jaruzelski declared a state of martial law on December 13. Walesa 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 Gdansk Shipyard to his former position as a simple electrician. While formally treated as a "simple worker", he was practically under house arrest until 1987. 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 Walesova, received the prize in his place. Walesa donated the prize money to the Solidarity movement's temporary headquarters, exiled in Brussels.
From 1987 to 1990 Wa??sa organized and led the "half-illegal" Temporary Executive Committee of Solidarity Trade Union. In 1988 Walesa organized an occupational strike in Gdamsk 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. 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 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 (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 Sejm).
While technically just a Chairman of Solidarity Trade Union at the time Wa??sa played a key role in Polish politics. At the end of 1989 he persuaded leaders from formally 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 semi-capitalist system.
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. However, during his presidency Poland was completely changed, from an oppressive communist country under strict Soviet control and with a weak economy to an independent and democratic country with a fast growing market-based economy.
Walesa lost the 1995 presidential election. 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.
In May 10, 2004, the Gdansk international airport has been officially renamed to Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport to commemorate the famous Gdamsk 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 Walesa (with Polish letters, but difficult to write and pronounce for foreigners). A month later, Walesa went to the U.S., representing Poland at the state funeral of Ronald Reagan.
In 2006, Walesa quit Solidarity. In an Associated Press report, he cited differences with the party's support of the Law and Justice (PiS) party, and the rise to power of Lech and Jaroslaw Kaczynski.
Online 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.