Lech Walesa

In Chapter 4 of 'Revolution 1989' Victor Sebestyen discusses the Lenin shipyard protests (as I explored in a previous blog post) and also introduced revolutionary, Lech Walesa. 

Walesa came from a humble upbringing in a small town in communist Poland. With little interest in his education he ran away from home to learn the skills of trade. Eventually he ended up working at the Lenin shipyard where condition were rough. Sebestyen describes how the only bathrooms for workers were so far away that many workers didn't bothered making the trek and just went where they were working leaving the workplace understandably dirty and unhygienic.

In the 1976 shipyard protests, Walesa was considered a leader of the movement and from this point on he continued to stay involved in worker's rights. While he had little former education, he took it upon himself to learn the ways of politics, history and law and developed useful knowledge that would help led his fellow workers. Walesa was a great speaker, he was natural and relatable for the workers making him an ideal 'poster boy' for the workers rights movement.

With his continual involvement in the movement, Walesa was asked by his bosses to quieten down but refused to do so and was subsequently fired from him job at the shipyard. But this did not stop him.

Though no longer working at the shipyard, Walesa played an important role in 1980 protests. Just as protestors were about to 'give in' to the commander's request, Walesa gave an inspiring speech persuading the workers to continue the strike which ended in success.

In 1983, still pushing change, Walesa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his continued effort in opposing the communist regime and fighting for the rights of workers in Poland.  Despite being banned, Solidarity kept growing. Eventually the government was forced to recognised their influence and agreed to negotiate with them.

From here, the movement were given permission to constitute an advisory committee which in some ways was more like a political party. The Solidarity Citizen's Committee won the June1989 Parliamentary elections.  While some party members were open to sharing power with the communist parties, Walesa refused and eventually became President in 1990 and reintroduced democracy to Poland.

For the Polish communist government and the Soviets who were watching on, he was a threat. For the international community he was a model revolutionary. And for the ordinary people of Poland, he was their liberator.



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