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| Term of Office: | from December 22, 1990 until December 23, 1995 |
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| Predecessor: | Wojciech Jaruzelski |
| Successor: | Aleksander Kwasniewski |
| Date of Birth: | September 29, 1943 |
| Place of Birth: | Popowo , Poland |
| First Lady: | Danuta Walesa |
| Profession: | Electrician |
| Political Party: | Solidarity |
Lech Walesa (pronounced
He founded Solidarity (Solidarnosc), the Soviet blocDuring the Cold War, the Eastern Bloc (or Soviet Bloc comprised the following Central and Eastern European countries: Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, East Germany, Poland, Albania (until the early 1960s, see below), the Soviet Union, and Czechoslovakia. The E's first independent trade union, won the Nobel Peace PrizeThe Nobel Peace Prize (where Nobel is pronounced with the stress on the second syllable) is one of five Nobel Prizes bequested by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel. While the Physics, Chemistry, Medicine and Literature Prizes are awarded in 1983Events January January 1 Beat Raaflaub became Basel Boys Choir's new conductor January 1 the ARPANET officially changes to use the Internet Protocol, creating the Internet. January 1 compulsory wearing of seat belts becomes law in the UK. January 2 The mu, and served as President of Poland from 1990 to 1995 (succeeded by Aleksander Kwasniewski).
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 1968 he married Danuta Walesowa, and the couple now have 7 children.
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 for "anti social behaviour", spending one year in prison.
In 1976 Walesa 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 lived at the time thanks to his friends' personal help.
In 1978, together with Andrzej Gwiazda and Aleksander Hall , he organised the illegal underground Free Trade Union of Pommerania (Wolne Zwiazki Zawodowe Wybrzeza). He was arrested several times in 1979 for organising an "anti-state" organisation, but not found guilty in court and released at the beginning of 1980, after which he re-entered the Gdansk shipyard.
In August 14, 1980, after the beginning of an occupational strike in the Gdansk Shipyard, 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 organise the Strike Coordination Committee (Miedzyzakladowy Komitet Strajkowy) to lead and support the naturally occurred general strike in Poland.
In September of that year, the Communist government signed an agreement with the Strike Coordination Committee to allow legal organisation, 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 1981, when Prime Minister Wojciech Jaruzelski declared a state of martial law. He 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, so his wife Danuta Walesowa received the prize in his place. Walesa donated the prize money to the Solidarity movement's temporary headquarters in exile (in Brussels).
From 1987 to 1990 Walesa organised and led the "half-illegal" Temporary Executive Committee of Solidarity Trade Union.
In 1988 Walesa organised an occupational strike in Gdansk 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 organise "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 48% of seats in the Sejm out of 49% that were subject of free elections and all but one seats in the newly re-established senate; the remaining 51% of seats were given automatically to Communist Party according to the Round Table agreements).
While technically just a Chairman of Solidarity Trade Union at the time Walesa 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 coallition government, which was the first non-communist government in the Soviet Bloc. 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 the free market system.
In 1990 Walesa won the presidential election, becoming president of Poland for next 5 years. During his presidency he started so called "war at the top" which practically meant changing the government annually. His style of presidency was however 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 free-market 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 organise a new party called "Election Action Solidarity" (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 organiser was a new Solidarity Trade Union leader, Marian Krzaklewski .
Walesa again stood for the presidential election in 2000, but he received less than 1% of votes. 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- Tricity international airport has been officially renamed to Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport to commemorate the famous Gdansk citizen. His signature has been incorporated into the airport's logo. There was some controversy if 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).
Apart from his Nobel Prize, Walesa received several other international prizes. He has been awarded the title of doctor honoris causa from several US and European Universities.
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